Chapter 14

Under which amendment is freedom of the press guaranteed?

First Amendment FEEDBACK: Mass Media and the Press in a Democracy. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech, the press, peaceable assembly, and religion. The First Amendment's clause on freedom of the press severely limits the government's ability to regulate the content reported by the press. The courts, for example, rarely allow the government to impose prior restraint or bans on printing material.

Since the media landscape in the United States is dominated by private media organizations, the profit motive influences the coverage of news. Which of the following scenarios is NOT more likely to occur because of the profit motive operating in American media?

National news networks spend a substantial amount of time each evening providing their audiences with detailed information about current policy debates. FEEDBACK: Mass Media Companies and the Profit Motive. The United States is one of the few industrialized democracies in which the overwhelming majority of media outlets are privately owned in a diversified market. Consequently, each media provider must turn a profit to remain viable. At times, this may mean that the press covers topics that generate ratings (such as crime reports or stories focusing on conflict) rather than serve the public interest (such as the nature of a policy debate).

In which of the following capacities would a news organization be the principal in a principal-agent problem?

Owners of media outlets trust reporters to distribute content. FEEDBACK: The Media as Principals and Agents. In "Owners of media outlets trust reporters to distribute content," the owners of media companies wish for content to be distributed through their printing presses or airwaves, and they commission journalists to do this. Because the company is relying on another actor to do a job for it, the company is the principal and the journalists are the agent. However, the media sometimes serves as an agent, and "Candidates communicate their message to voters through the media" actually offers an example of a situation in which media companies are agents for candidates who were principals.

Suppose a study showed that people who work in the banking and finance industry follow news about monetary policy and the Federal Reserve Bank more than people who work in other industries. Which hypothesis does this offer evidence of?

agenda hypothesis FEEDBACK: Media Effects. The agenda hypothesis asserts that people choose media programming on the basis of personal interest. Since members of the finance industry are likely to be personally affected by monetary policy, evidence like this would suggest that the agenda hypothesis is right. By contrast, the partisan hypothesis maintains that individuals consume news that matches their own partisan and ideological dispositions, and the engagement hypothesis proposes that many individuals follow politics like a hobby. Interactive hypothesis is a fabricated answer.

Regulations against a single group or individual owning multiple broadcast companies have gone largely unenforced for decades. What has been a consequence of discontinuing these regulations?

consolidation of many newspapers, radio stations, and TV stations into large companies FEEDBACK: Government Regulation. Each of these answers describes a recent trend in American media. However, the only trend that would not have occurred without dropping these regulations is the consolidation of media outlets into large companies. Firms such as Knight-Ridder and McClatchy own many newspapers across different locales, but they would not be permitted to do this if the old regulations were still in place.

Suppose that a local news broadcast includes an announcement of the location and time of a neighborhood's next Neighborhood Watch meeting. What role of the press does this serve?

coordinating public actions FEEDBACK: Mass Media and the Press in a Democracy. The public faces a variety of coordination problems. In this case, individuals may want to assist the Neighborhood Watch effort, but if they are unclear on where and when to meet or how best to organize their actions, then they may fail to effectively accomplish their goals. Broadcasting information about this effort helps resolve this coordination problem.

Imagine that a newspaper called the Faux Gazette tries to cover stories on all topics it considers to be politically relevant. However, when the Gazette reports stories on threats to national security, this paper chooses to give less column space to these stories than it does to other stories. What is this an example of?

coverage bias FEEDBACK: Are the American Press and Mass Media Biased?. Coverage bias refers to a tendency for a media outlet to give less attention to certain kinds of stories or aspects of stories. This is different from gatekeeping bias, which refers to a decision not to cover certain stories at all. In this example, the Gazette is choosing to underreport on national security threats, which is an example of coverage bias.

In summer 2011, Congress debated whether to raise the debt limit. Some reports focused more on the negative consequences of a poor credit rating in the case of default, while others discussed how Tea Party members of Congress pushed for fiscal austerity. What kinds of effect might these different stories have on readers and viewers?

framing FEEDBACK: Media Effects. Framing refers to the way in which media reports can influence the weight people attach to certain aspects of a complicated problem or policy issue. The debate over the debt ceiling is an example of such a complicated problem, and these different ways of reporting on the debate could change how people think about the issue. Hence, framing is the best answer. The distinction from priming is subtle, as priming refers to highlighting certain information to influence the criteria people use to evaluate a subject.

Throughout the duration of the Cold War, the stories emanating from major media organizations in the United States focused on military aspects and did not report stories about the Soviet Union's economic stability. This is an example of __________ bias.

gatekeeping FEEDBACK: Mass Media Companies and the Profit Motive. Gatekeeping bias is the tendency for the media or a particular media outlet to fail to report stories of a particular nature.

In 1971, the Nixon administration attempted to prevent the New York Times and other newspapers from printing the Pentagon Papers, a collection of information about the Vietnam War. What kind of action was the government trying to take?

imposing prior restraint FEEDBACK: Government Regulation. Prior restraint refers to governmental actors preventing media outlets from publishing particular material, usually on the grounds that the information will jeopardize public safety or national security. In the ensuing case of New York Times Company v. United States (1971), the Supreme Court ruled that prior restraint could only be used in extraordinary circumstances.

The methods or technologies people use for communication, such as phones, radio, newspapers, television, and the Internet, are called

media FEEDBACK: Mass Media and the Press in a Democracy. This is the definition of media. "Media" simply refers to means of communication, regardless of how they are used. The term can be used to refer to both private media (such as calling a friend) and mass media (such as airing a news broadcast).

Journalist Wolf Blitzer, Fox News, the Washington Post, and commentator George Will are all members of the

press FEEDBACK: Mass Media and the Press in a Democracy. The press consists of the people and organizations that provide content about public affairs (news and commentary) that is disseminated across media. All four of these actors are providers of such content, so they make up members of the press.

In most democracies other than the United States,

public media companies are at the center of political news gathering. FEEDBACK: In Comparison: Mass Media. Australia, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom all serve as examples of countries with a publicly owned, but editorially independent, public media company. Among industrialized democracies, this is commonly the case, so "public media companies are at the center of political news gathering" is the best choice. "The media are owned by a wide variety of private outlets" is wrong because the American system is not common among industrialized democracies, "private ownership is concentrated in the hands of a small number of individuals" is wrong because this is the case only in a few democracies (such as Italy), and "public media companies are at the center of political news gathering" is wrong because this is not true in free democracies but only in authoritarian nations.

Which of the following statements is true about the development of newspapers in the United States?

Early newspapers in the United States were partisan and sensational but became more objective and professionalized in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. FEEDBACK: Trends in Media and the Press. The rise of mass newspapers occurred in response to developments in the late nineteenth century. During this time, news stories were often sensational, to the extent that magnate William Randolph Hearst's newspapers are often thought to have stirred up sentiment to start the Spanish-American War in 1898. In the late nineteenth century, new codes of journalistic conduct emphasized objective reporting.

Which Federal Communications Commission policy, which is now defunct, required television and radio stations to present at least two sides of every controversial issue?

Fairness Doctrine FEEDBACK: Government Regulation. The purpose of the Fairness Doctrine was to create news coverage that was honest, equitable, and balanced. As a result of a number of legal challenges and a broader interpretation of the public interest under the Reagan administration, the policy has not been enforced for years.

What are mass media?

media that are intended to be publicly available, or at least targeted at large numbers of people FEEDBACK: Mass Media and the Press in a Democracy. Mass media are media meant for the broader public, such as television broadcasts or websites. This contrasts with private media, which are used for communication that will not be shared with others. "The methods or technologies people use for communication, such as phones, radio, newspapers, television, and the Internet" defines media, "the people and organizations that provide content about public affairs (news and commentary) that is disseminated across media" defines the press, and "programming that is intended primarily to entertain but also provides political news" defines infotainment.

Following the 2003 Iraq War, the New York Times, and the Washington Post apologized to the American public for not being critical enough of President George W. Bush's foreign policy. These media organizations acknowledged that they had failed to fulfill one of their obligations. Which of the following roles did these organizations fail to fulfill?

serving as a watchdog of the government FEEDBACK: Mass Media and the Press in a Democracy. All four of these answers define roles that the press serves for society. In particular, the press serves to evaluate government and acts as one part of society that actively monitors how ethically government officials are acting. These major media organizations apologized for not serving as an effective watchdog of the government.

When Fox News covers actions of President Obama from a conservative perspective and television personalities interject opinions into their reporting, this is an example of

statement bias. FEEDBACK: Are the American Press and Mass Media Biased?. Statement bias is the tendency for the media or a particular media outlet to interject opinions into the coverage of an issue. Coverage bias is the tendency for a media outlet to give less attention in terms of column space or air time to certain kinds of stories or aspects of stories. Gatekeeping bias is the tendency for the media or a particular media outlet to fail to report stories of a particular nature. The Fairness Doctrine, which was enforced until 1987, was designed to create news coverage that was honest, equitable, and balanced.

During what era was there the greatest emphasis on unbiased, moderate news coverage?

the 1960s and 1970s, when network television news was dominant FEEDBACK: Trends in Media and the Press. During the 1960s and 1970s, large numbers of Americans watched the nightly news on the ABC, CBS, and NBC television networks. To prevent viewer losses to the other networks, each of these stations emphasized balanced and unbiased reporting. The rise of new media such as cable TV and the Internet offers a wide array of content sources, so many outlets now will adopt a particular stance to win a niche of viewers, making "the 1980s, as cable television rose in prominence" and "the 1990s, as the Internet became a news source" wrong. "The early nineteenth century" is wrong because in the early nineteenth century, newspapers were highly partisan and often party-owned.

Which of the following has been a consequence of the proliferation of cable TV networks and websites?

the development of outlets designed to appeal to specific tastes and political attitudes FEEDBACK: Trends in Media and the Press. With the rise of many alternatives by which Americans can consume news, specializing content to appeal to particular tastes and political viewpoints can increase the likelihood of obtaining a niche audience. This contrasts, for example, with the era of network news, in which there were three major providers of TV news so no network wanted to risk losing viewers by taking a biased stance.