Test Bank for Media of Mass Communication, 11/e
20) The Recording Industry Association of America has decided not to pursue legal action against
college students who illegally download music.
21) It is estimated that more than half of all college students illegally download music and movies.
22) The Recording Industry Association of America is e-mailing individuals to inform them of their
legal liability for violating federal copyright laws by unlawfully downloading or sharing music.
23) People who are known to have illegally downloaded music are receiving pre-litigation notices
from the music industry warning them to pay an out-of-court settlement of several thousand
dollars now or be sued in court for copyright violation.
24) The First Amendment brought the United States into line with nations worldwide in
guaranteeing free expression.
25) News media are called the third branch of government.
26) The Alien and Sedition acts made it illegal to criticize government leaders and policies.
27) Charles Schenck and Elizabeth Baer were arrested for distributing anti-war pamphlets about
the Vietnam War.
28) In the Supreme Court’s ruling on Near v. Minnesota, prior restraint was banned except in
extraordinary circumstances such as life-or-death situations or wartime.
29) Prior restraint is prohibiting expression in advance.
30) Clarence Brandenburg spoke at a Ku Klux Klan rally and was arrested because he said hateful
and threatening things. His conviction was later overturned because his speech was far-fetched and
not considered an imminent threat.
31) The Incitement Standard determines whether expression could be banned for promoting
lawless actions.
32) Under the Incitement Standard, government can silence someone only when the statement
advocates a lawless action, even if such action is unlikely to occur.
33) Although the right to free expression has very few exceptions today, the Supreme Court has
discussed circumstances in which censorship is sometimes warranted.
34) The First Amendment allows the government to halt anything that might jeopardize national
security at any time.
35) In the Pentagon Papers case, it was determined that the government’s concern with national
security outweighed freedom of the press.
36) In the wake of 9/11, Congress overwhelming voted to enact the Patriot Act to combat terrorism
despite the fact that it infringed on many constitutionally guaranteed rights including free speech.
37) Librarians and book publishers endorsed the Patriot Act.
38) Shouting “fire” in a crowded movie theater could be deemed illegal because it endangers the
public.
39) Censorship can be justified for words used to provoke violence under the Fighting Words
Doctrine.
40) The government can only limit the time, place or manner of expression if that limitation is made
on a content-neutral basis.
41) A banking collapse that remained shrouded in secrecy because of court injunctions that
prevented media coverage of what had happened has prompted new laws that may make Iceland
one of the most open and transparent nations in the world.
42) WikiLeaks, whose servers were located outside Iceland, achieved heroic status there for posting
information about its banking collapse that the Icelandic media couldn’t reveal because of a court
injunction.
43) Some members of Iceland’s parliament hope their new laws will attract media companies and
whistle-blowers like WikiLeaks to come to Iceland where they won’t have to worry about laws that
restrict the free flow of information.
44) The government tried to use import restrictions to keep James Joyce’s Ulysses out of the United
States.
45) The government used import restrictions to keep D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover out of
the United States.
46) The courts upheld the use of sexual references in Ulysses as having literary merit, but found
Lady Chatterley’s Lover merely titillating.
47) Advertising is called “paid” speech in legal circles.
48) The Supreme Court has consistently defined “hate–speech” and upheld all laws that ban or limit
it.
49) Hate speech is not protected by the First Amendment, but the courts have modified its
definition several times over the years.
50) John Brinkley was the radio quack who challenged government regulation of radio.
51) Kansan John Brinkley lost his license for KFKB radio because its programming promoted such
medical quackery as surgically implanting goat glands in men to cure sexual dysfunction.
52) Because the public airwaves are used for broadcasting, broadcast speech can be regulated.
53) Losing a libel suit can put a publication or broadcast organization out of business.
54) Slander is a written defamation.
55) The largest jury award for libel was against USA Today.
56) The Fairness Doctrine states that the level of proof in a libel case is identical for a construction
worker and the president of the United States.
57) A Republican city council member or political candidate would be hard pressed to win a libel
suit for being inaccurately called a Democrat.
58) The right of fair comment and criticism makes it open season on performers in all aspects of
their lives.
59) Pornography is legal.
60) The First Amendment protects obscenity.
61) “Indecency” is the term used by the Federal Communications Commission for a range of words
and depictions considered improper on public airwaves.
62) A problem with the 1996 Communication Decency Act was restricting objectionable material in
a way that would keep it from children without restricting adult access.
63) The courts found the 1996 Communication Decency Act constitutionally flawed.
64) New technologies create new legal questions for the media. In the 1970s, for instance, Betamax
raised the issue of consumers’ rights to duplicate copyright-protected television programs.
65) Copyright law has been revised over and over since 1789, most recently because of Internet–
related issues like unauthorized downloading have shaken up the media.
66) At the core of the mass media infrastructure is copyright law which gives exclusive rights to the
originators of creative works to profit from their creations.
16.3 Short Answer Questions
1) __________ was a teen when he hacked Hollywood’s copy– protection on DVDs and revealed how to
do it online thus allowing worldwide ripping and file-sharing of movies.
2) The teen-aged hacker who posted online instructions for breaking the anti-copying code and
ripping movies from DVDs was prosecuted and found __________ in his court trial and appeal.
3) When the trial of the hacker who published instructions for getting around the copy-protection
on movie DVDs was over, __________, his country, revised its laws to keep it from happening again.
4) Copyright law protects __________ property.
5) __________ are conceptually similar to copyrights but apply only to inventions.
6) The transfer of ownership interest in a piece of intellectual property is called a(n) __________.
7) Illegal downloads of music or video files you haven’t purchased are a form of __________.
8) Copying or otherwise illegally using a music file you have legally obtained is considered an
__________ of copyright and is illegal.
9) Napster and __________ were both popular with college students until the courts essentially put
them out of business for illegally facilitating copyright violations.
10) __________ Print Library Project which is digitizing and indexing over 15 million library books
faces many legal challenges relating to copyright.
11) The RIAA, which is the __________ , is taking legal action against college students who illegally
download music.
12) People whom the RIAA knows have illegally downloaded music are receiving __________ notices
warning them to pay an out-of-court settlement now or be sued for copyright violation.
13) The __________ to the Constitution bars the government from limiting free expression.
14) The news media are known as the __________ branch of government.
15) Prohibiting expression in advance is called prior __________.
16) The __________ Standard is a four-part test to determine whether an advocacy speech is
constitutionally protected.
17) The U.S. Supreme court has ruled that the government can censor to protect __________ security.
18) The __________ is a law passed in 2001 that gives federal agents new authority when investigating
possible acts of terrorism.
19) Requiring reporters to submit their stories to a government __________ who has to review and
approve them before they can be published is a form of prior restraint.
20) In the interest of public safety, the use of __________ can be prohibited to prevent insulting
language from provoking violence.
21) Controlling the time, place and manner of expression is legal as long as the government’s
restrictions are __________.
22) A banking collapse that remained shrouded in secrecy because the courts blocked media news
reports of what happened prompted new laws that may make __________ one of the most open and
transparent nations in the world.
23) __________ , whose servers are in another country, achieved heroic status in Iceland for posting
information about a banking collapse the Icelandic media weren’t allowed to report.
24) For many years, legal scholars thought the protections of the First Amendment only applied to
__________ expression and didn’t include literature or advertising.
25) Advertising is part of a broader legal category called __________.
26) __________ is offensive expressions, especially those directed at racial, ethnic, and sexual
minorities.
27) Radio and television content can be regulated because they use the public __________.
28) Saying or writing false and damaging things can lead to a(n) __________ suit.
29) The landmark court case that helped safeguard the media from being sued for libel because of
minor factual errors was The New York Times v. __________.
30) Public figures may sue for libel if they can show __________ disregard for the truth.
31) The doctrine that permits criticism of performers and performances is called __________
comment and criticism.
32) The Supreme Court has ruled that __________, which is any material aimed at sexual arousal,
cannot be totally prohibited.
33) Bans of sexually explicit material fail if they are challenged in courts unless the material is
found to be legally __________.
34) The U.S. Supreme Court overturned as unconstitutional the law known as the __________ Act of
1996, which attempted to control indecent content on the Internet.
35) New technologies create new legal questions. Betamax, for instance, raised the issue of
consumers’ legal right to duplicate __________-protected television programs.
36) At the core of the mass media infrastructure is __________ law which gives exclusive rights to the
originators of creative works to profit from their creations.
16.4 Matching Questions
Match each concept on the left with its best explanation in the right column.
1) Copyright
A) Determines whether advocacy speech is constitutionally
protected
2) Intellectual property
B) Law meant to keep indecent material off Internet
3) Assignment
C) Creative works
4) News media
D) Offensive expression aimed at racial, ethnic, or sexual–
orientation minorities
5) Prior restraint
E) Allows censorship of speech inciting violence
6) Incitement standard
F) Transfer of intellectual–property ownership rights
7) Fighting Words Doctrine
G) Protects the ownership rights of creators
8) Commercial speech
H) Prohibiting expression in advance
9) Hate speech
I) Advertising or other speech relating to commerce
10) Communications Decency Act
J) Fourth branch of government
16.5 Essay Questions
1) Describe why Jon Lech Johansen’s software innovation made such an impact on the Hollywood
motion picture industry and what legal defense he used to combat the charges of copyright
infringement.
2) Based on the Napster and Grokster cases, explain how the case against Jon Lech Johansen might
have turned out differently if he had been tried in a U.S. court instead of in Norway. Then explain
why the outcome would probably NOT be the same even in Norway if he was being tried today.
3) Discuss why the founders of the U.S. thought it was important to put copyright law in the
Constitution.
Page Ref: 417, Topic: Intellectual Property4) Describe two ways that someone other than the
creator of a piece of intellectual property can legally use the creative work of another person or
organization.
5) The First Amendment does not protect all speech at all times. . Describe three different types of
situation that warrant making an exception and explain why the courts have ruled that prior
6) Discuss some of the ways the provisions of the Patriot Act can be used to allow federal agents to
violate citizens’ rights of free speech and free press. Explain why you agree or disagree with these
aspects of the Patriot Act and how much you think they infringe on your personal freedoms.
7) Explain what “political expression” means and why it was originally considered to be the most
important and only type of speech protected by the First Amendment.
8) Identify two major types of speech, in addition to “political expression,” that were given First
Amendment protection by court decisions issued during the 20th century. Explain why it was
important that these types of expression receive this protection.
9) In the context of a libel suit, describe the different standards applied if the person suing for
damages is a public figure or a non–public figure.
10) Discuss the difference between pornography and obscenity and explain the legal consequence
of having a creative work declared obscene rather than being declared pornographic.