Q&A Hero

Q: Trans-border mass media attempt to deliver messages from one country into another country that doesn’t want its people to receive those messages.

Q: Newspapers earn less from advertisers than readers.

Q: Payola, which is illegal pay-to-play bribery of radio personnel, is a reflection of how strong the symbiotic relationship between radio and the recording industry is.

Q: Which country currently has the most Internet users? A) United States B) India C) Great Britain D) China

Q: The penchant for nonstop coverage of news has eroded quality.

Q: The Denim Council’s campaign relied heavily on the mass media to achieve its strategic goal of making jeans socially acceptable and it was very successful in turning around the image of jeans.

Q: What organization checks circulation claims? A) Arbitron Circulation Bureau B) American Research Bureau C) A.C. Nielsen Co D) Audit Bureau of Circulations

Q: The symbiosis between radio and the recording industry arose in the 1980s in response to the emergence of the Internet.

Q: Yahoo and other U.S.-based Internet companies operating in China have become embroiled in controversy because the Chinese government A) has a much more limited definition of pornography. B) has asked for and was given information about users’ messages. C) wants them to reduce their access fees. D) won’t provide enough band width to keep up with growing user demand.

Q: Since the advent and popularity of Internet news, traditional newsrooms have been providing their audiences with even more comprehensive coverage.

Q: During the 1950s wearing jeans was condemned by right-wingers as part of the communist plot to corrupt American youth.

Q: Newspapers conduct people-on-the-street interviews because A) they are efficient and accurate. B) studies have shown them to be accurate. C) they represent the average person in their communities. D) they are circulation builders.

Q: Communicating cultural values to later generations is called __________ transmission.

Q: “Farda” in Radio Farda stands for Foreign Aid Radio Delivery Agency.

Q: Which of the following is NOT a quadrant of Potter’s Box? A) Loyalties B) Values C) Outcomes D) Principles

Q: Instant messaging and e-mail are two of the newest mass media to emerge as a result of computer technology.

Q: Advertising generates most of the revenue for newspapers, magazines, radio and television.

Q: What television show attracted 178 million text messages in 2008? A) SuperBowl XLII B) American Idol C) Dancing with the Stars D) Survivor

Q: “One-foot media” such as iPods or smart phones are so engaging that Marshall McLuhan would have called them “hot” if he had lived long enough to know about them.

Q: Another term used to describe the practice of covering up mistakes or abuses instead of correcting them is A) gift wrapping.. B) whitewashing. C) plausible denial. D) spin-doctoring.

Q: 900-number phone surveys are an example of A) straw polling. B) low-budget polling. C) electronic sampling. D) random sampling.

Q: The mass media are contributing to status conferral and __________ when they give attention to people or issues and thus make them matters of concern for the public.

Q: Voice of America was developed to advertise goods and products to third world countries.

Q: A useful four-quadrant model that can be used for sorting through ethical problems is A) Four-square ethics. B) Situational ethics. C) a Potter’s Box. D) a SWOT analysis.

Q: Mass media have become so integrated into our lives that media multitasking is common.

Q: What distinction is given to public relations professionals who are accredited by the Public Relations Society of America? A) AP B) APR C) PRSA D) PR-Certified

Q: Who selects the participants in a straw poll? A) pollster B) respondents themselves C) pollster’s client D) interviewer

Q: Using a black hat to depict a movie cowboy as a “bad guy” is an example of __________.

Q: U.S. funding of Afghan mass media and soft diplomacy through the media is just part of our overall efforts at nation building in that country.

Q: A major criticism of situational ethics is that A) they do not offer flexibility in morally ambiguous situations. B) they essentially require people to predict the future. C) they remove the power of decision-making from the individual. D) they leave one prone to flip-flopping on moral issues.

Q: The mass media are the vehicles through which messages are disseminated to mass audiences.

Q: The primary revenue streams for mass media industries are user fees and sales.

Q: Pandora is a satellite radio network.

Q: Terrestrial radio is a term that encompasses A) all forms of non-digital radio. B) radio delivered through radio towers. C) digital radio transmissions. D) radio programming from networks.

Q: After the several mass murders on college campuses in 2008, many universities instituted A) phone banks to alert students. B) text-message alerts to cell phones. C) upgraded and faster e-mail systems. D)electronic bulletin boards to post warnings.

Q: News aggregation sites are less known for their own original news-gathering than for providing access to information gathered from other sources.

Q: The association for professionals working in public relations is called the A) American Association of PR Practitioners. B) Journalism and Public Relations Foundation. C) Association for Integrated Communications. D) Public Relations Society of America.

Q: When developing a survey instrument, it is important to pay attention to the wording of survey questions because A) people remember polysyllabic words best. B) people remember the words they heard first. C) wording can skew responses. D) people will reject a pollster who uses slang.

Q: When someone wears the same type of clothing as a popular pop singer, it is an example of the effects of __________.

Q: U.S. involvement in Afghanistan’s mass media after its government was overthrown in 2001 and began rebuilding is characterized as “soft diplomacy” to get messages favorable to the U.S. directly to the people.

Q: The major approaches to ethics described in your book are deontological, teleological and A) prudential. B) codian. C) effervescent. D) situational.

Q: A study at Ball State University found that people intentionally spend 30 percent of their waking hours with the media.

Q: Capitalism is a profit-driven system.

Q: The self-proclaimed founder of podcasting who called himself “podfather” was A) Adam Curry. B) Tom Joyner. C) Al Gore. D) Shawn Fanning.

Q: On average, how many U.S. mobile-phone users text message? A) 50 percent B) 70 percent C) 80 percent D) 90 percent

Q: According to Marshall McLuhan, a “hot medium” is one that is intensely involving and requires you to focus and concentrate to get the message.

Q: What flaw do teleologists observe in deontological thinking? A) People have imperfect foresight. B) Great harm can flow from blind allegiance to rules. C) Deontologists operate without guiding principles. D) Deontologists rely too heavily on the facts of a situation.

Q: Although we don’t always pay attention to them, we are exposed to media messages more than two-thirds of our waking hours.

Q: Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is the financial brains behind Facebook.

Q: Texting on cellular networks generally limits messages to A) 15 words. B) 100 characters. C) 140 characters. D) personal use only.

Q: A gatekeeper is someone who determines what and how stories are covered.

Q: A public relations practitioner engaged in political communication could do all of the following EXCEPT A) campaign management. B) organizing front organizations. C) survey research. D) testifying before congressional sub-committees.

Q: Which of the following is NOT true regarding how a poll is conducted? A) Polls conducted on street corners are not worth much statistically. B) Mail surveys are flawed unless pollsters follow up on those who didn’t answer. C) Surveys taken in shopping malls are statistically flawed. D) It makes no difference whether the poll is done on the telephone or face to face.

Q: So-called __________ working for the CIA’s Open Source Center scan Facebook, Twitter, traditional news outlets, and other online sources to assess grassroots world opinion on a daily basis.

Q: Unlike the traditional news media, the Internet has opened new avenues for well-motivated corporate insiders to blow the whistle on mismanagement and other wrong-doing.

Q: E-mail messages sent indiscriminately to large numbers of recipients are called A) e-blasts. B) solicitation. C) spam. D)flashes.

Q: The myriad online news sites have resulted in less accuracy and truthfulness in online news accounts.

Q: Public relations advocacy includes all of the following EXCEPT A) astroturfing. B) labeling. C) lobbying. D) political communication.

Q: It is important to know who paid for a poll because the people who pay A) may determine what a pollster will understand. B) will be more open-minded about the results. C) have a vested interest in the outcome. D) restrict what other work a pollster may be able to do.

Q: By airing adult topics while children may be in the audience, television and other media make __________ easier and knock down what used to be carefully-guarded, age-based boundaries.

Q: Traditional mass media have done a great job of getting inside major corporations to tell the real story of what they’re doing and expose corporate excesses.

Q: When decisions are based on the expectation of having good consequences or positive results, the decision-maker is using A) teleological ethics. B) the divine right of kings. C) the theory of secular command. D) libertarian theory.

Q: Media literacy enables us to more effectively use the mass media for our own advantage and avoid being conned by them.

Q: In the eyes of critics like Senator Al Franken, the dangers of media conglomeration include all of the following EXCEPT A) a decline in family-ownership of mass media along with a rising corporate orientation. B) large media corporations pay lower tax rates so the government collects less revenue. C) profitability trumps community service and cultural enrichment. D) a shift in focus toward emphasizing improved profits.

Q: SiriusXM, the company formed by the merger of Sirius and XM, reaches its audience via A) terrestrial networks. B) satellite transmissions. C) techno-works. D) public radio stations.

Q: Major corporations make huge lobbying investments to influence U.S. laws and regulations.

Q: Which of the following is deontological? A) Situational ethics B) Social responsibility theory C) Utilitarian theory D) Categorical imperative theory

Q: A termcoined in the 1980s to describe how the broadcast industry reaches niche audiences is A) fringecasting. B)fragcasting. C) narrowcasting. D) cablecasting.

Q: Wireless delivery of digitized messages may represent the ultimate level in A) audience fragmentation. B) decentralization of media ownership. C) mass media technology. D) speed and ease of packaging messages for delivery.

Q: How much of the content aired by an average NPR affiliate station is actually produced by the station itself? A) almost two-thirds B) about one-half C) almost one-third D) about one-quarter

Q: Julian Assange, who heads WikiLeaks, believes governments and corporations should avoid transparency because it only leads to secrecy, fraud, and abuse.

Q: Arguing that people act morally when they follow good rules is A) pragmatic theory. B) utilitarian theory. C) social-responsibility theory. D) deontological ethics.

Q: Demassification has NOT contributed to the growth of A) general-interest magazines. B) alternative media for narrow genres in the mass audience. C) cable television networks. D) neighborhood and suburban weekly newspapers.

Q: Despite concerns about government involvement in the mass media, one of the best examples of the U.S. government offering direct financial support to mass media is A) the BBC. B) the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. C) the FRC. D) the Wall Street Journal.

Q: NPR’s economic future was secured by a major gift from A) Rush Limbaugh. B) Edward R. Murrow. C) Joan Kroc. D) Gordon McLendon.

Q: In 1969, the U.S. military created a computer network called A) ARPAnet. B) Internet. C) Intranet. D) Compunet.

Q: The online version of the Washington Post is an example of an aggregation site.

Q: Jack Abramoff is best known for A) his ethical behavior in lobbying Congress. B) his ability to defuse crises at minimal financial cost. C) directing the campaign of President George W. Bush. D) being convicted in one of the largest Congressional corruption scandals.

Q: Why is it important to know when a poll was taken? A) Opinions shift over time. B) Weather impacts people’s emotions C) People are more alert in the morning, less so in the evening D) Most people aren’t home during the day, thus skewing the sample

Q: Socialization is a prosocial process that helps ensure the stability of society by transmitting the __________ of one generation on to the next generation.