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Answer Key
1. A
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45. D
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108.
1. In what might be the earliest example of media synergy, some of the first magazines in
France were collections of works taken mostly from newspapers.
A) True
B) False
2. The word magazine comes from the French term magasin, meaning “storehouse.”
A) True
B) False
3. The first magazines in America were edited for the working classes.
A) True
B) False
4. The first colonial magazines published by Andrew Bradford and Benjamin Franklin
enjoyed instant success and continued for several years.
A) True
B) False
5. The first magazines primarily offered entertainment news and gossip.
A) True
B) False
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6. Specialized magazines were published in America throughout the nineteenth century.
A) True
B) False
7. Some of the most influential magazines of the nineteenth century were targeted at
women.
A) True
B) False
8. By the end of the nineteenth century, some magazine prices actually went down—from
thirty-five cents to ten cents.
A) True
B) False
9. Production costs and reduced distribution forced magazine publishers to raise magazine
prices.
A) True
B) False
10. President Theodore Roosevelt criticized magazine journalists who exposed corruption in
government and business by calling them muckrakers.
A) True
B) False
11. Muckraking journalists exposed corruption and abuses in the oil, meatpacking, and
patent medicine industries.
A) True
B) False
12. The Saturday Evening Post continued the muckraking tradition—especially by
criticizing business corruption—into the 1920s.
A) True
B) False
13. For many years Reader’s Digest was the most popular magazine in the world.
A) True
B) False
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14. Life magazine was able to compete with the popular radio programs of the 1930s and
1940s by running popular fiction, first-person news reports, and other text-based features.
A) True
B) False
15. Collier’s and Woman’s Home Companion failed in the 1950s because of poor
management.
A) True
B) False
16. TV Guide succeeded, in part, because it was readily available at the nation’s supermarket
checkout lines.
A) True
B) False
17. In a desperate attempt to compete with television in the late 1960s, the Saturday Evening
Post and Life cut their cover prices and thereby increased circulation by millions of copies.
A) True
B) False
18. Women’s magazines, such as Good Housekeeping and Woman’s Day, survived the
competition for ad dollars better than magazines like Life and Look.
A) True
B) False
19. The magazine industry continues to shun the Internet because of its threat to printed
journals.
A) True
B) False
20. Webzines such as Salon and Slate have opened new doors for online journalism.
A) True
B) False
21. Specialized magazines outside the mainstream publish information and viewpoints for
readers not served by other media channels.
A) True
B) False
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22. Until Playboy entered the marketplace, most large-circulation magazines were targeted
at women.
A) True
B) False
23. To avoid offending readers, Sports Illustrated does not publish investigative articles.
A) True
B) False
24. To create new interest in the magazine, Playboy announced it would no longer publish
nude photos beginning in 2016.
A) True
B) False
25. The AARP Bulletin and AARP The Magazine have the largest circulations of any U.S.
magazines.
A) True
B) False
26. The New Yorker was the first city magazine aimed at a national upscale audience.
A) True
B) False
27. Though they resemble newspapers, supermarket tabloids are considered to be a type of
magazine.
A) True
B) False
28. The circulation of tabloid newspapers such as the National Enquirer declined after their
peak in the 1980s.
A) True
B) False
29. The average magazine contains about 45 percent ad copy and 55 percent editorial
material.
A) True
B) False
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30. The Web and App formats give magazines unlimited space and the ability to do things
that are impossible in the print versions.
A) True
B) False
31. Magazines survived the coming of television in part by developing demographic and
regional editions.
A) True
B) False
32. Demographic editions of national magazines are able to charge higher rates for
advertising.
A) True
B) False
33. Split-run editions allow national magazines to tailor ads to different geographic areas.
A) True
B) False
34. Demographic editions of national magazines are tailored to the interests of different
geographic areas.
A) True
B) False
35. Almost all magazines offer 25 to 50 percent discounts from their rate cards to
advertisers.
A) True
B) False
36. The typical consumer magazine distributes far more copies through newsstand sales than
through subscriptions.
A) True
B) False
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37. Evergreen magazine subscriptions are those that are automatically renewed on the
subscriber’s credit card.
A) True
B) False
38. By 2015, digital distribution accounted for about 60 percent of the magazine audience.
A) True
B) False
39. Large companies are increasingly beginning to dominate the magazine business.
A) True
B) False
40. Alternative magazines such as the Progressive and the National Review have historically
defined themselves in terms of gender and race.
A) True
B) False
41. Zines are usually noncommercial, small-circulation magazine projects self-published by
individuals.
A) True
B) False
42. With so many specialized magazines appealing to distinct groups, magazines today don’t
have as strong a role in creating a sense of national identity.
A) True
B) False
43. Early European magazines were oriented toward _____.
A) broad political commentary
B) discussions of women’s issues
C) medical and health advice
D) hunting and fishing tips
E) recent news
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44. Which of the following statements about colonial American magazines is true?
A) George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Hancock, Paul Revere, and
Benjamin Franklin all had work published in these magazines.
B) Circulation was relatively small and typically limited to politicians, the educated,
and merchant classes.
C) Some magazines helped rally the colonies against British rule.
D) The very first colonial magazines had difficulty catching on.
E) Athe options are correct.
45. In 1828, Sarah Josepha Hale started the first magazine directed exclusively to a female
audience, called _____.
A) Godey’s Ladies Book
B) Harper’s
C) Youth’s Companion
D) Ladies’ Magazine
E) Ladies’ Home Journal
46. What factor had an effect on the dramatic growth in magazine circulation around the end
of the nineteenth century?
A) Cheaper postal rates
B) Advances in mass-production printing
C) Lower cover price
D) Dramatic growth of drugstores and dime stores
E) All of the options are correct.
47. Who wrote History of the Standard Oil Company, first serialized in McClure’s
magazine?
A) Ida Tarbell
B) Upton Sinclair
C) Joseph Pulitzer
D) Nellie Bly
E) Frederick Douglass
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48. The term muckraker _____.
A) was coined by President Theodore Roosevelt because he was angry with negative
reporting
B) described investigative reporters who only wrote about American institutions in a
positive light
C) was seen as an insult by leading investigative reporters
D) described reporters who wanted to write in the simplistic and conventional style of
newspaper journalism
E) None of the options are correct.
49. Who wrote The Jungle, a fictional account of Chicago’s meatpacking industry?
A) Lincoln Steffens
B) Ida Tarbell
C) Tim Allen
D) Upton Sinclair
E) Frank Norris
50. Which of the following is not a result of muckraking journalism in magazines around the
start of the twentieth century?
A) Antitrust laws for increased government oversight of business
B) The creation of government oversight of food and drugs
C) A progressive income tax
D) The direct election of U.S. senators
E) A drop in attention paid to the plight of immigrants in big cities
51. One of Cyrus Curtis’s strategies for reinvigorating the Saturday Evening Post was to
_____.
A) appeal to farmers
B) romanticize American virtues through images like Norman Rockwell paintings
C) denigrate American values
D) continue the muckraking tradition
E) publish risqué pictures
52. Which magazine was the foremost outlet for photojournalism in the mid-twentieth
century?
A) Life
B) The North American Review
C) The Nation
D) The Saturday Evening Post
E) Harper’s
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53. Which of the following statements about general-interest magazines is false?
A) They became popular starting in the mid-to-late-nineteenth century.
B) With one or two exceptions, they had mostly gone out of business by about 1910.
C) Television played a big role in signaling the demise of general-interest magazines.
D) Photojournalism was a key aspect of general-interest magazines.
E) None of the options are correct.
54. One of the reasons for TV Guide’s popularity was that _____.
A) its first issue featured Elvis
B) it offered lurid commentary about TV stars
C) it was initially free
D) many newspapers hadn’t yet started publishing TV listings
E) All of the options are correct.
55. Media baron Rupert Murdoch bought TV Guide in 1988 because _____.
A) it was one of the world’s most profitable magazines
B) he wanted to ensure that programs for his Fox network would be listed
C) he wanted to change the magazine’s liberal editorial policy
D) he enjoyed reading the magazine
E) he was afraid it would go out of business without him
56. Which of the following is not a reason Life and Look magazines went out of business in
the early 1970s?
A) Their paid circulation had plummeted, with the magazines falling out of the Top 10
magazines in the nation.
B) Advertisers were shifting their money toward television.
C) Postage rates had increased for oversized magazines.
D) They had relatively small supermarket sales.
E) They were being sold for far less than the cost of production.
57. Which of the following was designed as a general-interest or mass audience magazine?
A) The Saturday Evening Post
B) Reader’s Digest
C) Time
D) People
E) All of the options are correct.