Chapter 4: Newspapers
Chapter 4: Newspapers
Test Questions
1. Among the earliest “newspapers” were the daily reports of the actions of the Roman Senate,
called
a. broadsides.
b. Acta Diurna.
c. corantos.
d. diurnals.
2. Seventeenth-century one-page news sheets about events on the European continent, which
were printed in English in Holland and imported into England by booksellers, were called
a. broadsides.
b. Acta Diurna.
c. corantos.
d. diurnals.
3. Englishmen Nathaniel Butter, Thomas Archer, and Nicholas Bourne published the first true
forerunners of our daily newspaper in the 1640s, using the same title for consecutive editions.
They called their news sheets
a. broadsides.
b. Acta Diurna.
c. corantos.
d. diurnals.
4. Single-sheet announcements or accounts of events imported from England and posted on
walls in the American colonies were called
a. broadsides.
b. Acta Diurna.
c. corantos.
d. diurnals.
5. The first newspaper printed in the colonies lasted only one day. Its publisher, Benjamin Harris,
called it
a. Publick Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestick.
b. Boston News-letter.
c. New-England Courant.
d. Pennsylvania Gazette.
Baran: Introduction to Mass Communication: Media Literacy and Culture, 9e TB-4 | 2
whole or part.
6. In 1734, New York Weekly Journal publisher _____________ was jailed for publishing
“scandalous libels” about the governor of Massachusetts. Nonetheless, it established the fact
that a popular paper could challenge authority.
a. Peter Zenger
b. Benjamin Franklin
c. James Franklin
d. John Campbell
7. Benjamin Franklin demonstrated that financial independence, based on advertising sales and
other nonofficial economic support, could lead to editorial independence for his newspaper,
the
a. Publick Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestick.
b. Boston News-letter.
c. New-England Courant.
d. Pennsylvania Gazette.
8. The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution are called the
a. Emancipation Proclamation.
b. Magna Carta.
c. Freedom of Speech and Press.
d. Bill of Rights.
9. The 1798 _____________ made illegal the writing, publishing, or printing of “any false
scandalous and malicious writing” about the president, Congress, or the federal government.
a. Stamp Act
b. Bill of Rights
c. Alien and Sedition Acts
d. First Amendment
10. With the turn of the nineteenth century, urbanization, growing industries, the movement of
workers to the cities, and increasing literacy combined to create an audience for a new kind
of paper, one in which the price per copy was very low but on which publishers could make a
profit by selling advertising. These papers were known as
a. yellow journalism.
b. the penny press.
c. pulp papers.
d. tabloids.
11. The first penny paper was the _____________, first published by Benjamin Day in 1833.
a. New York Morning Herald
b. New York Tribune
Chapter 4: Newspapers
c. New York Sun
d. Chicago Tribune
12. One penny paper, Horace Greeley’s _____________, established the mass newspaper as a
powerful medium of social action through its use of non-sensationalistic, issues-oriented, and
humanitarian reporting.
a. New York Morning Herald
b. New York Tribune
c. New York Sun
d. Chicago Tribune
13. The first African-American newspaper was _____________, published initially in 1827 by
John B. Russwurum and the Reverend Samuel Cornish.
a. the North Star
b. the Chicago Tribune
c. The Ram’s Horn
d. Freedom’s Journal
14. Frederick Douglass’s _____________, founded in 1847 with the masthead slogan “Right is of
no Sex—Truth is of no Color—God is the Father of us all, and we are all Brethren,” was the
most influential African-American newspaper before the Civil War.
a. the North Star
b. the Chicago Tribune
c. The Ram’s Horn
d. Freedom’s Journal
15. In 1849, six large New York papers, including the Sun, Herald, and Tribune, decided to pool
efforts and share expenses in collecting news from foreign ships docking at the city’s harbor.
In doing so they established the first
a. penny press.
b. yellow tabloid.
c. wire service.
d. syndicate.
16. In 1883, Hungarian immigrant Joseph Pulitzer bought the troubled New York World. His
readership was “the common man,” and he succeeded in reaching readers with light,
sensationalistic news coverage, extensive use of illustrations, and circulation-building stunts
and promotions. This brand of journalism became known as
a. the penny press.
b. yellow journalism.
c. wire reporting.
d. syndication publishing.
Baran: Introduction to Mass Communication: Media Literacy and Culture, 9e TB-4 | 4
whole or part.
17. Radical change in an industry brought about by the introduction of a new technology or
product is known as
a. agenda setting.
b. disruptive transition.
c. crowdfunded journalism.
d. alternative press.
18. In response to radio and magazines’ challenge for advertising dollars, newspapers began
consolidating into groups, known as _____________. Hearst and Scripps were among the
most powerful, owning papers in different cities across the country.
a. syndicated
b. chains
c. combines
d. conglomerates
19. Advertisign rates for online newspapers are determined by how many times the online ad is
seen, or its
a. click bait.
b. impressions.
c. pass-along readership.
d. paywall.
20. When newspaper circulation figures include readers who did not originally buy the papers
they read, they are said to include _____________ readership.
a. pass-along
b. cumulative
c. cume
d. progressive
21. The oldest national daily newspaper in the United States is
a. the New York Times.
b. the Wall Street Journal.
c. USA Today.
d. the Christian Science Monitor.
22. The newest national daily newspaper in the United States, founded in 1982, is
a. the New York Times.
b. the Wall Street Journal.
c. USA Today.
d. the Christian Science Monitor.
Chapter 4: Newspapers
Baran: Introduction to Mass Communication: Media Literacy and Culture, 9e TB-4 | 5
whole or part.
23. Approximately what percentage of a daily newspaper’s space is given to advertising?
a. 25%
b. 45%
c. 65%
d. 75%
24. The feature services, or _____________, do not gather and distribute news. Instead, they
operate as clearinghouses for the work of columnists, essayists, cartoonists, and other
creative individuals.
a. wire services
b. syndicates
c. chains
d. joint operating agreements
25. _____________ permit a failing paper to merge most aspects of its business with a
successful local competitor, as long as their editorial and reporting operations remain
separate.
a. Wire services
b. Syndicates
c. Chains
d. Joint operating agreements
26. Because so many newspapers now have online versions of their publications, many
observers feel that “circulation” is an insufficient measure of a paper’s true readership. They
propose a new metric that combines paper and unique online readers called
a. cumulative eyes.
b. total readership.
c. integrated audience reach.
d. market saturation.
27. Newspapers have traditionally kept their advertising and editorial functions separate. This is
often referred to as the
a. firewall.
b. barrier.
c. guardian of trust.
d. moat.
28. _______ is a newspapers’ ability to influence not only what we think, but what we think
about.
a. Liberal bias
Chapter 4: Newspapers
b. Agenda setting
c. Conservative bias
d. News diffusion
29. Because so many newspapers are available online, the amount of ___________, or poorly
written, sensational stories designed to attract more readers and increase advertising
revenue, is on the rise.
a. impressions
b. crowdfunded journalism
c. click bait
d. hard news
30. The press’ guarantee of freedom, as well as all people’s right to free speech, is set out in
which amendment to the U.S. Constitution?
a. First
b. Fourth
c. Fifth
d. Fourteenth
31. The first successful (lasting more than a few days) colonial newspaper was John Campbell’s
1704 Boston News-Letter. One reason it succeeded where others had failed was that
a. its revolutionary rhetoric attracted many colonial readers.
b. it received subsidies from the government loyal to the Crown.
c. its writing was lively and engaging.
d. its use of pictures and other graphics made it accessible to those who could not read.
32. The nationally distributed newspaper most responsible for encouraging the migration of
southern black people to the industrial centers of the North just after the turn of the twentieth
century was
a. Freedom’s Journal.
b. the North Star.
c. the Chicago Tribune.
d. the Chicago Defender.
33. Overall, levels of newspaper circulation have _____________ for many years, and the
amount of time people spend reading the print newspaper has _____________.
a. declined; fallen
b. declined; remained steady
c. declined; increased
d. increased; fallen