Chapter 14: Current Trends and Future Directions

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. The government agency regulating communication technologies is ______.

A. FEC

B. FCC

C. SEC

D. none of these

2. Journalists report which of the following as the biggest problem facing journalism overall?

A. partisan cable news

B. broken business model

C. audience disinterest

D. all of these

E. none of these

True/False

1. Exhausted election news audiences reported too much coverage of candidate experience and issue stances during the 2016 campaign.

2. Now that audiences have a lot of choices among media outlets, trust in media is on the rise.

3. Unbalanced coverage springs from news-making process rather than ideological bias.

4. News is a product of audience preference, not a mirror of society.

5. Economic pressure means that journalists have more competition and less time and resources to investigate and develop their stories.

6. Media watchers and critics have few concerns about citizen journalism and its ability to fill coverage gaps left by eroding traditional media.

7. Mobile audiences for news are growing rapidly.

8. The Internet has reduced the power and influence of traditional media, even while providing new platforms for their content.

Short Answer

1. Name a few features of new technologies that have the potential for generating major political change.

2. What is citizen journalism? How is it different from traditional journalism?

3. What are some possible negative consequences of media fragmentation and specialization?

4. What are some ways the Internet has transformed journalism?

5. What are some of the areas most in need of reform when it comes to federal regulation of broadcast media?

Essay

1. Do journalists and gatekeepers do a good job in selecting the types of news and entertainment they cover? Do they allot appropriate time and space to each of these categories? If not, what should they do differently? If so, is there room for improvement?

2. How is content from the blogosphere different from traditional news content? Are the differences important? Why or why not? What advice might you offer citizens who utilize blogs as a source of political information?

3. What should citizen-relevant news contain? What kinds of information do democratic citizens need for effective participation in governance? To what extent does our current media system provide such news?

4. Why is it difficult to produce news content that is a mirror reflection of reality? To what extent is it a problem that news is not a perfect representation of reality? Is it a problem at all? If so, what can be fixed?

5. How are media outlets coping with the move away from the ad revenue model of journalism? How will good journalism be financed in the future? What successful models exist now?