Deck 16: Legal Controls and Freedom of Expression

Question 1

Reporters need to be careful about printing accusations made by attorneys in a court of law in case a suspect is later found "not guilty."

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Parodies and insults of public figures are protected from libel suits unless the statements cause undue emotional pain.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The Miller v. California case established a national standard for obscenity that is the same for all communities in the United States.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Only after the Sedition Act expired in 1801 did Americans broadly support the idea of a free press.

Question 5

For the first half of the twentieth century, local and state film review boards were considered constitutional.

Question 6

Most of the world's population now lives in countries where the press is free.

Question 7

Movies released in the United States are required by federal law to be labeled with an MPAA movie rating.

Question 8

Defamation that is broadcast is considered slander because it is spoken rather than written.

Question 9

There is no federal shield law for journalists in the United States.

Question 10

Libel is a right guaranteed by the First Amendment.

Question 11

Public speech that causes someone damage or actual injury is libelous, even if the speech in question is true.

Question 12

Ordinary citizens have more privacy protection under U.S. law than politicians or other public figures.

Question 13

In 1912, federal law outlawed the transportation of boxing movies across state lines - not because they were violent but because there had been a black heavyweight boxing champion since 1908.

Question 14

If a soon-to-be-released article seems to violate libel or obscenity laws, most U.S. courts would act to stop publication.

Question 15

Motion pictures have been defined as free speech by the U.S. Supreme Court since 1915.

Question 16

Appropriating a writer's or artist's words or music without consent or payment is a form of expression that is not protected as speech.

Question 17

Students who quote and cite a copyrighted source in a term paper for class are technically violating the law.

Question 18

The United States follows a libertarian model of free expression and free press.

Question 19

The Sedition Act strengthened First Amendment protections for citizens.

Question 20

The Supreme Court has defined censorship as prior restraint of speech.

Question 21

Currently, both print journalists and broadcasters need federal licenses to operate their businesses.

Question 22

According to the text, one of the first widely circulated arguments for a free, unlicensed press can be traced to ______.

A) the un-amended U.S. Constitution
B) the tradition of a free press that started in Great Britain and other European countries in the 1600s
C) English poet John Milton's essay Areopagitica
D) President John Adams
E) Welsh poet Dylan Thomas's poem "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night"

Question 23

In twentieth-century Supreme Court decisions, the print media and broadcast media received the same First Amendment protections.

Question 24

When the movie rating system began in the late 1960s, the G, PG, PG-13, R, X, and NC-17 ratings were all developed at that time and put immediately into place.

Question 25

Which of the following statements about the Sedition Act of 1798 is not true?

A) It aimed to silence opposition to a possible war with France.
B) It led to a public backlash that ultimately supported greater protection of a free press.
C) It was passed by a political party in power to undermine efforts by an opposing political party.
D) It was supported and reinforced by President Thomas Jefferson when he later took office.
E) It was originally passed by Congress and signed into law by President John Adams.

Question 26

Which model of expression tolerates all forms of speech, including pornography?

A) Authoritarian
B) State model
C) Libertarian
D) Social responsibility
E) Communitarian

Question 27

The FCC can fine broadcast stations any amount it sees fit for indecent incidents.

Question 28

The notion of the press working as the Fourth Estate, or as watchdog over the government, is contained in which model of speech and expression?

A) Authoritarian
B) Communist (or state)
C) Libertarian
D) Social responsibility
E) Antiquarian

Question 29

In 1971, President Richard Nixon's administration tried to block publication of ______.

A) reports on weapons of mass destruction
B) reports of government overspending
C) instructions on how to make an H-bomb
D) the Progressive magazine
E) a study of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam war

Question 30

Print and broadcast media are not treated equally under the First Amendment.

Question 31

Compared with most other nations, the United States has ______ freedom of speech, religious tolerance, and press freedom.

A) a little less
B) a little more
C) a lot more
D) a lot less
E) about the same

Question 32

Which model of the press is most often associated with today's mainstream U.S. news media?

A) Authoritarian
B) Communist
C) Libertarian
D) Social responsibility
E) Seditious

Question 33

Which of the following is not characteristic of the libertarian model for expression and speech?

A) Tolerance for the expression of everything, from pornography to advocacy of anarchy
B) Encouraging vigorous government criticism
C) A great deal of trust in citizens' ability to distinguish truth from falsehood
D) Arguing that the mass media have grown too powerful and need to become more socially responsible or face some sort of government regulation
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 34

Which statement about the Sedition Act of 1798 is true?

A) It was passed to silence editorials encouraging the country to take part in a pending war.
B) It was used to prosecute anti-Federalist newspapers.
C) It was renewed over and over again by several presidents after Adams.
D) It expired under President John Adams.
E) Its excesses actually helped bolster public support for taking rights away from a free press.

Question 35

Prior restraint means that courts and governments ______.

A) can block the press from publishing any article they deem inflammatory or controversial
B) cannot block any publication or speech before it occurs
C) have the right to review every article before it is published
D) can give the news media rules on what they can and cannot publish
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 36

Since its debut in 1990, the NC-17 movie rating has been a commercially successful rating for films with adult content.

Question 37

Newspapers are not required by law to give individuals an opportunity to reply to an editorial attack.

Question 38

State leaders believe the press should serve the goals of the state in the ______ model.

A) authoritarian
B) communist
C) libertarian
D) social responsibility
E) seditious

Question 39

Broadcasters are no longer legally required to provide competing points of view when airing programs about controversial issues.

Question 40

According to the 1934 Communications Act, broadcast stations must provide equal opportunities and response time for qualified political candidates.

Question 41

The Supreme Court sided with Larry Flynt in his case against Jerry Falwell because ______.

A) Hustler magazine was never sold outside the court's jurisdiction
B) parody falls under the opinion and fair comment rule
C) privileged speech is protected under the First Amendment
D) Hustler was not the only national porn magazine
E) it approved of the magazine's message

Question 42

Which of the following actions by the media is not a violation of the usual rights of privacy for a private citizen?

A) Taping or photographing a person in their home or other private space
B) Sharing health records
C) Using a person's image or quote in a news story without consent
D) Disclosing information about religion, sexual activities, or personal activities
E) Using a person's image or name, without consent, in advertisements or endorsements

Question 43

In the Progressive magazine case, a federal district court took a course of action based on the concern that the magazine would publish ______.

A) information on how an H-bomb works
B) a story that defamed the president
C) obscene material
D) a story that endorsed drug use
E) copyrighted material

Question 44

Which statement about copyright law is true?

A) Copyright covers a creative work for only seven years after it is produced.
B) Companies like Disney are huge supporters of getting their material into the public domain.
C) Corporate owners spend lots of money getting Congress to shorten the length of copyright protections.
D) The original idea behind American copyright law was that authors would have a financial incentive to create original works, and after fourteen years others would be able to safely use it to create derivative works.
E) Copyright laws have remained virtually unchanged since they were written in the eighteenth century, being adapted without debate to new media.

Question 45

Some members of the U.S. Government wanted to charge the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, with ______.

A) computer fraud for hacking into the cell phones of crime victims
B) computer fraud for running a scam posing as a deposed Nigerian prince
C) espionage for publishing the Pentagon Papers
D) espionage for releasing thousands of confidential U.S. embassy documents online
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 46

Reporters who print or broadcast statements made in court are protected against libel by ______.

A) absolute privilege
B) qualified privilege
C) opinion and fair comment
D) malpractice
E) right to privacy law

Question 47

Which laws, passed in 1917 and 1918, made it a federal crime to disrupt the nation's war effort?

A) Privacy Act
B) First Amendment
C) Espionage Acts
D) Sedition Acts
E) Bill of Rights

Question 48

The U.S. Supreme Court's standards for judging something as obscene include which of the following?

A) The average person, applying community standards, would find that the material as a whole appeals to prurient interest.
B) The material depicts sexual conduct in a patently offensive way.
C) The material as a whole lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
D) The work as a whole must be judged obscene.
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 49

Which of the following constituted a "clear and present danger" to national security according to the federal courts?

A) Publishing a design for the H-bomb in Progressive magazine
B) Prosecuting the president for potentially criminal acts
C) Stealing the Pentagon Papers and publishing them
D) Distributing antiwar pamphlets during peace time
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 50

Private individuals must prove falsehood, damages, and negligence to win which kind of case?

A) Copyright
B) Fair use
C) Libel
D) Sedition
E) Censorship

Question 51

The idea of absolute privilege refers to the ______.

A) ability of reporters to print or broadcast anything they want
B) ability of the very rich to hire lawyers to sue anybody who libels them
C) ability of prosecutors to accuse defendants of crimes in court without risking libel
D) the federal shield laws that allow a reporter to keep a source confidential
E) way in which college students and professors can use small portions of a written work, as long as they use the proper citation

Question 52

In 1976, Congress extended the copyright period to ______.

A) fifteen years
B) fifty years, or seventy-five years for a corporate copyright owner
C) the life of the author plus twenty-five years
D) the life of the author plus fifty years, or seventy-five years for a corporate copyright owner
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 53

The Pentagon Papers case involved which of the following legal concerns?

A) Reporters were infringing on the copyrights of the Pentagon.
B) Reporters were making unfair use of Pentagon documents.
C) Newspapers were libeling the president and his administration by exposing their lies.
D) The president should have the absolute privilege to block newspapers from publishing unflattering material.
E) Whether or not the government has the right to censor a newspaper and prevent publication in the interest of national security.

Question 54

The ______ extended privacy protection to computer-stored data and the Internet.

A) Privacy Act of 1974
B) Miller v. California case of 1973
C) USA PATRIOT Act of 2001
D) Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 55

For public figures to successfully sue for libel, they must prove "actual malice," which means the news medium ______.

A) knew the statement was false but published it anyway
B) published a true statement with the intention of hurting the public figure
C) was reckless with the public figure's privacy rights
D) had long harbored ill will toward and dislike for the public figure
E) has a reputation for being mean-spirited

Question 56

Which of the following is not part of the legal definition of obscenity?

A) The work as a whole must appeal to prurient interest.
B) The work as a whole must lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
C) The work must depict or describe dirty words and brutal violence.
D) The work must depict sexual conduct in a patently offensive way.
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 57

The creators of works such as books, music, lyrics, movies, and TV programs are protected if someone tries to make money off their work because of ______.

A) copyright law
B) libel
C) prior restraint
D) limited privilege
E) public domain

Question 58

Most battles over ______ are now online, where the global reach of the Internet has eclipsed the concept of community standards.

A) libel
B) obscenity
C) slander
D) shield laws
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 59

At the end of the copyright period, a creative work such as a book or song becomes ______.

A) more valuable to the person or company that owns the copyright
B) protected from use by anyone other than the author or creator
C) available for public use with the payment of a royalty fee
D) available for public use free of charge
E) a target for online piracy

Question 60

A written or broadcast expression that defames someone's character is ______.

A) absolute privilege
B) copyright
C) censorship
D) fair use
E) libel

Question 61

The idea of net neutrality refers to ______.

A) laws that keep Internet providers from supporting a political candidate or party
B) the fact that the early design of the Internet happened in Switzerland
C) the belief that government should allow Internet providers to allow or block any content they want
D) the belief that all wired Internet providers should be required to provide the same access to all Internet services and content
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 62

Which of the following statements about the FCC and "fleeting expletives" in live TV shows is not true?

A) The FCC fining flurry was partially in response to campaigns against Howard Stern's vulgarity and the Janet Jackson exposed-breast incident.
B) In 2006, Congress increased the FCC's maximum allowable fine to $325,000 per incident.
C) In 2010, a federal appeals court rejected the FCC's policy on the basis that it was too vague.
D) In 2010, a federal appeals court rejected Congress's increase of the FCC's maximum allowable fine.
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 63

The ______ case in 1952 determined that film should be protected as a form of free speech.

A) Burstyn v. Wilson
B) Mutual v. Ohio
C) New York Times v. Sullivan
D) Progressive
E) Pentagon Papers

Question 64

In 1912, in the first type of national action limiting the film industry, the U.S. government banned the interstate commerce of which kinds of films?

A) Pornographic films
B) Boxing films
C) German films
D) Films endorsing anarchy
E) Films about labor unions

Question 65

In 2001, the ______ weakened privacy laws and gave the federal government more latitude in searching private citizens' records and intercepting electronic communications without a court order.

A) USA PATRIOT Act
B) Privacy Act
C) Fair Use Law
D) Shield Law
E) First Amendment

Question 66

Because of fears about the spread of communism in the 1950s and the tactics of lawmakers such as Senator Joseph McCarthy, TV networks started asking actors and other workers to ______.

A) hold controversial political views in order to get and keep their jobs
B) sign loyalty oaths denouncing communism
C) defend themselves in a court of law from accusations of being communists
D) stop working in television and radio
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 67

The ________________________ model for journalism and speech encourages vigorous government criticism and supports the highest degree of freedom for individual speech and news operations.

Question 68

In the 1960s, radio programming that featured deejays and callers discussing intimate sexual topics was called ______.

A) dirty radio
B) topless radio
C) pirate radio
D) commercial radio
E) night radio

Question 69

Performers, writers, or producers who did not bow to pressure from people like Senator Joseph McCarthy and found themselves blacklisted as part of the communist "witch-hunts" of the 1950s ______.

A) were sent to special camps to protect the public
B) could only work for minimum wage
C) lost their jobs and any chance of getting hired
D) could only work for Red Channels, an anticommunist radio and television show
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 70

The ________________________ model for journalism and speech tolerates little public dissent or criticism of government.

Question 71

One way to understand net neutrality is as a debate between which of the following groups?

A) Those who think the government needs to guarantee equal speed and access for all Internet services and content, and those who think the government should let companies charge whatever they want
B) Those who think the Internet is an essential utility like water or electricity (and needs more regulation), and those who think of it as an information service like cable TV (and needs less regulation)
C) Those who want to see the FCC continue to push for strong net neutrality rules, and those who want to overturn the regulations that do exist
D) Those who want the same rules for broadband and wireless connections, and those who think wireless connections should be exempt from certain rules
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 72

In 1984, the PG-13 movie rating was added, in part, because which of the following two popular films were considered too violent and disturbing for children under thirteen?

A) Amadeus / This Is Spinal Tap
B) Gremlins / The Terminator
C) The Terminator / The Killing Fields
D) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom / Gremlins
E) The Killing Fields / Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Question 73

The U.S. government banned boxing films from being transported from state to state in 1912 because of concerns about ______.

A) children watching the violent images of boxing
B) people betting on the fights
C) images of the first black heavyweight being perceived as a threat by the white community
D) the movies making the "low-class" sport too popular
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 74

Adopted by 95 percent of the movie industry during most of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, the Motion Picture Production Code would have allowed ______.

A) showing a minister of religion as the hero of a story
B) a scene ridiculing a Catholic priest
C) a scene with lots of passionate kissing
D) comedy classified as "toilet humor"
E) a joke about a traveling salesman and a farmer's daughter

Question 75

Section 315 of the 1934 Communications Act requires broadcast stations to ______.

A) cover all sides of a controversy
B) give all qualified political candidates an equal opportunity to obtain airtime
C) provide response time for individuals attacked in a broadcast editorial
D) provide educational programming for children
E) serve the public interest of their audiences

Question 76

The U.S. movie rating system is an example of ______.

A) industry self-regulation
B) censorship
C) state regulation
D) FCC guidelines
E) federal regulation

Question 77

In the Mutual v. Ohio (1915) decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that film was a ______.

A) "business pure and simple"
B) "means for public discourse"
C) "legitimate form of free speech"
D) "blight on creative expression"
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 78

The Communications Act of 1934 mandated that radio broadcasters operate in the "public interest, convenience, and necessity" based on which of the following arguments?

A) Radio stations are funded by the government and therefore should serve the public.
B) Limited broadcast signals constitute a scarce national resource.
C) Minors have unrestricted access to the radio.
D) The government should be able to control broadcasting the way it controls the print media.
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 79

Who came up with the "seven dirty words" comedy routine that landed a radio station in hot water with the FCC and resulted in rules about what times of the day a broadcaster can air "adult" material?

A) Jerry Seinfeld
B) George Carlin
C) Janeane Garofalo
D) Robin Williams
E) Lenny Bruce

Question 80

The ________________________ model for journalism and speech places control in the hands of government, which speaks for ordinary citizens and workers in order to serve the common goals of the state.