Instructor Resource
Graber, Mass Media and American Politics 10e
CQ Press, 2018
Chapter 12: Elections in the Digital Era
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
1. ______ is the Supreme Court decision widely discussed as having major implications for
campaign financing.
A. Citizens United v. FEC
B. McCain Feingold v. FEC
C. FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc.
D. none of these
2. ______’s candidacy was severely harmed by media coverage.
A. Joe Biden (1988)
B. Gary Hart (1988)
C. Bill Clinton (1992)
D. all of these
3. What is the main reason for uniformity in election coverage?
A. the professional socialization of journalists
B. uniformity in campaign behavior
C. uniformity across candidates, events, and issues
D. all of these
4. Coverage focused on ______ makes up the bulk of campaign news coverage.
A. policy issues
B. the horse race
C. candidate professional qualifications
D. candidate personal traits
5. When researchers looked at exposure to cross-ideology content on social media, they found
which of the following?
A. Social networks are somewhat diverse.
B. Social networks are completely homogeneous (similar).
C. People are hardly ever exposed to cross-ideology content.
D. People are exposed to cross-ideology content, but not as often as like-minded content.
E. A and D only
Instructor Resource
Graber, Mass Media and American Politics 10e
CQ Press, 2018
6. Which of the following is an interesting little-known fact about candidate strategies in 2016?
A. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton invested heavily in social media.
B. Donald Trump posted on social media more than Hillary Clinton.
C. Hillary Clinton spent more on television ads than Donald Trump.
D. Hillary Clinton posted on social media more than Donald Trump.
E. All of these
7. Which of the following aspects of campaigning are relatively new and arrived as digital media
technologies became more prevalent?
A. microtargeting
B. analytics
C. personalization
D. all of these
E. none of these
True/False
1. There is empirical evidence for a reciprocal relationship between negative political advertising
and negative campaign news coverage.
2. News media use the horse race frame a lot in campaign coverage because “it sells.”
Short Answer
1. What are three major ways that media influence high profile elections?
2. Briefly, compare and contrast political media bias with structural media bias.
3. What is “horserace” or “game frame” coverage? Why do some people complain about it?
4. Explain the financial advantages of horserace coverage for news organizations.
5. Explain the relationship between polling coverage and polling performance.
6. What is the “attack the frontrunner” strategy?
7. How do the routines of journalism influence the coverage and electoral advantages and
disadvantages of incumbents and challengers?
Instructor Resource
Graber, Mass Media and American Politics 10e
CQ Press, 2018
8. According to John Geer, why is there a reciprocal relationship between negative campaign ads
and news coverage?
9. Explain the recent trend which is the exception to campaign reporting free of useful
information for evaluating the truth of competing claims between candidates.
Essay
1. How does micro-targeting work? Explain the steps and assess the success and desirability or
problems related to these kinds of strategic tactics.
2. Describe and assess the consequences of media-dominated politics. How are media so
influential? Is their role and power appropriate? Is the role of the media too powerful, not
powerful enough, or just about right? Explain.
3. Describe how have the media venues on which and through which politicians appear changed
over time with changes to the media landscape. What are the implications?
4. What kinds of newspaper and television coverage have recent elections received? Do the
media sufficiently cover the issues likely to require newly elected leaders’ attention? Did they
supply adequate criteria to enable voters to decide which policy options would best suit their
priorities and which candidate would be most likely to govern successfully?
5. What are the various reasons we see so much negativity in campaigns and in campaign related
news? What are the reasons so much campaign negativity might be problematic? What are the
reasons it might be beneficial?