Chapter 14: Media

Test Banks

Multiple Choice

1. Donald Trump has repeatedly accused the media of reporting ______.

a. fake news

b. biased news

c. bad news

d. wrong news

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Easy

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

2. In today’s political climate, media outlets are reminding Americans that they are aligned with which of the following?

a. truth

b. facts

c. helping voters hold elected leaders accountable

d. all of these

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

3. The New York Times is an example of a ______.

a. traditional legacy news outlet

b. digital-only platform

c. social media platform

d. modern legacy news outlet

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

4. News outlets ______.

a. can publish anything without fear of criminal or civil penalties because of freedom of the press

b. have unfettered access to the U.S. military, even during times of war

c. are the organizations that gather, package, and transmit the news

d. operate, because of freedom of the press, without the federal government imposing taxes on the sale of newspapers or on the revenue generated through television or online advertising

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Development of the News Business

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

5. To characterize the news media as businesses ______.

a. does not discredit their integrity as suppliers of vital civic information

b. discredits their integrity as suppliers of vital civic information

c. demonstrates that the media simply report news as presented to them by politicians

d. suggests that media elites, pollsters, and politicians form a classic iron triangle that is still vibrant today

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Development of the News Business

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

6. Organizations that base the majority of their content on the work of trained reporters are referred to as ______.

a. legacy outlets

b. contemporary outlets

c. social media platforms

d. digital media platforms

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Development of the News Business

Difficulty Level: Easy

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

7. Which of the following statements regarding news in the colonial days is true?

a. The news was distributed over large geographic areas with poor infrastructure.

b. The news took vast amounts of time and effort.

c. It was difficult to maintain a large staff both locally and globally to provide full coverage.

d. News had to be submitted to the censorship of the British government.

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Economics of Early Newspapers

Difficulty Level: Easy

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

8. In the mid-1770s, approximately ______ newspapers were serving the colonies.

a. 10

b. 15

c. 25

d. 39

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Economics of Early Newspapers

Difficulty Level: Easy

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

9. During the early days of the republic, newspapers ______.

a. were primarily full of objective news reporting

b. advocated party platforms, promoted candidates, and attacked the political opposition

c. rarely reported on politics or government at all

d. were almost always nonpartisan

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Economics of Early Newspapers

Difficulty Level: Easy

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

10. Who were the real principals of newspaper publishers?

a. their readers who demanded exacting coverage of government and politics

b. their reporters who would provide content in exchange for protection against legal action

c. their advertisers who paid the bills through classified ads and other forms of advertisings

d. the politicians who recruited and financed them

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Economics of Early Newspapers

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

11. Within a few decades of ratification of the First Amendment, the notion that the free press would guard the citizenry’s liberties against the designs of ambitious politicians ______.

a. had proven to be precisely the way the free press developed

b. had been replaced by the press as dedicated partisan boosters

c. had been replaced with pamphleteering as the only available way for publishers to express their opinions

d. was undermined by the Supreme Court when it struck the words “press” from the Bill of Rights

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Economics of Early Newspapers

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

12. The two technological innovations of the adaptation of steam power to printing and the development of faster and more reliable cylinder presses meant that publishers could sell their papers more cheaply ______.

a. so publishers could increase their reading audience, and thus break away from party sponsorship

b. and publishers could become more closely aligned with the political parties

c. although they actually raised their prices to pay for the new technologies

d. and publishers could aggressively pursue overseas markets, especially in Europe and South America

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Rise of the Penny Press

Difficulty Level: Easy

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

13. What allowed the penny press to thrive in the 19th century?

a. Constant and aggressive coverage of politics was the most attractive strategy.

b. Maintaining low prices to ensure that newspapers were widely available.

c. Expanding the news to include human interest stories and coverage of crime, business, and social events.

d. Embracing long-form stories for the Sunday editions combined with extensive advertising of new products.

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Rise of the Penny Press

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

14. The rivalry between Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst led to ______.

a. the establishment of the annual competition for the America’s Cup

b. innovations in publishing that created the modern mass circulation newspaper

c. parties co-opting newspaper publishers all across the country

d. the first movie studio and theater chain owned by a newspaper chain

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Rise of the Penny Press

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

15. “Yellow journalism” was a term first used at the end of the 19th century that referred to ______.

a. reliance by journalists on services to provide most of their stories, so-called because the journalists were afraid to personally go to the location in which the story was developing

b. all of the penny press papers, so-called because the paper was so cheap it yellowed within a matter of days

c. the use of sensational stories to attract readers to newspapers, so-called because of the color of ink used in the New York World’s comic strips

d. those papers published south of the Mason–Dixon line, so-called because the editors had surrendered to General Grant at the first sight of Union troops

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Rise of the Penny Press

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

16. By 1935, William Randolph Hearst could boast that nearly _____ Americans read one of his papers.

a. one in two

b. one in three

c. one in four

d. one in five

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Rise of the Penny Press

Difficulty Level: Easy

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

17. One study in 2004 of talk radio programs found ______.

a. national and state conservative talk programs totaled forty thousand broadcast hours each week compared with three thousand for liberal programs

b. the implementation of the fairness doctrine reduced the advantage of conservative talk programs significantly

c. national and state liberal talk programs totaled forty thousand broadcast hours each week compared with three thousand for conservative programs

d. a significant decline in listenership for all programs because Americans rarely listen to the radio anymore

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Emergence of Radio and Television

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

18. How did the spread of television in its first decade compare with the spread of radio during its first decade?

a. Radios spread into 40% of all households, while televisions spread to almost 90% of all households.

b. Radios spread into 40% of all households, while televisions only spread into about 25% of all households.

c. Radios spread into 90% of all households, while television only spread to about 40% of all households.

d. The pattern was about the same for each medium as penetration was nearly 40% during the first decade.

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Emergence of Radio and Television

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

19. By the end of the 1960s, households with televisions outnumbered those with ______.

a. indoor plumbing

b. glass windows

c. radios

d. electricity

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Emergence of Radio and Television

Difficulty Level: Easy

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

20. What played an important role contributing to the growth of television?

a. the fact that televisions were cheap and provided constant entertainment

b. the use of satellite technology that enabled Americans to see programs from all across the globe

c. the rapid development of a broadcast infrastructure

d. the easy availability of live sporting events

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Emergence of Radio and Television

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

21. By the 1960s, what was the chief source of news for many Americans?

a. newspapers

b. radio

c. magazines

d. nightly evening network news

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Emergence of Radio and Television

Difficulty Level: Easy

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

22. Today, approximately what percentage television households subscribe to cable or to satellite services?

a. 90

b. 75

c. 50

d. 25

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Emergence of Radio and Television

Difficulty Level: Easy

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

23. Which of the following presidents was the first to use the radio as a medium to deliver news to the people?

a. Franklin D. Roosevelt

b. Harry S. Truman

c. Dwight Eisenhower

d. John F. Kennedy

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Emergence of Radio and Television

Difficulty Level: Easy

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

24. Which of the following were identified as a great example of the way digital streaming has changed news provision and consumption?

a. podcasts

b. blogs

c. forums

d. chatrooms

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Emergence of Radio and Television

Difficulty Level: Easy

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

25. During the 1920s, when hundreds of radio stations overcrowded desirable spots on the radio dial, the FCC was created in part to solve this classic ______.

a. monopoly

b. tragedy of the commons

c. yellow journalism

d. inappropriate use of the Second Amendment

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: A Tragedy of the Commons: Broadcast Technology Introduces Regulation

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

26. The airwaves were identified as a commons with the invention of the ______.

a. newspaper

b. radio

c. television

d. internet

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: A Tragedy of the Commons: Broadcast Technology Introduces Regulation

Difficulty Level: Easy

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

27. The equal access provision required stations to provide equal time to ______.

a. candidates for office

b. teachers

c. business executives

d. the entire American public

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: A Tragedy of the Commons: Broadcast Technology Introduces Regulation

Difficulty Level: Easy

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

28. Innovation in mass communication has resulted in ______.

a. the resurgence of the daily newspaper as the only credible source for news

b. a dramatic expansion of news as a consumer product

c. a dramatic compression of freedom of speech

d. less substance in news reports

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: An Ever-Changing News Media

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

29. The proliferation of alternative media gives viewers the opportunity ______.

a. to choose news sources that create the most dissonance with their views

b. to see even more contextualized news because websites provide more data

c. to opt out of consuming political information all together

d. to become well-informed voters and participants

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Legacy News as a Consumer Product: How the News Gets “Made”

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

30. Which of the following complicated the quest for consumers by legacy news outlets?

a. the rise of the Internet as a form of information transmission

b. the increase in cable TV subscription costs

c. the decline of newspapers as a news medium

d. the proliferation of news media agencies

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Legacy News as a Consumer Product: How the News Gets “Made”

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

31. Venues in which reporters are permanently assigned are referred to as ______.

a. beats

b. frames

c. primes

d. embeds

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Legacy News as a Consumer Product: How the News Gets “Made”

Difficulty Level: Easy

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

32. At the national level, regular news beats include all of the following except for ______.

a. the White House

b. Congress

c. the Pentagon

d. state legislatures

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Legacy News as a Consumer Product: How the News Gets “Made”

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

33. Which of the following statements regarding the beat system is true?

a. Beat reporters routinely file stories or updated throughout the day.

b. They can report remotely.

c. The system is quite inefficient, but it is still widely used.

d. Beat reporters view reporters from other news organizations as competitors, rather than colleagues.

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Legacy News as a Consumer Product: How the News Gets “Made”

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

34. “Pack journalism” refers to ______.

a. journalists traveling abroad to find a story

b. journalists repeating the same story because they talk to one another and validate each other’s reporting

c. journalists hovering around one person to ask questions

d. journalists crowding outside the hall of a congressional hearing to try to cover the story all at the same time

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Beat

Difficulty Level: Easy

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

35. The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism have identified ______ as the cornerstones of journalistic integrity and ethics.

a. honesty and loyalty

b. verification and independence

c. collegiality and accuracy

d. trust and accountability

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Reporting

Difficulty Level: Easy

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

36. Which of the following criteria is not typically employed when the media decide whether or not to include a story in the newspaper or broadcast?

a. the level of controversy

b. negativity—bad news is preferred to good news

c. foreign or domestic policy

d. authority and status of a source

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Selecting the News

Difficulty Level: Hard

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

37. When politicians participate in news making, they usually have one or both of two audiences in mind—the public and ______.

a. fellow politicians

b. soft money donors

c. newspaper editors and reporters

d. political scientists

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: News as the Product of Politics

Difficulty Level: Easy

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

38. The relationship between politicians and reporters can best be described as ______.

a. built on a tension between reciprocity and competition

b. a principal–agent relationship in which the politicians are principals and the reporters are agents

c. a principal–agent relationship in which the reporters are principals and the politicians are agents

d. built on a complementary interaction between a monopoly and the regulators

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: News as the Product of Politics

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

39. When politicians strategically give important information to the news media on the condition that its source not be identified by name, this is referred to as ______.

a. a plumber

b. a trial balloon

c. a leak

d. a stopper

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: News as the Product of Politics

Difficulty Level: Easy

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

40. The Watergate scandal broke and Richard Nixon was forced to resign largely due to which of the following?

a. the Senate investigation spurred by the “leaks” of “Deep Throat,” later claimed to be Federal Bureau of Investigation bureaucrat Mark Felt

b. the House investigation into impropriety in the savings and loan industry

c. the House banking scandal

d. a casual conversation between President Nixon and Henry Kissinger, which was overheard by a reporter at a state dinner

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: News as the Product of Politics

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

41. The franking privilege ______.

a. gives members of Congress free unlimited broadcast time on C-SPAN

b. refers to confidential information given to reporters under the condition that they not reveal their sources

c. refers to the weekly free lunches members of Congress provide reporters

d. allows members of Congress free access to the postal system for official correspondence

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Strategic Relations between Politicians and Reporters

Difficulty Level: Easy

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

42. What have presidents found that generates positive news coverage?

a. staying inside the White House and acting too busy to speak with the press

b. public arguments with their spouses and making jokes about their spouses

c. foreign travel and visits to disaster sites

d. refusing to salute foreign flags when abroad or shake hands with dignitaries of lower rank than president

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Strategic Relations between Politicians and Reporters

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

43. Sen. Joseph McCarthy always appeared before television cameras with loose sheets of paper, which he could wave at the camera and claim contained the names of known ______.

a. communists in the State Department

b. KKK members in the Justice Department

c. undercover reporters in the Federal Bureau of Investigation

d. felons who contributed to the President’s reelection campaign

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Strategic Relations between Politicians and Reporters

Difficulty Level: Easy

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

44. Walter Lippman’s view of the press was ______.

a. holding politicians accountable for all of their actions

b. providing the information a good citizen needed to know to function in a democracy

c. engaging in muckraking so that the endemic corruption would be exposed and citizens should be cynical of their government

d. working closely with politicians to gently lead the public in the right direction on the most important matters of public policy

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: How Legacy News is Produced: Content and Form

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

45. How has the importance of making profits affected the news media?

a. It means that media must work harder than ever to remain a trusted brand.

b. News outlets do everything they can to attract and keep an audience.

c. Most news outlets have gotten smaller and more specialized.

d. They have been forced to raise their prices so fewer Americans are able to get information.

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: How Legacy News is Produced: Content and Form

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

46. Sensationalization involves ______.

a. making sure that the audience gets what it wants so it will tune in and come back

b. making sure that the audience gets what it needs so it will return to a trusted brand

c. making sure that headlines accurately convey the gist of the story

d. making things up about public figures since the media is protected from libel

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: How Legacy News is Produced: Content and Form

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

47. The role of infotainment in the current media environment ______.

a. has declined and has been replaced by news produced through the craft of reporting

b. is largely confined to cable networks while the broadcast networks focus on hard news

c. means that it is harder to mix argument and assertion in with fact and verification

d. can prove highly informative for people who are not that interested in public affairs or current events

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Speed

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

48. How have the courts played a vital role in protecting the media under the First Amendment?

a. by limiting government efforts to exercise prior restraint and limiting the press’s exposure to libel and slander laws

b. by ruling that the press is a constitutionally protected fourth branch of the government that may write anything it wishes

c. by limiting the subsidies provided to news organizations to ensure their independence

d. by requiring politicians to answer questions from the press and expanding the availability of government documents

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Limits on the Media

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

49. What does the example of the Pentagon Papers illustrates about the doctrine of prior restraint?

a. The government can easily make a case that the press should not be allowed to publish national security documents while the nation is at war.

b. The courts have been skeptical of the claims of the press, and the government can operate under a presumption of secrecy.

c. Exercising prior restraint requires the government to demonstrate that the publication of documents would damage national security.

d. The Supreme Court prefers to avoid these issues so the legislative and executive branches can resolve the problems.

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Prior Restraint

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

50. Americans prefer to ______.

a. watch the news

b. read the news

c. surf the web for the news

d. listen to the news

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.3: Explain the demand for news and how news affects people.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Where People Get Their News

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

51. What is the term for when the news media affects the criteria with which we evaluate candidates or elected leaders?

a. agenda setting

b. coordination

c. low information rationality

d. priming

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.3: Explain the demand for news and how news affects people.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Agenda Setting and Priming

Difficulty Level: Easy

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

52. Most people get to fake news from ______.

a. web searches

b. social media

c. radio podcasts

d. local news sources

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.3: Explain the demand for news and how news affects people.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Agenda Setting and Priming

Difficulty Level: Easy

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

53. What role does the press play in helping citizens monitor their elected leaders?

a. They help by evaluating the claims of politicians and determining whether they are telling the truth.

b. The press ferrets out incompetence and malfeasance when challengers fail to perform due diligence.

c. They help create informational shortcuts so voters can digest news more easily.

d. They adopt a hostile tone toward the government so citizens are not easily fooled by promises.

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.4: Describe the relationship between politicians and reporters.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: News Media as the “Fourth Branch”

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

54. The medium of Internet communication ______.

a. is well suited for the cultivation of cozy politician–press relations

b. makes it unlikely the public is well informed on many political issues

c. is conducive to the flourishing of a prisoner’s dilemma between reporters and government officials

d. makes it likely the public is well informed on many political issues

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.4: Describe the relationship between politicians and reporters.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Politician—Press Relations Then and Now

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

True/False

1. Traditional, legacy news outlets are organizations that gather, package, and transmit the news through some proprietary communications technology.

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Development of the News Business

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

2. Since newspapers were the only source of news in colonial times, those who established successful newspapers could earn a good living.

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Economics of Early Newspapers

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

3. Not only did the editors of penny press newspapers squeeze out space devoted to party politics but they muted their partisan affiliations to appeal to a wider audience.

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Rise of the Penny Press

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

4. Radio remains a critical source of news even as the talk radio format has declined because of alternative ways of expressing opinions.

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Emergence of Radio and Television

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

5. Digital and online technology has enabled legacy outlets to embrace new ways to connect citizens to the news.

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Digital Revolution: Internet and Mobile

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

6. The advent of radio not only introduced a major new player to a news industry; it exploited a commons—the airwaves.

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: A Tragedy of the Commons: Broadcast Technology Introduces Regulation

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

7. New communications technology drives old technologies out of business.

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: An Ever-Changing News Media

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

8. Proving libel requires injured individuals to prove that a story was false and that a news producer acted with malice by publishing a damaging story it knew to be false.

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Slander and Libel

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

9. The news media serve as strictly a neutral conduit for the flow of civic information to their intended audience.

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Selecting the News

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

10. The press have the power to shape people’s priorities, but not to persuade them or change their attitudes about issues or politicians.

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.3: Explain the demand for news and how news affects people.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Agenda Setting and Priming

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

Essay

1. How did the first papers of the “penny press” attract new readers?

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Rise of the Penny Press

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

2. Explain how government regulation prevented a tragedy of the commons in the broadcasting industry.

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.1: Summarize the development of media as a business and the role technology has played over time.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: A Tragedy of the Commons: Broadcast Technology Introduces Regulation

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

3. How have technological advances changed the news media?

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Legacy News as a Consumer Product: How the News Gets “Made”

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

4. Explain the ways the news media has adapted to technological innovation.

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: How Legacy News is Produced: Content and Form

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

5. How is news on social media generated?

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: How News on Social Media is Generated

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

6. Where do people get their news?

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.3: Explain the demand for news and how news affects people.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Where People Get Their News

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

7. Why do politicians sometimes try to communicate with other politicians through the news media rather than privately?

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: News as the Product of Politics

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

8. How, and using what criteria, do the media decide which stories to include in their papers and broadcasts?

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.2: Discuss the ways in which the news is a consumer product and how that influences the news.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Selecting the News

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

9. Explain the changes in how the news media covers politicians.

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.4: Describe the relationship between politicians and reporters.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Political—Press Relations Then and Now

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.

10. Explain the prisoner’s dilemma faced because of the relationship between the press and politicians.

KEY: Learning Objective: 14.4: Describe the relationship between politicians and reporters.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Political—Press Relations Then and Now

Difficulty Level: Medium

TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.