Question 1

Organizations such as the Associated Press and United Press International are associated with the rise of

Accepted Answer

A)   the partisan press.
B)   the penny press.
C)   yellow journalism.
D)   muckraking.
E)   objective journalism. E

Question 2

Which president helped to create the modern White House press corps when he added a press room to the White House?

Accepted Answer

A)   Abraham Lincoln
B)   Theodore Roosevelt
C)   Woodrow Wilson
D)   Franklin Roosevelt
E)   Ronald Reagan B

Question 3

Americans, on average, are most likely to get their national and international news from

Accepted Answer

A)   television.
B)   newspapers.
C)   magazines.
D)   radio.
E)   the Internet. A

Question 4

Which of the following statements about the nature of press coverage of Congress is LEAST accurate?

Accepted Answer

A)   The press focuses much of its attention on the party leaders in the two houses.
B)   The press focuses much of its attention on heads of influential congressional committees.
C)   National press coverage of Congress is often cynical and adversarial.
D)   The way that the press depicts Congress may encourage citizens to view Congress with disdain.
E)   Following the dictum that "if it bleeds, it leads," the local press usually emphasizes negative attributes of its viewership's representatives in Congress.

Question 5

Discuss the history of the media in the United States. What major technological changes have affected them? How have these changes altered the way Americans receive information? What changes are most salient today? How have these developments already changed the public's relationship with news media, and how might they further change it?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Discuss the history of the media in...

Question 6

Which of the following statements about government regulation of broadcast media is LEAST accurate?

Accepted Answer

A)   The FCC can fine networks for airing material the commission regards as indecent.
B)   The FCC requires that stations grant equal time to political candidates during election time.
C)   For several decades, the FCC required that broadcasters air all sides of a political controversy.
D)   With the proliferation of media outlets, the FCC abolished the fairness doctrine that once shaped the way broadcasters had to present the news.
E)   The FCC regulates only the content of broadcast media, not the ownership of broadcast media outlets.

Question 7

The first time radio aired the results of a presidential campaign, it was to report the election of

Accepted Answer

A)   Abraham Lincoln.
B)   William McKinley.
C)   Theodore Roosevelt.
D)   Warren Harding.
E)   Franklin Roosevelt.

Question 8

Which of the following statements most accurately describes John Adams and Thomas Jefferson's handling of the press?

Accepted Answer

A)   They scrupulously guarded a division between government and the media.
B)   They held regular press conferences to win the media to their side.
C)   They awarded government contracts to printers who supported their policies.
D)   They distrusted newspapers and sought to impose government censorship over all of them.
E)   They gave all journalists free access to all the workings of the cabinet in order to keep the people informed.

Question 9

Visible trends in the mass media today include all of the following EXCEPT

Accepted Answer

A)   declining interest in traditional media on the part of young Americans.
B)   a lack of interest in using new communications technologies to engage in politics.
C)   declining newspaper circulation and readership.
D)   the rise of narrowcasting, or programs targeted at a small segment of the population.
E)   consumption of news less at certain times of day and more throughout the day based on "social flow."

Question 10

The Internet debuted as a political medium for which presidential election?

Accepted Answer

A)   1992
B)   1996
C)   2000
D)   2004
E)   1988

Question 11

Which of the following statements about press coverage of Congress is LEAST accurate?

Accepted Answer

A)   The media does not provide as much attention to individual members of Congress as it does to the White House.
B)   Some members of Congress receive less national press attention than do White House pets.
C)   There is no one member of Congress who can speak authoritatively for the entire body.
D)   The congressional media corps consists of fewer than 30 members.
E)   The media are particularly interested in committee chairs who lead volatile investigations.

Question 12

In 2016, most of the media attention to presidential debates during the primary season

Accepted Answer

A)   focused on the Republicans.
B)   was dominated by Governor Chris Christie.
C)   focused on the Democrats.
D)   was remarkably free of controversy.
E)   was restricted to weekdays.

Question 13

Which of the following presidents had the most consistent skill at winning over media support?

Accepted Answer

A)   Richard Nixon
B)   Ronald Reagan
C)   George H. W. Bush
D)   Bill Clinton
E)   George W. Bush

Question 14

The first American newspaper, published in Massachusetts in 1690, shut down after just one issue because

Accepted Answer

A)   the colonial government placed a ban on all secular publications.
B)   the public had no interest in reading about the news.
C)   the colonial government passed a law requiring printers to obtain a license prior to publishing a newspaper.
D)   the public was scandalized by the newspaper's salacious reports.
E)   literacy rates in colonial New England were too low to sustain a regularly-published newspaper.

Question 15

Which president was known as the Great Communicator for his ability to present his views effectively and keep his team focused on a "message of the day"?

Accepted Answer

A)   Abraham Lincoln
B)   Theodore Roosevelt
C)   Woodrow Wilson
D)   Franklin Roosevelt
E)   Ronald Reagan

Question 16

Which of the following statements about press coverage of the Supreme Court is most accurate?

Accepted Answer

A)   Unless they deal with issues of national coverage, Supreme Court proceedings are usually televised.
B)   At the end of a controversial case, it is customary for justices to meet with the press to explain their decisions.
C)   The major news networks typically let their primary anchors try to interpret Supreme Court decisions, despite a lack of legal or constitutional expertise.
D)   When the press covers the Supreme Court, it is usually to describe ideological divisions among the Court and to identify which justices are "winning" or "losing" on a particular issue.
E)   Because Supreme Court justices are rarely chosen from among well-known public figures, and the direct power of justices is so limited, the press pays little attention to judicial confirmation hearings.

Question 17

A classic study cited in the text found that news coverage (1948-2000) of presidential candidates by newspapers, newsmagazines, and television was

Accepted Answer

A)   unbiased and fair.
B)   sometimes biased in a partisan way toward liberal candidates.
C)   sometimes biased in a partisan way toward conservative candidates.
D)   sometimes biased in a partisan way toward third-party candidates.
E)   None of these answers is correct.

Question 18

As president during the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln

Accepted Answer

A)   successfully convinced Union journalists to support his views.
B)   could rely on a safely partisan press to support his policies.
C)   viewed the press as a distraction that was best ignored.
D)   censored war-related news and imprisoned editors.
E)   contended that the freedom of the press was more important than the preservation of the Union.

Question 19

Newspapers in the 1830s witnessed all of the following transformations EXCEPT

Accepted Answer

A)   a decreased dependence on government contracts.
B)   communication advances via the telegraph.
C)   the adoption of the rotary press, which sped up the printing process.
D)   the development of the penny press.
E)   a decreased dependence on paid advertisements.

Question 20

Which of the following statements about trends in news coverage is LEAST accurate?

Accepted Answer

A)   Since the 1970s, many journalists have seen their function as to uncover and expose the misdeeds of prominent government figures.
B)   The rise of adversarial journalism has coincided with and possibly contributed to a decline in political participation by many citizens.
C)   The American public largely ignores negative reporting from the media, and viewership and readership drop during political scandals.
D)   Some prominent and influential journalists are celebrities in their own right, which may affect how they cover and present the news.
E)   Media coverage following the September 11, 2001, attacks suggests that the press might relax its scrutiny on presidents with high approval ratings.

Exam 10: Media: Tuning in or Tuning Out