Chapter 1: Mass Communication: A Critical Approach
True/False
1. According to the textbook, the mass media are cultural industries that help articulate and
distribute a society’s values.
2. The manuscript culture that existed between 1000 B.C.E. and the mid-fifteenth century primarily
served the ruling classes.
3. With the coming of the printing press, the printed newspaper became the first mass-marketed
product in history.
4. Gutenberg played an active role in the transition from oral to written culture.
5. The printing press fostered the rise of tribal communities.
6. According to the textbook, media convergence has two very different meanings.
7. Postmodern cultural values include working efficiently and believing in a rational order.
8. The computer was the first electronic medium.
9. The senders of messages often have little control over how their messages will be received.
10. The meaning of a message can be affected by the receiver’s gender, age, education level,
ethnicity, and occupation.
11. High culture is the same as popular culture.
12. The “culture as map” metaphor distinguishes between high culture and low culture.
13. Researchers do not all agree on whether watching violent TV shows makes viewers more likely
to commit violent acts than not watching such TV shows.
14. The goal of scientific social research is to develop testable hypotheses, gather data, and
determine whether the data verify the hypotheses.
15. Content analysis is a tool of the social scientific approach.
16. The Progressive Era is another name for the postmodern period.
17. Those who consult research to acquire media literacy should concentrate on either cultural
studies or social scientific studies.
18. In the textbook’s comparison of two types of research about cancer news coverage, the social
scientific approach focused on interpretation of the content of the media stories.
19. The critical process consists of describing, analyzing, interpreting, evaluating, and engaging with
mass media.
Multiple Choice
Note: The correct answer is asterisked.
20. Some ancient philosophers thought that
A. Written communication was superior to oral communication
21. Which of the following was a direct result of the printing press?
A. The rise of the middle class
22. For the first time in mass media history, the speed of communication surpassed the speed of
transportation with the development of
A. Radio
23. The electronic era really took off with the widespread use of what?
A. Radio
24. The linear communication model can be criticized on the grounds that
A. It assumes that culture is hierarchical
25. Which of the following is not a value that the textbook associates with “postmodern culture”?
A. Resistance to ideas such as “high” and “low” culture that set hierarchies of taste
26. Postmodern values include which of the following?
A. A belief in rational order
B. Working efficiently
27. Which of the following does the book associate with postmodern culture?
E. No option is correct
28. Which of the following statements does not represent part of the traditional mass culture
critique aimed against popular culture?
A. Popular culture inhibits political discourse and social change
29. What is one main meaning of the term media convergence?
A. The technological merging of content on different mass media, such as songs being
30. The textbook describes three stages in the emergence of a media innovation. Which of the
following is not one of them?
A. Mass media stage
Fill in the Blank
31. The five major phases in communication history include the __________, written, print,
electronic, and digital periods.
32. The telegraph was the first media development to break the connection between transportation
and ____________________.
33. The electronic era really took off in the 1950s and 1960s, with the arrival of ___________.
34. ___________________ is the technological merging of content in different mass media.
35. The ___________________ model seeks to develop and test theories about how the media
affect individuals and society in measurable ways.
36. The stages in the development of most new mass communication industries are called the
___________ stage, the entrepreneurial stage, and the mass medium stage.
Essay
37. Explain why the printing press is considered one of the most important developments in mass
media history.
38. Explain why it is more accurate to think of culture as a map rather than a ladder or hierarchy.
39. Name three ways in which high culture differs from popular culture.
40. Using your own familiar or favorite example from popular media (a hip-hop or alternative rock
song, a TV show, a magazine), explain how it works as culture.
41. Explain media convergence. Be sure to address the two main definitions discussed in the
textbook.
42. Compare and contrast the linear model and the cultural model approaches of understanding
media literacy.
43. Explain the three stages in the development of a new mass medium.