COMM 260 Exam 1 Quiz Review

Reporters are urged to conduct some research before interviewing a source and compile a list of questions for that individual. Once that listed is compiled, the reporter should never depart from the list of questions.

False

People sometimes don't feel like telling their names to a reporter, so it's OK to regularly use their comments in a routine news story as coming from anonymous (or unnamed) sources.

False Reporters should protect the identity of sources by withholding their names only when those sources provide vital information that cannot be obtained by conventional, on-the-record means, and the sources have a legitimate reason not to be named. "I'd prefer not to use my name" is not a legitimate reason.

The Red Sox defeated the ____________ .

Yankees 19-1 Use figures and place a hyphen between the totals of the winning and losing teams. Don't place a comma before the score unless you employ this format: Red Sox 19, Yankees 1.

Which quote attribution follows AP style?

"I am not a crook," President Richard Nixon said. Follow subject (President Richard Nixon) / verb (said) order.

7. {Mrs. Fred Greene/Josephine Greene/Ms. Josephine Greene) won the (womans/womens/ woman's/ women's) (golf/ Golf) (Tournament/ tournament).

Josephine Greene women's golf tournament

All of the following were cited in this lesson module as important COMM 260 "reporting considerations" EXCEPT:

Sit toward the front and as close to center stage as possible in case you want to take pictures to accompany your story.

Students don't need to worry about reporting the number of people in the audience for the speeches they cover. They can simply describe a well-attended speech as "standing room only."

false

Learning to effectively gather information (news reporting) and present it efficiently (news writing) are skills that can also be useful in career paths other than journalism.

true

The obituary might be the most extensive appearance in print for an average individual from the community who is not a star athlete, prominent business leader, elected official or some other type of celebrity.

true

The preferred term for indicating attribution in news stories is said.

true Fanciful synonyms for said can sometimes carry unwanted "baggage" or distract from the quotes themselves. Additionally, the past tense (said) is generally preferred over the present tense says. Check with your lab instructor for additional guidance on the choice between said and says.

The newspaper story indicated the city council will meet ___________ .

(THURSDAY OR TODAY) Thursday We are told to use the actual day of the week, especially in print, to avoid confusion. Even online, "today" can be confusing if the story remains visible for more than one day. We can also get the same advice by going right to the "today" entry.

Reporters should make it a habit to close all of their interviews with a series of three "Magic Questions."

-How can I reach you again? -Who else should I interview? -Is there anything else you'd like to tell me?

6. Only (three / 3) (% I per cent / percent) of the population in 2003 bought duct tape and plastic for their windows when (President / president) Bush put the country on high alert for terrorist.

3 % President

When listing the service details in the obituary, which time reference follows AP style? Friends may call ______________ Thursday at the Smith Funeral Home, 44 W. Front St., Kingston, Pennsylvania.

7-9 p.m. When it's the full hour, we don't use a colon followed by double-zero, but it would be 7:30 p.m. Hopefully, you did not select an option that listed the time both ways. Remember, AP style is designed to ensure consistency.

Police responded to __________________ for a noise complaint.

836 S. Franklin St. Abbreviate street with a numbered address. Abbreviate compass points with a numbered address. Without a numbered address, it would be South Franklin Street.

The ophthalmologist office is at (nine / 9) Westwind (Avenue/ avenue / Av / ave.).

9 Ave.

The ____________ in a news story establishes the location for all of the action.

dateline

4. The (first lady/ First Lady) will return to the (presidential / Presidential) suites at 3 p.m.

first lady presidential

inverted pyramid

news stories the most important information appears at the top because busy readers might not finish the entire story, simply skimming the first few paragraphs.

He promised this:

no more company losses. Capitalize the first word after a colon only when it's a proper noun or the start of a complete sentence. (He promised this: The company would have no more losses.) Otherwise, lowercase the first letter of the first word following the colon.

The teacher did not appreciate the student's ____________ joke.

off-color retain the hyphen for a modifier when its absence might lead to confusion.

Select the quote that uses proper punctuation and follows AP style.

"My feet hurt after walking 17 miles," Walter Loomis said. "I need a rest." Punctuation appears inside of the quote marks. We need a comma before the close quote that precedes the attribution. And, since both comments from Loomis are complete thoughts, we need more than a comma to separate them.

Select the quote that uses proper punctuation and follows AP style.

"Who is knocking at the door?" Susan James asked. The question mark (?) replaces the comma (,) when the quote contains a question. Attribution must follow subject/verb order.

onetime, one time, one-time

"onetime" indicates a former status. "One-time" means it happened once. Since we've got a reference to "many newsrooms" that should also help us realize it is not just a single time. This illustrates the idea of individual — as opposed to thematic — entries.

He walked (4/four) miles

4 (pg. 89 or 212) Here is another special use of numbers that goes against the general rule of spelling out numerals less than 10. Always use figures for distances, regardless of whether measured in inches, feet or miles.

In an obituary listing where to send memorial donations, select the example that follows AP style. Memorial donations can be sent to Centre County Society for the Preservation of Peachy Paterno, ________________

417 Center Road, Bellefonte, PA 16823 "Road" spells out even with a numbered address. Use the abbreviation "PA" only as part of a mailing address that includes a ZIP code. Without the ZIP code, you'd spell out "Pennsylvania."

In an obituary for former Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, the second reference to the deceased would appear as _____________ according to AP style.

Agnew

Reporting for the Man on the Street story is very similar to conducting a scientific poll or survey. Therefore, the writer can safely present the results of his or her interviews as representative of a larger population when writing the story.

False This type of reporting does not employ the type of random statistical sampling found in polls or surveys. Writers need to be careful their MOTS stories do not come across as the result of a scientific poll or survey.

Penn State students who appear as sources in COMM 260W assignments need be identified only by their first and last names and their ages.

False Writers also need to include the students' major and class standing (junior, public relations or freshman, English) as part of their identification.

Reporters seeking an alternative to the single-sentence summary lead will usually find success by instead using a _________________.

Feature or Anecdotal Lead requires nut graf

When listing the date of birth of the individual named in the obituary, which one follows AP style?

Feb. 3, 1951 Abbreviate the months of January, February and August-December when accompanied by a day. And always use just the numeral. And, yes, this was the same question that appeared in the lesson interactives! We told you not to skim over that part of the online modules.

Casey Jones drove his Buick to Spencer, _________ last week.

North Carolina In the body of stories, states do not get abbreviated when accompanying the name of towns. In datelines, most state names get abbreviated — except Alaska, Hawaii and those states with five letters or less (Texas, Ohio, etc.). When abbreviating states, don't get confused by the postal code abbreviations that appear only with a mailing address that includes a ZIP code.

In a news story, which term represents the exact wording of the comments from a source interviewed by a reporter?

Quote Words placed inside of quotation marks represent the exact phrasing of what the source tells a reporter. While you can select what you plan to quote vs. what you plan to paraphrase, you cannot change the wording of a quote to make it appear more enticing.

Which sentence follows AP style? (Feel free to consult your stylebook. Think about what you learned earlier in this lesson.

Susan Greene walked to 9 Elm St.

11a. Many people in the (US / U.S. / United States / united states) are worried about the SARS (Virus I virus).

United States virus

He spent $19.

Use figures and the $ sign in all except casual references or amounts without a figure. Once we type the $ sign we don't want the redundant "dollars." When dealing with a whole number, don't use the decimal point followed by "00." (But, if prices went up, it would be $19.23.) And when a numeral starts a sentence, it must spell out. (Nineteen dollars is .... )

10. The flag is (red, white, and blue / red; white; and blue / red, white and blue / red, white & blue).

red, white and blue

Which of the following best describes the "Spotlight Test" and how you can use it to improve the quality of the writing in your news stories?

You can use the "Spotlight Test" to identify the best quotes you obtained from your sources -- the ones that add the most informational value and "bursts of life" to your story -- and make sure they stand out to engage readers. Correct. In the lesson, we discuss how you can use quotation marks like "spotlights" for your news stories. If you were staging a theatrical production, you would shine the spotlight only on the top performers to make an impact on the audience. Shine the spotlights on everyone in the show, including the bit players or inexperienced members of the chorus, and the stars' efforts may go unnoticed. In your news stories, the bursts of life will get lost if you "spotlight" even the routine information with quotation marks. Be selective. Quoting lots of people, or using lots of quotes from one individual, does not equate to great writing if the quotes themselves are repetitive or contain routine information that could be more effectively paraphrased.

Good journalism seeks to advocate or promote a cause by selecting only those facts that portray the subject in a positive light.

false

In the "flipped" classroom approach to teaching COMM 260W, students don't need to worry about the content of the online lessons because those concepts will be taught in the writing labs.

false

Journalists covering a speech need to focus on getting the speaker's quotes into their notes and should ignore any of the programs or brochures typically available to the audience.

false

Many speakers will open their presentations with jokes to loosen up the audience. Since these jokes are often funny, reporters should always use the speaker's joke as the first quotation in their stories covering the event.

false

News stories must have the same type of conclusion as essays.

false

Reporters should always use first-person when writing their news stories.

false

Since speaker coverage will focus largely on the comments from the individual giving the speech, writers should always employ a quote lead for their news stories.

false

Students who attend speeches given on campus can always count on using their smartphones, laptops or other digital/electronic devices to record the event or take notes.

false

When a reporter decides to paraphrase a source's comments instead of directly quoting him, the reporter does not need to attribute the information to the source.

false

When conducting interviews, reporters should always ask their source the most difficult or controversial question first to get it out of the way.

false

When conducting interviews, reporters should always rely solely on some type of digital recording device.

false

When doing a story about students' attitudes toward the CATA bus service, a reporter should not interview any students who do not ride the bus.

false

When rewriting a press release into a news story, the reporter must use the first paragraph of the press release for the lead of his or her story.

false

Writing a news story will be no different than writing an essay.

false

After a source is fully identified by first and last name, it's preferred that writers employ the pronouns "he" or "she" on second reference to that source.

false Writers should use the source's last name (Smith, Jones) on second reference to avoid possible confusion over attribution if paragraphs get moved around in the editing process.

the most important information appears at the top because busy readers might not finish the entire story, simply skimming the first few paragraphs.

false only most vital W's

Homer J. Simpson ran for _____________ did not win.

governor, but With a conjunction (and, but, for) appears linking two clauses that could stand along as separate sentences, use a comma after the conjunction only when the subject of the second clause is expressly stated: Homer J. Simpson ran for governor, but he did not win. When the subject of the second clause is not stated (and it's essentially the same as the subject of the first clause), don't use the comma. And why did we not capitalize the "g" in governor? It is not used as a formal title before the name!

As the country struggles to reduce debt, ___________ spending has been reduced.

health care 2 words

The following sentence uses ___________ voice: A suspect was arrested this morning by police.

passive active: police arrested a suspect this morning

9. One of the (potato/ potatoe) sacks weighted (4 / four) (lbs./ lb./pounds/pound) and the other weighed (11 / eleven) (oz./ ounces/oz./ozs.).

potato four pounds 11 oz.

Which term refers to the exact wording of what a source has told a reporter?

quote

Thousands of ________ were forced to flee their country following the earthquake.

refugees A "migrant" typically refers to an individual who moves from place to place for temporary work or other economic advantage; essentially, the move is made by choice. By contrast, a "refugee" is forced to leave his or her home to escape war, persecution or natural disaster.

5. Emily is taking a course in the (Sociology/sociology) and (English/english) (Departments /departments).

sociology English departments

Opinions can appear in a news story if _________________.

the opinions are directly attributed to sources via either quote or paraphrase

A typical paragraph in a news stories includes just one sentence.

true

Determining the reason for the speech can help guide a writer's choice of the lead for his or her story covering the event.

true

8. The (winter's/ Winter's) lowest temperature was (minus/ - ) (fourty / forty/ 40) (degree's/ degrees/ 00 ) .

winter's minus 40 degrees