Up through the 1950s, portrayals of African Americans in films and on TV:
a. Focused on the life of urban blacks, largely ignoring rural life
b. Were either nonexistent or limited to stereotypical roles such as entertainers or
servants
c. Were largely controlled by black film and television producers
d. Were more positive than the portrayals of Hispanics
Answer:
Which of the following government regulations clearly benefits the media industry?
a. Limitations on ownership of media outlets
b. Broadcast license requirements
c. The (now-defunct) Fairness Doctrine
d. The Concentration Act
Answer:
The shift to advertising as a source of revenue for the 19th-century British press led to:
a. The decline of the national radical press
b. The rise of a national radical press
c. An increase in the importance of the number of readers
d. A decrease in the importance of the number of readers
Answer:
The phrase “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech or of the
press” is from the:
a. Declaration of Independence
b. First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
c. Communications Act of 1934
d. Founding charter of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
Answer:
In his study of television viewing in the home, David Morley finds that:
a. Men and women watch television in the same way
b. Men watch television and, at the same time, are involved in other activities
c. Women are very attentive to television when they watch
d. Women watch television and, at the same time, are involved in other activities
Answer:
Compared to most other industrialized nations, the United States has generally had
_______ regulation of the media industry.
a. more
b. less
c. about the same amount of
d. almost no
Answer:
Gay and lesbian characters begin appearing in more serious and realistic media
portrayals in the:
a. 1950s and 1960s
b. 1960s and 1970s
c. 1970s and 1980s
d. 1980s and 1990s
Answer:
______ refers to the establishments where journalists visit regularly expecting news.
a. Beat
b. Round
c. Agency
d. Newswire
Answer:
In decoding media contents, readers’ social positions often matter. Which of the
following is not a social constraint that may affect the decoding process?
a. Readers’ race
b. Readers’ social class
c. Readers’ gender
d. Readers’ mood
Answer:
Recorded music is one of the easiest media products to sell internationally because:
a. It does not contain troublesome political views
b. It does not face the barriers of language and literacy that some other media face
c. The equipment needed to play cassettes and CDs is relatively inexpensive
d. It was supported by funding from the U.S. government
Answer:
The first broadcast medium was:
a. Radio
b. Movies
c. Television
d. Telegraph
Answer:
“Culture jamming” is an example of oppositional reading of media.
a. True
b. False
Answer:
According to Radway’s research on women’s romance novel reading, women read the
novels primarily to increase their literacy level.
a. True
b. False
Answer:
Internet portals have employed a broadcast-oriented business model, based on:
a. Distributing video programming
b. Selling large audiences to advertisers
c. Securing federal licenses to operate
d. Inventing new hypertexts
Answer:
Which of the following is an example of relationships within the media industry?
a. Editorial pressure on journalists produce exciting, ‘sexy” stories
b. The impact of pornography on those who buy it
c. Government’s early financial support of the Internet
d. Chinese government’s control of the Internet
Answer:
Which president used early broadcast media in delivering “fireside chats” via the radio?
a. Herbert Hoover
b. Franklin Roosevelt
c. Harry Truman
d. Dwight D. Eisenhower
Answer:
The “Mass Society” of the early 20th century is characterized by interpersonal isolation.
a. True
b. False
Answer:
When it comes to rebellious new forms of music, mainstream music corporations:
a. Often try to suppress the development of such music
b. Are usually the leading promoters of such music
c. Often absorb such music into their profitable product line
d. Usually ignore such new developments
Answer:
The “encoding-decoding” model in media research includes the following except:
a. A message constructed by media producers, and its interpretation by the audience
b. Audiences using broader cultural codes to interpret the meaning of media texts
c. A specific encoded meaning may not result in a specific decoded interpretation
d. Programming and using computer codes
Answer:
The term polysemy is defined as the notion that:
a. Multiple images have the same meaning
b. Multiple sources provide meaning to texts
c. Media texts have multiple meanings
d. Multiple authors create one media text
Answer:
In an ideological criticism of media, it is assumed that media have nothing to do with
the real world.
a. True
b. False
Answer:
The “homogenization hypothesis” about media ownership and the diversity of media
content proposes that concentrated ownership will:
a. Produce media that lack diversity
b. Produce media that contain great diversity
c. Lead to the expression of new ideas
d. Have no effect
Answer:
Which of the following media content tends not to cross international boundaries well?
a. Sex
b. Violence
c. Humor
d. Pop music
Answer:
Pornographic material is illegal to:
a. Own
b. Produce
c. Sell to minors
d. Watch
Answer:
All of the following help booksellers select the titles to stock in their bookstores,
except:
a. Publisher’s catalogue descriptions
b. Past sales of the author’s previous books
c. The popularity of the book’s genre
d. The author’s formal request
Answer:
The global digital divide refers to the gap in access to information and communication
technologies between the wealthy and poor regions of the world.
a. True
b. False
Answer:
The “Q” score in media marketing quantifies stars’ appeal to the public.
a. True
b. False
Answer:
According to the text, why was there such a proliferation of Vietnam movies in the
1970s in the United States?
a. The U.S. government subsidized production of Vietnam movies.
b. It was American society’s ideological attempt to overcome the Vietnam syndrome.
c. The Vietnamese government pressured the U.S. film industry to produce more
Vietnam movies.
d. The United Nations recommended Vietnam movies to reconcile the conflict.
Answer:
Book editors prefer unsolicited manuscripts to minimize selection bias.
a. True
b. False
Answer:
Rationalizing the news-gathering process means that news outlets:
a. Need to anticipate where news will happen
b. Cover only stories about the economy
c. Pay all their journalists the same salary
d. Eliminate all editorials and opinion pieces
Answer:
In Joshua Gamson’s study of celebrity watching, he found that some audience members
do all of the following except:
a. Believe what they see
b. See celebrities as artificial creations
c. Are “game players”
d. Created television shows
Answer:
Which of the following is true about early newspapers in the United States (18th to
early 19th century)?
a. Newspapers were largely funded by corporations.
b. “Objectivity” was a major norm of newspaper journalists.
c. No editors existed for newspapers.
d. Newspapers were advocates of political parties.
Answer:
Which of the following best describes McLuhan’s quote, “The medium is the message”?
a. Media messages are easily disseminated by different media.
b. There is only one powerful medium and many less powerful media.
c. The medium itself is sometimes more important than the message it carries.
d. Media messages are very powerful and they influence a large number of people.
Answer:
Agenda-setting theory assumes minimal effects of media.
a. True
b. False
Answer: