Business of Journalism

Question 1

management plays key role in

Answer 1

journalists ability to practice their profession

Question 2

news businesses differ from other businesses in one important way

Answer 2

their constitutional freedom is interpreted to mean they are semipublic service as well as profit gaining business

Question 3

in 20th century more than 98% were ?

• has downside: suffered under narrow minded owners who ?
• sacred cow problem
• hometown

Answer 3

• family owned news companies
• pushed papers toward one side reports and pol. favoritism
• those businesses that owners favored and gave preferential treatment
• boosterism

Question 4

newspapers become a great investment

Answer 4

stock

attractive to investors (no care for whether performing public service resp.)

Question 5

what happens when a corp. owns a newspaper
-improved
-gave journalists considerable ? because only concerned in ?
-some corp.owners took pride in ?
some corporate owners only concerned with ?
example

Answer 5

some newspapers 
-journalistic freedom/business side of newspapers 
-stories newspapers produced 
-bottom line 
keep staff small 
lowest paid 
work overtime to fill paper 
Thomson newspaper inc.

Question 6

corporate owners face problems
21st century: circulation ? young readers have ?
-what declined
classified ads took a ? (accounted for how much of newspapers revenue)
-newspapers still getting money but ?

Answer 6

• falling/no interest in news
• advertising
• hit (40%)
• stockholders not

Question 7

sad tale of knight ridder 
-stock began to 
-cut 
-knight ridder ?
sold to ? 
also happened to ?
how much staff cut during downturn of 2000s

Answer 7

-decline
-staff
broke up , sold all papers and went out of business
-McClatchy: good news but group didnt keep all of the papers
-tribune co.
-50%

Question 8

other forms of ownership

poytner family: to keep paper independent and use its profits to fund

Answer 8

-programs to study journalism and train working journalists

Question 9

would be better if followed model of public television

• changes in tax laws might envourage corporate owners to give papers to ?
• would not be ?
• in a lot of places govt. helps

Answer 9

• non profit org.
• under pressure of stock holders
• fund

Question 10

a return to local ownership

journalists and readers have a wish: new local ownership will be motivated by a sense of ?

Answer 10

community and allow journalists the freedom to practice their craft

Question 11

local ownership worries some for two reasons
a return to days when publishers ?
new owners will be no better than ?
less willing to

Answer 11

used newspapers to push own political dogmas
-corporate owners

-invest in expanding news coverage and modernizing equipment

Question 12

1996 telecommunications act :

local stations ?

Answer 12

abolished limit and raised cap to 35%

losing viewers and advertisers

Question 13

TV finds profit in news 
TV has two products compared to news companies ?
some put no ?
-news was ?
what changed this ?

Answer 13

news and entertainment
-thought into news to begin with, others did
-loss leader
60 minutes

Question 14

number of people watching evening network news ?
however advertising has not 
-still accounts for 
-spike in 
-morning news is

Answer 14

• plummeted
• gone down
• 20% of networks revenue
• crises
• more successful

Question 15

growth of ethnic media
what was first AA newspaper 
frederick douglas ?
-rallied many against 
-some banned in

Answer 15

Freedoms journal
North Star
-slavery
-north

Question 16

1950s and 60s weakened these ?
why?
losing ?
how many today 
what are most successful 
-founded by > who also founded 
BET carried first ?

Answer 16

• newspapers
• successful fight against segregation
• circulation and core advertisers
• 230
• jet and ebony
• John H Johnson / BET
• national news broadcast aimed at AA

Question 17

growing latino and asian media 
fastest growing:
spanish language tV more interested in ?
however stories more ? and ?
what and what

Answer 17

latino
homelands far away and world at large
-one sided and unnamed sources
-shorter and more opinionated

Question 18

problems of the underfunded newsroom 
newspaper copy editors facing ?
-more work in less time means 
-less reporters = 
-filled with ?

Answer 18

• cuts/ reduced # of copy editors
• more errors
• less time to write stories or edit them
• quick hits for reporters to meet quota

Question 19

news staff at TV station face ?
hiring by local stations?
number of hours of news broadcasting ?
-only can send reporters stories than can be 
-crime stories are 
understaffed also rely on ?
rise of?
-rise of ?

Answer 19

-same thing
-increasing
-increasing
-covered quick
-easiest
PR people or editors
pseudo event and video news releases

Question 20

low salaries in underfunded news rooms:
beginners salaries so low because:
-salaries directly proportional to ?
salaries at non union papers tends to be
-what turnover rate, only stay at small company long enough to get ?
-they don’t learn needs of

Answer 20

• start at small paper
• size of papers circulation and TV stations market
• lower = low quality
• 50%/job at bigger company
• community

Question 21

lowering the wall
at smaller newspapers wall has been ?
what wall?
at some problem is not lowering the wall but trying to keep ?
advertising constitutes what percent of news revenue

Answer 21

• substantially lowered
• that between news and adv.
• adv. from crashing through it
• 80%

Question 22

many adv. threaten to pull out if?

• now a lot make ?
• waste time making these because
• adv. pressure is more at ?

Answer 22

unfavorable stories told
advertorials (Special section for adv. like car businesses)
-not real news
-TV stations than news

Question 23

magazines: battle lost when advertiser says they are ?
ads found their way onto ?
-allowed

Answer 23

guaranteed placement

• internet and blog sites
• sponsored content

Question 24

can quality journalism make money ?
what they have to sell is ?
quality product attracts ? and then ?
ex:
same for ?
-report found increasing quality of journalism is most likely path to

Answer 24

• yes
• social influence and credibility
• readers and then adv.
• USA today
• TV news
• commercial success

Question 25

what could improve quality and ratings:
do more ?
cover more of the ?
air more ?
source stories ?
hire more ?

Answer 25

enterprise reporting (orig. investigations and locally sourced stories) 
community
long stories 
better
reporters and give them more time