Chapter 5: News-Making and News-Reporting Routines

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. Newspeople’s demographic profiles resemble ______.

A. the diversity reflected in the U.S. population

B. liberal democrats

C. white male college graduates

D. political extremists

2. Research suggests that most news caters to ______.

A. minorities and poor people

B. young people

C. older people

D. the tastes of audiences that advertisers find most attractive

3. Who are the chief sources in news?

A. ordinary citizens

B. celebrities

C. government officials

D. scientists and other experts

4. Who appears most in news stories?

A. ordinary citizens

B. familiar people such as entertainers, athletes, and prominent politicians

C. criminals

D. scientists and other experts

5. What topics appear most in news stories?

A. disagreements among government officials

B. impending or actual disasters

C. crime, scandals, and investigations

D. all of these

6. Which of the following groups is most likely to prefer entertainment news?

A. 18–34

B. 35–49

C. 50+

D. all of these

7. Which of the following are effects of gatekeeping?

A. novelty and excitement

B. familiarity and similarity

C. conflict and violence

D. all of these

8. Gatekeeping is ______.

A. the practice of barring news organizations from White House press briefings

B. when reporters are partitioned away from main speakers at public events

C. the process of selecting, editing, or rejecting stories

D. all of these

True/False

1. Digital media outlets are proving to have significantly more diversity in their newsrooms relative to major legacy newspapers.

Short Answer

1. What is gatekeeping? Who are the gatekeepers in news organizations?

2. Name five criteria journalists use for choosing news stories.

3. What are “pseudo-events”?

4. What are some of the structural and organizational changes in the news business in the twenty-first century that are thought to have harmed the quality of news?

5. How does civic journalism differ from traditional journalism?

6. How does the pressure to keep the news appealing to audiences influence its informative content?

7. How does the aim of attracting young viewers in particular shape news content?

8. What are the major consequences of the heavy news emphasis on conflict, violence, and bad news?

Essay

1. How do the norms and routines of journalists shape the content of political news coverage? Give some examples and explain why these influences on news content are important to consider.

2. What are the news production constraints that shape the news? How do these influence news content in ways that are important in a democratic society?

3. How do public relations efforts influence the news? Does PR influence on the news mean the news is a distortion of reality? Does it matter? Why or why not?

4. What are some of the characteristics of covering crises that make it challenging for journalists and unique relative to other types of coverage?

5. Describe the three major stages of crisis coverage.

6. What are some typical routines, behaviors, and/or values that journalists and news organizations follow? How might they shape or affect the news? How might they contribute to media bias or perceived media bias? What are the implications?