Q&A Hero

Q: Studies have shown Americans on average spend almost one-third of their waking hours actively using the mass media and now depend on the mass media to help them live their lives. Estimate how much time you devote to each of the major media in a typical week or month and discuss how this compares to the current national averages. Also describe three ways in which you depend on the mass media.

Q: Discuss three of the new funding mechanisms that various media have turned to in recent years to cope with decreases in their sales and/or advertising revenue. Identify at least three different media companies that have tried one of more of these approaches and point out what they did.

Q: __________ is a radio listener survey company.

Q: MySpace has lost out to Facebook among high school and college students but remains very popular among non-students.

Q: A live, on-site performance is said to be a(n) A) authentic performance. B) mediated performance. C) live performance. D) scripted performance.

Q: __________ was a pioneer in the public relations field who believed in institutional openness, finding upbeat angles, and giving organizations a human face.

Q: Attending a Broadway show, you would be witnessing an example of A) production-line entertainment. B) authentic performance. C) the Miller Standard at work. D) mediated performance.

Q: __________ was a 19th century theory used to justify companies making huge profits on the grounds that because they are the fittest, God has given them their just financial rewards.

Q: Telephone interviews have become the preferred method to poll broadcast audiences.

Q: A(n) __________ is a packet provided news reporters to tell the story in an advantageous way.

Q: Procter & Gamble’s market knowledge officer thinks there’s a need to do more qualitative research relating to social media in addition to traditional quantitative data-gathering.

Q: Current federal regulations try to ensure a level playing field for all candidates for office during election campaigns by requiring radio and television stations to do all of the following EXCEPT A) give equal opportunities for airtime to all candidates competing for any particular office. B) limit political advertising to less than 60 percent of the station’s total advertising time. C) offer reasonable opportunities for the discussion of differing views of important public issues . D) sell ad time to any and all candidates for President or for the U.S. House and Senate.

Q: The teen-aged hacker who posted instructions on the Internet for breaking the anti-copying software code and ripping movies from DVDs was A) fined 28 million Krone (about $5 million U.S. dollars) for malicious violation of copyright. B) initially found guilty of Internet piracy but is now appealing his case to the World Court. C) prosecuted for facilitating intellectual piracy but was found not guilty by the Norwegian courts. D) taken into custody but successfully fought extradition to the U.S. and was never brought to trial.

Q: After being accused of committing plagiarism in his latest book, author Chris Anderson said, “So what? Everybody does it, and nobody cares these days.”

Q: Match each term in the left column with the most appropriate explanation in the right column. 1) Communication A) Reading and writing skills 2) Group communication B) Ability to analyze, understand, and prepare messages 3) Interpersonal communication C) Sending messages to vast audiences 4) Mass communication D) Focuses on the use and meaning of motion 5) Mediated communication E) Competency with both spoken and written language 6) Literacy G) Two-way dialogue, usually involving two individuals 7) Film literacy H) Requires participants to be within earshot 8) Linguistic literacy I) Dissemination or sharing of information or ideas 9) Media literacy J) Technology-assisted transmission of messages 10) Visual literacy K) Deciphers meaning from images

Q: Explain what it means to say the 1927 Federal Radio Act was based on a scarcity model. Describe what that act did and its impact on the radio station operators of that time..

Q: On average, there are more than __________ radio receivers in each U.S. household.

Q: Facebook was the creation of a Harvard sophomore who first posted pictures of sorority members online for visitors to rate.

Q: Discuss three ways the government has provided special assistance or advantages to print media companies that are not given to other types of business. Explain why you think these types of special treatment are or are not justified.

Q: The most popular format in radio today is ___________ music.

Q: The Internet has democratized the mass media because anyone can become a mass communicator.

Q: The youngest woman to ever make the Forbes list of the 100 Most Influential Females in the world was A) Britanny Spears. B) Hillary Cinton. C) Lady Gaga. D) Oprah Winfrey.

Q: Which of these entertainment categories contains the clearest genres within itself? A) storytelling B) music C) sports D) movies

Q: The dialogic theory does expect __________ people to tell the whole story about their organizations, the shortcomings as well as the strengths to help build mutually beneficial relationships.

Q: Procter & Gamble is currently exploring ways to make more use of social media for marketing and consumer research.

Q: Senator Russ Feingold used what unusual type of political advertising during the 2004 Senate race? A) negative ads B) emotional ads C) comparison ads D) humorous ads

Q: What did Jon Lech Johansen invent? A) cheat software for video games B) an iPod compression program C) DVD encryption-breaking software D) an iTunes checkout work-around

Q: In trying to justify accidentally appearing as if he had plagiarized, book author Chris Anderson said, “the conventions of identifying sources are impossible to maintain in the digital age, whatever their virtue may be.”

Q: Radio had to seek fragmented audiences to survive economically because __________ was “stealing” much of its audience and many of its biggest advertisers.

Q: Procter & Gamble spends $400 million per year on market research which is more than any other single company.

Q: Negative ads, especially savage ones criticizing an opponent and often playing fast and loose with context and facts, are called A) negativism. B) public relations. C) attack ads. D) viral advertising.

Q: Worldwide protesters supporting the hacker who was put on trial for breaking Hollywood’s anti-copying protection on DVDs and posting how to do it on the Internet began calling him A) DVD Jon. B) Johnny boy. C) Lech-man. D) Movie-Jon.

Q: A journalistic tolerance for plagiarism once allowed many radio stations to get by pirating the local newspaper for newscasts.

Q: __________ was the first of the mass media to begin demassification.

Q: Discuss why some media experts would like to see a return to family ownership of mass media companies, and explain why you agree or disagree with their view of these benefits. Also explain how a change in inheritance tax laws could impact family-owned media companies.

Q: The United States has more than __________ radio stations.

Q: Matt Drudge’s blog propelled the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky affair into a national scandal.

Q: Nobody expects __________ to point out a product’s flaws and weaknesses because that’s not the way you sell things.

Q: The cut-and-paste mentality of the Internet generation has complicated the issue of plagiarism.

Q: The fragmentation of the mass audience into narrower segments is called __________.

Q: Cite at least three reasons why some skeptics worry that ownership of media companies by foundations and other non-profit entities might only be a temporary fix and not a sustainable model for the long-term economic survival of financially troubled media. Explain why you agree or disagree with these skeptics.

Q: Today, noncommercial radio stations are called __________ radio, although most of them were originally designated educational radio stations.

Q: User-generated content means Internet messages that originate with an individual to communicate directly with a mass audience.

Q: Which of the following would NOT be considered a thematic genre of entertainment? A) rock and roll B) books C) sports D) sci-fi

Q: Passing off someone else’s creative work as your own is plagiarism.

Q: A form of message intended to persuade people to buy a product is called __________.

Q: Match each organization in the left column with the most appropriate descriptor in the right column. 1) Wall Street Journal A) Victim of the Dot_Com Bust 2) Time Warner B) Media trade group 3) Gannett C) Bought NBC Universal in 2011 4) Christian Science Monitor D) Owned by News Corp. 5) Associated Press E) Government licensed 6) Broadband Sports Network F) Multi-media conglomerate 7) Comcast G) Huge, but not yet a conglomerate 8) Google H) Institutionally sponsored 9) National Association of Broadcasters I) Cooperative non-profit 10) WLW Radio (Cincinnati) J) USA Today owner

Q: The financial foundation of broadcasting is __________.

Q: Blogs are NOT considered a mass medium.

Q: Broad thematic categories of media content are called A) cross-overs. B) genres. C) generics. D) blockbusters.

Q: Public relations practitioners call their organization’s constituent groups __________.

Q: Page views and counts of click-ons have been replaced by time-on-site as a better way to determine something like engagement ratings for Internet sites.

Q: Political ads, usually on TV, in which a candidate criticizes the opponent are called A) slam ads. B) moderate ads. C) negative ads. D) stonewalling ads.

Q: The teen-aged hacker who broke Hollywood’s anti-copying protection on commercial DVDs and allowed worldwide ripping and file-sharing of movies was A) Jon Huntsman of Utah. B) Jon Lech Johansen of Norway. C) Ingemar Johansson of Sweden. D) Lech Walesa of Poland.

Q: Describe several ways the Chinese government attempts to control freedom of speech through its restrictions on the Internet. Explain why you think these efforts will or won’t be effective over the long run.

Q: The role of persuasion is especially important in a __________ society so that public policy can emerge from meaningful public discussion.

Q: The descriptive term for a company thatdominates production and distribution in an industry is __________.

Q: The Federal __________ of 1927 legally established the government’s right to license and regulate broadcasting.

Q: The word “blog” is a shortened version of the phrase “web log.”

Q: Entertainment came into the age of mass communication and began to reach large, mass audiences with the introduction of A) Johannes Gutenberg’s movable type. B) romance novels. C) pulp Westerns and dime novels. D) television.

Q: Mutuality, empathy, commitment, and a willingness to take risks are among the characteristics of the dialogic theory of __________ .

Q: Engagement ratings measure how attentive people are to programs and ads.

Q: A staged event that lacks substance and is used to attract media attention is A) illegal. B) lobbying. C) a news-maker. D) a pseudo event.

Q: Websites such as textnovel.com and quillpill.com which serve readers and writers actively promote the spread of cell phone novels.

Q: The core categories of media entertainment remain A) sports and music. B) art and literature. C) storytelling and music. D) live entertainment and books.

Q: A fairly recent approach to public relations that emphasizes two-way communication and talking with an organization’s publics instead of to them is based on the __________

Q: The flush factor was first noticed during halftime of televised football games.

Q: What is the name for a photogenic, staged event created to attract media attention? A) photo-op B) clip-op C) PR-event D) news-maker

Q: Describe how Al-Jazeera differs from the Dubai Media Incorporated in terms of purpose and content. Explain which of them you think more effectively serves the Middle East.

Q: Prudence is the application of wisdom in a practical situation.

Q: Accepted practices do not require examination and reevaluation.

Q: The __________ of ideas is a concept that a robust exchange of ideas yields better consensus.

Q: Over time, as industries continue to grow and mature, the number of competing companies may begin to decrease as a result of __________ .

Q: Broadcast licensees are required to broadcast programs that are in the __________, convenience and necessity.

Q: Congress regulated radio stations by saying that the airwaves carrying radio signals are __________ assets.

Q: Cell phone novels which haven’t yet become popular in the U.S. first appeared in Italy and then spread to other countries.

Q: When did entertainment evolve as part of human culture? A) with Gutenberg’s introduction of movable type B) with the introduction of the musical instrument C) when the Romans built Circus Maximus, which held 170,000 spectators D) before the emergence of written human history

Q: Public relations is a management tool for institutions to establish beneficial __________with other institutions and groups.

Q: Sweeps weeks are conducted during eight months of the year.

Q: A President needs speech-writers like Jon Favreau for all of the following reasons EXCEPT A) crafting messages the President is comfortable delivering and which resonate with audiences. B) even an effective speech-writing President doesn’t have time to write dozens of speeches a week. C) to develop quality messages that don’t rely on trickery with words to get attention. D) to put words in the President’s mouth for routine occasions he doesn’t have time to think about.