Multiple-Choice Quiz

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Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the question.

This activity contains 23 questions.

Which of the following is the central idea of democracy?

	Citizens should control what educational institutions teach.
	Ordinary citizens should control what their government does.
	Government should control what citizens do.
	Government is too complex for ordinary citizens to understand, thus the need for representatives.
	Ordinary citizens should choose their representatives.

When the news media dig up facts and warn the public about corrupt public officials, the media are playing which of the following roles?

	serving as a channel of communication
	providing views concerning public policy
	acting as a watchdog
	helping voters distinguish among candidates
	acting as gatekeepers

Which amendment guarantees freedom of the press?

	the First Amendment
	the Fourth Amendment
	the Fifth Amendment
	the Tenth Amendment
	the Seventh Amendment

The media in the United States are widely regarded as:

	being hindered in their reporting by strict secrecy laws that limit what the press can say.
	enjoying greater freedom than their counterparts in other countries.
	being government owned and operated.
	tightly controlled by government.
	being too conservative.

Which of the following inventions revolutionized news gathering and transmission in the 1800s?

	pony express
	telephone
	typewriter
	telegraph
	long-distance cable

Today, the preeminent source of national and international news for most newspapers and a major source for television networks is:

	the International News Service.
	Scripps-Howard Service.
	the Associated Press.
	UPS.
	the BBC.

In the United States, the media are:

	government owned.
	run by the Federal Communications Corporation.
	usually very large, privately owned businesses.
	usually small businesses, since strict government regulations control how much media assets a corporation can control.
	publicly owned.

Which of the following factors lends support to the argument that the media are biased in favor of conservatism?

	Studies show that journalists hold conservative views.
	Most media outlets are owned by large corporations.
	Only news with a conservative slant captures the attention of the general public.
	The organizational structure of the news business contributes to a conservative view of the world.
	Opinion polls show that most Americans are conservative and the media cater to them.

What is the most important source for stories appearing in American newspapers and television news programs?

	wire service reports
	investigative reporting
	foreign correspondents
	video obtained from private citizens
	reliable anonymous sources

Which television network has a big advantage on fast-breaking news:

	ABC
	CBS
	CNN
	NBC
	HBO

Investigative reporting of the sort that Bernstein and Woodward did on Watergate is rare, because:

	it is controversial.
	it is time-consuming and expensive.
	the Watergate story discouraged government insiders from communicating with the press.
	reporters today are not as well trained.
	Americans are not interested in politics.

One pioneering study found that government officials, domestic or foreign, were the sources of nearly _____ of all news in The New York Times and the Washington Post.

	one-fourth
	one-half
	three-quarters
	one-tenth
	one-fifth

The heavy reliance on official sources means that government officials may often be able to control, to a large extent:

	what advertisers will pay for on T.V.
	what journalists report and how they report it.
	what news wire service a corporation utilizes.
	None of the answers is correct.
	who has access to government sources.

What is the most important problem that surrounds a heavy reliance on official sources for news reporting?

	News from official sources is created by government officials who may want to control how the news is reported.
	News from official sources is usually trivial and boring.
	News from official sources normally does not get printed or put on the air.
	News from official sources cannot be questioned and therefore must be taken as fact.
	News from official sources often is misleading.

Newsworthiness seems to depend upon such factors as:

	novelty.
	drama and human interest.
	celebrity.
	All of the answers are correct.
	high stakes.

The experts and commentators featured in the media are often ex-officials. They:

	are usually in harmony with the political currents of the day.
	tend to reflect opinions that differ significantly from those of the party in power in Washington, D.C.
	are almost without exception radicals.
	are almost without exception reactionary.
	are usually conservative.

Which of the following statements best describes the ideology of journalists as a whole in the United States?

	Journalists are somewhat more conservative than the average American.
	Journalists are rather moderate on everything except foreign policy issues, on which they are relatively liberal.
	Journalists are somewhat more liberal than the average American.
	Journalists are rather moderate on everything except domestic policy issues, on which they are relatively conservative.
	Journalists are moderate except for social issues, on which they are relativly conservative.

Which of the following statements describes a tendency in the American news media?

	The media tend to run stories generally approving of our American-style capitalist economic system and disapproving of variants or alternative systems.
	The media tend to present news about foreign affairs from an almost anti-American point of view.
	The media tend to present foreign affairs coverage that does not fit well with U.S. foreign policy.
	The media tend to stray away from reporting only what government officials say in order to avoid propagating government statements that are false or misleading.
	The media tend to exclude entertainment values from political reporting and news presentation.

The structural characteristics of the media mean that news, especially on television, tends to be:

	sustained, analytical, and dispassionate.
	sustained, analytical, and dramatic.
	episodic, fragmented, personalized, and dramatic.
	boring, undramatic, and commercialized.
	focused, contextual, and historically situated.

The topics that get the most coverage in the media are the same ones

	that most people tell pollsters are the most important problems facing the country.
	are the most dramatic events of the day.
	are a liberalized view of democracy.
	are a conservative view of democracy.
	that were in the news 50 years ago.

Overt censorship of the press has mainly been confined to:

	reporters covering the personal lives of public figures.
	wartime.
	issues involving foreign policy.
	issues involving domestic policy.
	moral issues such as abortion rights.

Which of the following best describes the level of government regulation of the media in the United States?

	a great deal
	not much
	more today than in the past
	more than in other counties
	not at all

FCC rules specify:

	the frequencies on which stations can broadcast.
	how many hours a station can operate.
	from whom the station can accept advertisements.
	All of the answers are correct.
	the percentage of revenue stations can collect from a single advertiser.

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