POLS 101 Quiz #9
If a radio station aired a personal attack against a candidate but refused to allow the same candidate the opportunity to respond to that attack on its station, the station would be in violation of the
right of rebuttal.
In the United States, freedom of the press is protected by
the First Amendment of the Constitution.
Which of the following is NOT a reason that many Americans appear to prefer online news?
the accuracy and objectivity compared to traditional media outlets
Which of the following stories would an American news outlet that relies primarily on advertising revenue be LEAST likely to cover?
an economics professor providing testimony to a congressional committee on the effect of tariffs
If a television station sold commercial time to a Republican candidate for governor but refused to sell time to the Democratic candidate for governor, this station would be in violation of the
equal time rule.
In 1985, the federal government stopped enforcing the ________, arguing that it was no longer necessary due to the increasing number of television and radio stations.
fairness doctrine
The term fake news is MOST accurately characterized as
false news stories circulated to generate ad revenue or to benefit one political candidate or party over another.
The dramatic rise in political information and the increasing diversity of the media have
had very little impact on the average levels of political knowledge in the American public.
Advertising revenue at print newspapers is currently ________ what it was in 2005.
half
Besides their ideological biases, journalists also exhibit selection biases in favor of news stories they view as
having a great deal of dramatic or entertainment value.
According to political scientist Jonathan Ladd, trust in the mainstream media has declined over the last 50 years as a result of
increased competition in party politics and journalism.
A widely circulated story that the pope endorsed Donald Trump for president in 2016 was a good example of
"fake news."
If public concern and interest in data security issues increased after a number of television and newspaper stories about "hacking," it would be an example of the media's ________ power.
agenda-setting
________ is the power the media has to shape what issues Americans think about, and ________ is the power the media has to influence how Americans think about those issues.
Agenda-setting; framing
Which of the following is a good example of a media monopoly?
Disney
Which agency regulates broadcast media?
Federal Communications Commission
The media's reporting of the Watergate affair led to
President Richard Nixon's resignation.
In recent years, ________ has released thousands of secret government documents, exposing government corruption, torture, and war crimes.
WikiLeaks
The Vietnam War initiated the growth of ________ journalism.
adversarial
Reporting in which the media adopt a skeptical or even hostile posture toward the government and public officials is referred to as
adversarial journalism.
The frequent reporting on the federal investigation by Robert Mueller regarding whether anyone close to Trump participated in Russia's 2016 election interference is an example of the media's commitment to
adversarial journalism.
The MOST important selection bias in news is the
audience appeal of a story.
The fairness doctrine required that
broadcasters who aired controversial issues provide time for opposing viewpoints.
News produced by individuals and organizations who are not employed as professional journalists is called
citizen journalism.
The greatest challenge for journalism organizations today is
generating enough revenue to finance traditional investigative journalism.
The ability to find and effectively evaluate information online is referred to as
information literacy.
Which of the following news sources reaches the MOST Americans?
television
Which group is LEAST likely to have high-speed internet access at home?
non-English-speaking Hispanics
Priming refers to the
process of preparing the public to bring specific criteria to mind when evaluating a politician or issue.
Digital subscription models in which people pay to access news content have proven to be a
profitable approach for many elite, national newspapers but not for smaller or midsized local newspapers.
"Filter bubbles" appear when
search engines automatically screen out information that might challenge or broaden a person's worldview.
Despite its widespread availability, ________ typically report(s) on the narrowest range of topics and provide(s) the least depth of news coverage.
television
The practice of training reporters to produce a standardized, seemingly neutral news product was the result of
the newspaper industry's realization that the best way to make a profit was to not alienate potential readers who held liberal or conservative political views.
The trend in concentration of traditional media ownership occurred in large part due to
the relaxation of government regulations in the 1980s and 1990s.
The media are sometimes referred to as the "fourth branch of government" because
they provide a check on the power of government and political leaders.
Political information is increasingly emanating from universities, think tanks, nonprofit organizations, and private foundations because
traditional news organizations have cut their budgets and investigative journalism efforts in recent years.
According to political scientist Amber Boydstun, the media has a(n) ________ for breaking stories and a(n) ________ for covering them in greater depth.
"alarm mode"; "patrol mode"
Which of the following statements best characterizes media ownership in the United States?
A small number of giant, privately owned corporations control most of the country's television networks, movie studios, record companies, cable channels, book publishers, magazines, newspapers, and digital media sites.
Which of the following statements best describes the media's role in the Watergate affair?
Relentless investigations by journalists revealed various abuses of power by President Nixon and led to his resignation.
Which of the following statements best describes where younger and older Americans get their news?
Social media tend to be a secondary news source after television for most Americans but a primary news source for the young.
Public broadcasting refers to any television, radio, and digital media that
receives funding from the public through license fees, subsidies, or tax dollars.
Which media source is regulated by the federal government?
television
Which of the following is an example of a public broadcasting organization?
the National Public Radio (NPR)
In the Pentagon Papers case, the Supreme Court ruled that
the government could not block the release of the papers.
If a number of newspapers published stories exposing an elected official's acceptance of monetary bribes from a corporation in exchange for passing a particular law, it would be an example of the media serving their role as a Group of answer choices
watchdog.
Facebook has more than ________ users worldwide.
2.2 billion
The number of radio stations in the United States has grown from ________ in 1990 to more than ________ today.
400; 2,000
Large media conglomerates, such as the Hearst, McClatchy, and Gannett corporations, own approximately ________ percent of daily newspapers.
75
It is estimated that more than ________ percent of Americans have a television.
95
Privately owned media companies in the United States earn most of their revenue from
advertising.
Individuals with home high-speed internet access and the technology and literacy skills to use it are called
digital citizens.
Political scientists sometimes describe social media as "the new dinner table" because
discussions of politics and current events on social media occur within a network of friends and family.
In the United States today, the government
does not own but regulates the content and ownership of broadcast media.
All of the following are important roles for the media in American democracy EXCEPT
enabling privately owned companies to advertise their products to the public.
The ________ provides candidates for the same political office equal opportunities to communicate their messages.
equal time rule
Social media usage tends to
exaggerate partisan polarization among the mass public because people pick their own friend networks and can avoid disagreeable ideas.
The traditional news media aim to provide objective reporting on current events by
excluding the personal views of reporters or editors from their coverage.
During the 2016 campaign, Hillary Clinton received ________amount of media coverage as Donald Trump.
half the
The Communications Decency Act
made it illegal to make "indecent" sexual material on the internet accessible to those under age 18.
