Chapter 2
According to Senator Bernie Sanders, what is the threat of major media conglomerates controlling the distribution of information?
Conglomerates will seek to make as much money as possible rather than accurately informing the American people.
Today's top-rated TV show draws how many television viewers compared to Cheers, the top-rated program in 1990?
fewer
Media that cater to a targeted small audience whose members share an important characteristic are practicing ______ marketing.
niche
Conglomeration can lead to the degradation of media content because of
the corporations' overriding concern with making a profit.
The message in the traditional mass communication model is typically
inflexible and unalterable.
Which of the following are examples of the effects of conglomeration?
- A media outlet increases the number of its stories that have a primarily entertainment value. - A media outlet does not report on an investigation into financial corruption that mentions the media outlet's parent company.
Which of the following statements regarding U.S. box office revenue in the twenty-first century are true?
- Box office revenue reaches over $11 billion per year. - Box office revenue is generated by fewer tickets per person each year.
What are the characteristics of feedback in the traditional model of the mass communication process?
- Feedback produces little more than basic information about the audience. - Feedback is delayed. - Feedback is inferential.
Which of the following explain the current state of hypercommercialism?
- Media conglomerates need to find ways to pay for large media acquisitions. - Reaching fragmented audiences is more costly than reaching mass audiences.
Which of the following publications is an example of the practice of narrowcasting, or targeting?
Cooking Light
True or false: All 50 states have a daily newspaper reporter assigned to Washington, DC, to cover Congress.
False
True or false: CD music sales are the one area in which an established media industry has unquestionably thrived in the face of rapid technological change.
False
True or false: The "day-and-date release" experiment has been largely unsuccessful, as it makes it seem like the producers already know the program will fail.
False
Which statement is true of recent movie attendance in the United States?
Only 13% of Americans go to the movies once a month or more.
To accompany its hit series The Walking Dead, the cable network AMC produces ______, a type of content that appears only on the Internet.
webisodes
In the past fifteen years, the share of all television viewing commanded by the four major television broadcast networks has
declined significantly.
As the characteristics of media consumption have changed, media industries are adjusting to be able to cater to an audience that is
fragmented into a great number of niches.
The ownership of media outlets by large, multinational conglomerates is an example of
globalization.
The increase in the number of advertising minutes in a typical broadcast is an example of
hypercommercialism.
In what ways is the concentration of ownership of media companies a disaster for democracy, according to Senator Bernie Sanders?
- Owners do not feel bound to the idea of providing diverse opinions on an issue. - The function of media companies that control the news has become to make as much money as they possibly can. - Major media conglomerates are not focused on educating the American people.
Which of the following are ways that video-game consoles exemplify convergence?
- The consoles allow users to view online movies. - The consoles provide access the Internet. - The consoles offer original programming.
Which of the following statements about music CD sales in recent years are accurate?
- The number of music CDs sold fell between 2016 and 2018. - The dollar value of music CD sales dropped between 2014 and 2015.
According to New York University law professor Burt Neuborne, conglomeration has led to sensationalism in the press for which of the following reasons?
- The press is no longer controlled by persons feeling a zealous responsibility to the First Amendment. - The press is now subject to a market psychology.
Which of the following statements about large, media-owning corporations are accurate?
- They tend to be dominated by a bottom-line mentality in which the profit incentive rules. - They may run businesses other than the media companies they own.
Which of the following are examples of how major media organizations have reacted to user-produced content?
- Traditional media outlets often make use of content sources that were previously seen as amateurs. - Major print and online news organizations often make use of a large network of unpaid contributors. - Some media companies frequently air viewer-created videos.
Which of the following are general concerns when large, multinational conglomerates make the majority of media acquisitions?
- With an eye toward an expanding worldwide market, media companies may tailor their content to the widest possible global audience. - Local media industries and local cultures will be overwhelmed by the programs of large, multinational conglomerates. - Foreign corporations may try to influence media content to suit their own purposes.
Which of the following are examples of types of feedback in the traditional model of the mass communication process?
- a television program's ratings - box office statistics for a film - a magazine's circulation
Which of the following are examples of consumers who are content producers?
- an individual who publishes a blog - two friends making a digital video movie - a musician releasing her music online
Media consumers are becoming
- less of a mass audience. - more fragmented.
Narrow, demographically targeted audiences may be in danger of
- losing their ability to connect with members of other demographically targeted audiences. - having narrower cultural experiences.
Which of the following factors have forced media companies to change the way they do business?
- rapid change in technology - change in consumption behavior
Concentration of media ownership has contributed to the emergence of news deserts, which
- result in voters who are less politically engaged. - result in severely limited access to local political news. - are communities starved for vital news due to a lack of journalistic resources.
Which of the following have fueled media convergence?
- the digitization of information - continual advancement in technology - high-speed connectivity
Which of the following are examples of media convergence?
- the simultaneous release of a music CD in stores, streaming for free on the Internet, and available for temporary download through a music site - the launch of a film in theaters as well as on demand via a satellite television provider, on the iPad, and streamed over the Internet
What is it about the concentration of media ownership that has contributed to increasing media convergence?
A company with multiple channels of delivery has a strong incentive to employ as many of them as possible to get the greatest use from its content.
Which of the following statements regarding the ownership of media companies is accurate?
A small number of large conglomerates own most media outlets.
How has concentration of ownership of media companies impacted the information that is available to consumers?
Media mergers have limited the range of information available to consumers.
The Breaking News app, which brings news on more than 90,000 topics to people and news organizations alike, is an example of a(n)
RSS feed.
Which of the following statements about changes in press coverage of government is accurate?
The number of full-time statehouse newspaper journalists has declined considerably since 2003.
Which of the following describes characteristics of the way in which a programming message is delivered in the traditional mass communication process?
The results are finite, with a program either succeeding or failing.
How have major media organizations reacted to user-produced content?
They have embraced it.
How do addressable technologies affect audience unity?
They make audiences increasingly fragmented.
In what way can even users of social networking sites like Facebook now be considered content producers?
Though some users simply connect with friends and family, many others often post all variety of personally created content.
True or false: New technologies have dramatically blurred the distinctions among various types of media.
True
True or false: New technologies that have changed the way we interact with mass media have caused a great deal of turmoil for the established media industries.
True
A regularly updated online journal is known as
a blog.
Technologies that allow the transmission of very specific content to very specific users are called ______ technologies.
addressable
Which of the following is the best definition of a blog?
an online journal
The consumption of content at a time predetermined by a producer and distributor is called ______ consumption.
appointment
Which of the following is the type of consumption that is characteristic of the traditional mass communication process?
appointment consumption
Which of the following refers to the process by which the audience becomes less of a mass audience and its individual segments become more narrowly defined?
audience fragmentation
The major challenge facing media industries today is that of
capturing a mass audience that has become fragmented.
When Dan Rather stated that "The larger the entities that own and control the news operations, the more distant they become," he was alluding to the idea that
conglomeration has made news outlets more responsible to the profit motive than to news reporting.
The ownership of media outlets by larger, nonmedia companies is called
conglomeration.
The erosion of traditional distinguishing characteristics of specific types of media is called
convergence.
Integrating branded products into media content for a fee is called
product placement.
The deliberate appearance of a Coca-Cola product on an episode of American Idol is an example of
product placement.
To what does the term "day-and-date release" refer?
releasing a movie in a combination of theater, DVD, download, or video-on-demand simultaneously
Groups of demographically targeted people who share an interest in a specific form of media content are called
taste publics.
What is the function of an RSS aggregator?
to help users collect content related to their personal interests
A Web-only television program is known as a(n)
webisode.
