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Chapter 15: Global Media: Communication Around the World
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
1. British journalist Marie Colvin was best known for ______.
A. covering war zones around the world
B. wearing a black eye patch after she lost her eye in a grenade attack
C. being targeted for death by the Syrian military
D. all of these
2. In which country was Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian imprisoned for more
than 500 days?
A. Syria
B. Russia
C. China
D. Iran
3. The ______ theory of the press states that the press should be allowed to print or
broadcast anything. People have a right to hear all ideas and decide for themselves
what is correct.
A. authoritarian
B. libertarian
C. communist
D. social responsibility
4. The ______ theory of the press states that the press should be as free as possible
but that it also has an obligation to serve the needs of the public at large.
A. authoritarian
B. libertarian
C. communist
D. social responsibility
5. The ______ theory of the press states that the press should be an instrument of the
government to work toward the creation of a perfect state for the workers.
A. authoritarian
B. libertarian
C. communist
D. social responsibility
6. The ______ theory of the press states that the duty of the press is to serve the needs
of the people who happen to be in power in the government.
A. authoritarian
B. libertarian
C. communist
D. social responsibility
7. The BBC operates under which of the following?
A. a public service model funded by the government
B. a commercial model similar to that of the United States
C. a private/public funding model similar to that of PBS in the United States
D. a church-sponsorship model similar to that of the Christian Science Monitor
8. Which of the following is the big change that has taken place in Western European
television over the past 25 years?
A. Cable television has become universally available.
B. There has been a massive increase in the number of commercial stations.
C. There have been changes in the rules for broadcast decency.
D. It is much more regulated by the governments than in the past.
9. Media in Israel could be characterized as operating under which of the following
models?
A. authoritarian
B. libertarian
C. communist
D. social responsibility
10. Al Jazeera is which of the following?
A. the major South African news agency
B. the official Iraqi news agency
C. an American-owned radio propaganda effort
D. an Arab-language satellite news network that broadcasts out of Qatar
11. As of 2017, the medium that residents of the Middle East and North Africa spent the
most time with was ______.
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A. newspapers
B. television
C. radio
D. online
12. The most watched Arab-language satellite news channel is which of the following?
A. ARABSAT
B. Al-Arabiya
C. Al-Hurra
D. Al Jazeera
13. The most used medium of mass communication in Africa is ______.
A. newspaper
B. radio
C. television
D. Internet
14. Many of Asia’s industrializing nations operate under which of the following theories
of the press?
A. development
B. Soviet/communist
C. libertarian
D. social responsibility
15. The community newspaper industry in India is doing which of the following?
A. shrinking
B. staying steady
C. growing
D. India doesn’t have a significant community newspaper industry.
16. Which of the following is true about Japan’s broadcasting industry?
A. It is primarily run by private industry.
B. It is primarily run using a BBC-style public service model.
C. It is run using a mix of private industry and public service models.
D. none of these
17. The most popular category of magazines in Japan is ______.
A. fashion magazines
B. hip-hop magazines
C. news magazines
D. manga
18. The media in the United States are unique in the world for which of the following
reasons?
A. Most media in the United States are government sponsored.
B. Most media in the United States are privately owned.
C. Most media in the United States are nonprofit.
D. none of these
19. Canada has laws requiring a given level of Canadian media content for which of the
following reasons?
A. because they are concerned about their culture being dominated by American media
B. because they want to preserve the Canadian media industry
C. because it would put the country at odds with the North American Free Trade
Agreement
D. all of these
20. American movie companies film in Canada in part for which of the following
reasons?
A. Canada doesn’t limit films producers with strict decency laws.
B. It is cheaper to film in Canada than in the United States.
C. Mexico doesn’t have a “four seasons” climate.
D. You can’t fool me, American companies don’t like filming in Canada.
21. Which of the following are true of European newspapers?
A. They tend to have an explicit political point of view.
B. They receive large subsidies from the government.
C. They tend to publish in the afternoon.
D. all of these
22. Mexican journalist Javier Valdez was murdered because ______.
Hanson, Mass Communication, 7e
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A. he was reporting on a sex scandal in the Mexican government
B. he was reporting on corruption in the mobile phone industry in Mexico
C. he was reporting on the connections between drug trafficking and the government
D. all of these
23. In Africa, which of the following is true?
A. The print media originally were designed to serve the needs of the White, colonial
settlers.
B. The early print media were used to promote literacy.
C. Television is by far the most popular medium.
D. Two important newspapers receive widespread distribution throughout the entire
continent.
24. Radio is the most important medium in Africa for which of the following reasons?
A. Few people can afford TVs.
B. Radios can run off batteries.
C. Newspapers tend to serve the needs of White colonials.
D. all of these
25. Media developed slowly in the old Soviet Union for which of the following reasons?
A. The country was so big.
B. The government didn’t want there to be national media.
C. There was no advertising to support it.
D. There was a shortage of skilled journalists.
26. Over the past 30 years, media in China ______.
A. have been so restricted that the average person in China will not ever see a TV
B. have remained relatively unchanged in availability
C. have grown massively in their level of availability
D. have increased the level of free speech
27. One of the biggest consequences of attacks on journalists around the world is which
of the following?
A. that the military has to expend resources rescuing them
B. that young people are discouraged from becoming journalists
C. that journalists are discouraged from telling stories about the countries where it is too
dangerous for them to work
D. that all of the attention from the attacks bring more attention to the areas where the
attacks take place
28. According to Marshall McLuhan, electronic media do which of the following?
A. serve to isolate people by keeping them in their homes
B. help connect people around the world into a global village
C. tend to water down individual countries’ cultures
D. tend to turn everything into entertainment
29. News about the terror attacks in Mumbai in 2008 broke in the West via which of the
following?
A. Big Media reporters on the ground in India
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B. the BBC
C. social media reports using software such as Twitter sent by people who were nearby
D. Western media ignored the attacks
True/False
1. A lawsuit from war reporter Marie Colvin’s family claims that the Syrian government
deliberately killed her by targeting a building she was in with artillery fire.
2. A major consequence of the imprisonment of journalists in Iran is that fewer news
organizations are willing to station reporters in the country.
3. The development media theory says that Third World nations need a different kind of
press than do nations with fully developed economies.
4. The first medium to move messages faster than a person could travel was the
telegraph.
5. Canada and France have local-content laws that require their media to carry a certain
percentage of content produced within their own countries.
6. Broadcasting in Europe tends to be heavily regulated.
7. Only about half of the households in Western Europe own television sets.
8. The BBC World Service continues to be primarily a shortwave radio service around
the world, staying away from online and social media.
9. Latin America has a growing newspaper industry.
10. Newspaper circulation in Latin America has fallen by 23% over the past 17 years.
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11. Palestinians often use social and mobile media to bypass official Israeli government
censorship.
12. Small media, such as social media, video cameras, and faxes, are difficult to censor
because it is hard for the government to control access to them.
13. Satellite television is largely unavailable in the Arab world.
14. Reporters from Al Jazeera receive better treatment in the Arab world than do
Western journalists.
15. Al Jazeera Sports is a popular channel for sports news in Arab countries.
16. Media can reach most of Africa by using only three languages.
17. For refugees fleeing from Syria, inexpensive smartphones are typically their main
source of Internet and mass media access.
18. Russia has never had a tradition of a free press.
19. All India Radio is the dominant source of radio programming and news in India.
20. Talk radio is one of the most open venues for free speech in China.
21. During the Arab Spring protests and revolutions of 2011, social and mobile media
were used both as a source of news about the protests and as an organizing tool for the
protestors.
22. According to Marshall McLuhan, our media industry makes the world seem to be a
smaller and more limited place.
23. The French newspaper Charlie Hebdo was attacked by terrorists after it ran an in–
depth exposé on corruption the Syrian government.
24. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the government shuts down access to the
Internet anytime opposition protests are held.
25. According to the 2018 World Press Freedom Index, the United States is one of the
top three countries in the world for freedom of the press.
26. Several Russian journalists have been murdered or have died under mysterious
circumstances after criticizing the Russian government.
Essay
1. How does the BBC avoid charges of being a colonial voice with its program Focus on
Africa?
2. Why did Indian television reporters engaged in self-censorship during the Mumbai
terrorist attacks in 2008?
3. What are the five dimensions Alan Wells says we should use to analyze press
systems around the world?
4. What two Latin American countries produce the most television programming?
5. According to Kai Hafez, what are the three types of the press in the Arab world?
6. What are the “small media” in the Middle East?
7. What is Al Jazeera?
8. Why is it difficult to broadcast to large areas of Africa?
9. What are the two most prominent languages for newspapers in Africa?
10. Name two ways the Russian government controls its press?
11. During the Mumbai, India, terror attacks, local television journalists were very
cautious about what they did and did not report. In a brief essay, explain why Indian
reporters engaged in substantial self-censorship of the news they reported on the
attacks.
12. You are an editor of an American newspaper considering reprinting cartoons from
the satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo. First, write an editor’s note defending the
publication of the cartoons, and then write one explaining why you are not going to run
them.
13. In a brief essay, discuss the following issues: What are the “four theories” of the
press? What characterizes each of them? Provide an example of each.
Hanson, Mass Communication, 7e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
14. In a brief essay, compare and contrast the media industries of the United States
with those of Canada and Western Europe. How are they similar? How are they
different?
15. What is the development theory of the press?
16. What is the core of the Last Rights critique of Four Theories of the Press?
17. In a brief essay, explain why the late Marie Colvin felt it was important for her to risk
her life covering stories about the lives of ordinary people living in war zones.