Chapter 6: The Media as Policy Makers

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. What kinds of groups or organizations should have the easiest time getting media coverage?

A. low-status organizations dealing with routine human concerns

B. protest groups

C. policy groups

D. none of these

2. The role of public opinion in muckraking efforts to change policy can be described as ______.

A. significant

B. minimal

C. absent

D. all of these

3. Journalists began to use ______ frames for immigration stories; it had a notable influence on public opinion.

A. economic

B. national security

C. crime

D. all of these

True/False

1. Informative value is one of the major criteria for choosing news stories.

2. Watergate and Obama’s NSA scandal are great examples of journalists in their watchdog role.

3. Civic journalism bears that name because of its emphasis on civic facts.

4. Muckraking only works when public opinion is stirred up to exert pressure on public officials.

5. The reason fact-checking is so effective is that it is often successfully used to correct misinformation and change people’s minds.

6. The American public is well informed about the scientific community’s consensus on issues related to policy.

Short Answer

1. What is “muckraking”?

2. What are frames? Why does it matter that journalist are chief framers?

3. What is agenda building and why is it important?

4. What are major news values satisfied by investigative journalism stories?

Essay

1. What are the relative costs and benefits of melding political activism with journalism? When is it good? When could it be harmful? Should it be encouraged or discouraged?

2. How does the collaboration between journalists and nonprofit groups help offset the declining resources facing most newsrooms? What are the other implications of such collaborations?

3. Describe and explain the three models of muckraking. Outline the implications of each.

4. What is agenda building and why is it important?

5. How might journalists influence policy through the use of leaks? Discuss the Snowden–NSA example or another timely example to answer this question.

6. Are journalists political actors? Should they be? Why or why not?