Chapter 14
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
1. The term morals means which of the following?
a. a way of justifying behavior that cannot otherwise be justified
b. “the just–right point between excess and defect”
c. a rational means of decision making when both alternatives are equally attractive or
unattractive
d. a religious or philosophical code of behavior
2. The term ethics means which of the following?
a. a way of justifying behavior that cannot otherwise be justified
b. “the just–right point between excess and defect”
c. a rational means of decision making when both alternatives are equally attractive or
unattractive
d. a religious or philosophical code of behavior
3. The “golden mean” was Aristotle’s notion of which of the following?
a. Justice is possible when decisions are made without considering the social status of the people
involved.
b. Ethical behavior comes from striking a balance between excess and defect.
c. That which is virtuous provides the greatest happiness for the greatest number.
d. You should act as though what you do will become a universal law.
4. Kant’s “categorical imperative” said which of the following?
a. Justice is possible when decisions are made without considering the social status of the people
involved.
b. Ethical behavior comes from striking a balance between excess and defect.
c. That which is virtuous provides the greatest happiness for the greatest number.
d. You should act as though what you do will become a universal law.
5. John Stuart Mill’s philosophy of “utilitarianism” says which of the following?
a. Justice is possible when decisions are made without considering the social status of the people
involved.
b. Ethical behavior comes from striking a balance between excess and defect.
c. That which is virtuous provides the greatest happiness for the greatest number.
d. You should act as though what you do will become a universal law.
6. The theory of the “veil of ignorance” means which of the following?
a. Justice is possible when decisions are made without considering the social status of the people
involved.
b. Ethical behavior comes from striking a balance between excess and defect.
c. That which is virtuous provides the greatest happiness for the greatest number.
d. You should act as though what you do will become a universal law.
7. The concept of “tabloid laundering” means which of the following?
a. promoting tabloids in such a way as to make them appear respectable
b. mainstream “respectable” media report on the stories they see the tabloids and sensational
Web sites covering
c. legitimate news stories are made to seem more sensational than they are
d. leaking a story to the tabloids when your own newspaper won’t run it
8. The term sensationalism in journalism means which of the following?
a. covering events that are stimulating and interesting
b. covering the events that are most important to the nation
c. covering everyday events in a way that makes them interesting to the public at large
d. covering events that are lurid and highly emotional
9. When the British tabloid newspaper the News of the World hacked into a kidnapped and
murdered girl’s phone so they could better report on the story, they were engaged in ______.
a. tabloid laundering
b. ethical reporting
c. sensationalism
d. corporate conflict of interest
10. Newspapers ran sensationalistic stories accusing the U.S. president’s mother of being a
common prostitute during which decade?
a. 1830s
b. 1870s
c. 1930s
d. 2000s
11. Which of the following newspapers caused a great deal of controversy for running a
computer-manipulated photo that showed prostitutes in Cuba soliciting tourists while police
looked on?
a. the Miami New Times
b. the New York Post
c. El Nuevo Herald
d. the New York Daily News
12. The job of an ombudsman is to do which of the following?
a. help photographers digitally edit photographs
b. negotiate disputes between writers and editors
c. represent and take the point of view of the audience
d. “punch up” headlines to make them more lively
13. More than forty sponsors left Rush Limbaugh’s popular radio show in 2012 when Limbaugh
______.
a. called an African American White House reporter “a cleaning woman”
b. called a law student and birth control advocate a “slut” over the air
c. called members of a college women’s basketball team a group of “nappy–headed hos”
d. made fun of two of his show’s big sponsors
14. Car dealers pulled their ads from the San Jose Mercury News after the paper did which of the
following?
a. It ran an article about how to negotiate a better deal on a new car.
b. It ran an article about how car dealers sell unneeded extras, such as undercoating, with cars.
c. It ran an expose on car safety.
d. It refused to run articles about new cars on the market.
15. The public relations firm of Hill and Knowlton was controversial in the 1990s for which of
the following?
a. doing PR for the Westboro Baptist Church
b. a corporate conflict of interest by representing two competing companies at the same time
c. representing Exxon during the Exxon Valdez crisis
d. none of the above
16. Ethics involve which of the following?
a. making decisions on questions that have clear right and wrong answers
b. making decisions where no answer seems to be acceptable
c. making a personal decision using a moral code
d. decisions where everyone can agree on what you should do
17. A reporter has decided when writing a story that it is necessary to talk to sources on two sides
of an issue. When the reporter makes this ethical decision, the reporter is making use of which of
the following?
a. Kant’s Categorical Imperative
b. Aristotle’s golden mean
c. Rawls’ veil of ignorance
d. John Stuart Mill’s principle of utility
18. A newspaper photographer has taken a disturbing picture of a fatal accident caused by a
drunk driver. The paper’s photographer and editor decide to run the photo, despite the pain it will
cause the family of the people in the accident, because they feel that it will lead to people doing
more to prevent drunk driving and perhaps save some lives. When they make this ethical
decision to put the good of the public at large over the needs of the victim’s family, they are
making use of which of the following ethical principles?
a. Kant’s Categorical Imperative
b. Aristotle’s golden mean
c. Rawls’ veil of ignorance
d. John Stuart Mill’s principle of utility
19. A reporter has been ordered by police to leave the scene of a protest or else she will be
arrested. The reporter decides to stay in the area to report on the protest based on the principle
that a reporter’s duty is to always report a story no matter what the outcome. The reporter tells
the police he will stay and report because it is the reporter’s duty to do so. This reporter is
making use of ______.
a. Kant’s Categorical Imperative
b. Aristotle’s golden mean
c. Rawls’ veil of ignorance
d. John Stuart Mill’s principle of utility
20. The Hutchins Commission believed that which of the following was the greatest threat to
American press freedom?
a. a powerful central government
b. the presence of communists working in the media
c. concentrated corporate ownership
d. the threat of local government censorship
21. Media ethics scholar David Martinson says that journalists most often fail their audience by
doing which of the following?
a. deliberately lying to the public
b. focusing on “bad” news instead of “good” news
c. not telling the public when government officials and other news sources are lying
d. not reporting on misconduct by high corporate officials
22. Stephen Glass was able to get away with fabrications in his stories for which of the following
reasons?
a. Glass would fabricate sources and substantiation of his facts.
b. Glass would submit articles late so that the publications wouldn’t have time to check them.
c. Fact-checkers procedures were designed to catch mistakes, not lies.
d. all of the above
23. Former Washington Post reporter Jose Vargas is controversial for ______.
a. not disclosing who his sources were for an investigative story
b. fabricating a story about a young heroin addict in the Washington, D.C., area
c. hiding the fact that he was an undocumented immigrant
d. fooling fact -checkers editing his stories for Rolling Stone and Harper’s magazine
24. Which of the following would be an example of potential corporate conflict of interest?
a. giving positive coverage of a charity event being chaired by the golfing buddy of your
newspaper’s publisher
b. covering a sports franchise owned by the same parent company as your television station
c. reporting about another media corporation your parent company partners with
d. all of the above
25. Which of the following is a reason why many of the media reports about the Sago Mine
disaster were so wrong about the number of survivors?
a. Reporters didn’t care about the truth; they just wanted a story.
b. Journalists wanted the story to turn out with everyone being okay.
c. There were not enough reporters covering the story to do a credible job.
d. all of the above
26. Digital editing of news photos is seen as acceptable under which of the following
circumstances?
a. when it is similar to what could be done in a traditional darkroom
b. when it makes a boring photo more dramatic
c. when it just gets rid of a distracting background
d. when it tones down what would otherwise be a disturbing and offensive image
27. Which of the following advertisers would be held to the highest standard of truthfulness?
a. an ad that a swimsuit was “the cutest ever”
b. an ad that said an amusement park was “the most fun you could have on a summer day”
c. an ad that said a pill was the “fastest headache remedy your doctor can prescribe”
d. an ad that said a restaurant has food “just like mother used to cook”
28. Advertisers exert control over media outlets by doing which of the following?
a. pulling ads from magazines carry controversial content
b. pulling ads from magazines that are critical of their company
c. encouraging television networks to carry the type of programs they like to advertise next to
d. all of the above
29. The purpose of the ANA Alliance for Family Entertainment is which of the following?
a. to criticize and boycott adult oriented shows
b. to promote shows its members won’t be embarrassed to advertise on
c. to develop shows that accurately depict the American family
d. to create advertisements that fit into family friendly shows
30. Mobile devices are perfect for targeting ads at specific consumers because ______.