Chapter 6

Question 0

Narrowcasting

Answer 0

The emergence of news outlets on cable television and the Internet that offer specialty content for small, niche audiences.

Question 1

Mass media

Answer 1

All means of communication with the general public, including television, newspapers, magazines, radio, books, recordings, motion pictures, and the Internet.

Question 2

Fourth estate

Answer 2

The free news press and the people and institutions of the free press.

Question 3

News making

Answer 3

Deciding what events, topics, presentations, and issues will be given coverage in the news.

Question 4

Agenda setting

Answer 4

Deciding what will be decided, defining the problems and issues to be addressed by decision makers.

Question 5

Socialization

Answer 5

The learning of a culture and its values.

Question 6

Soft news

Answer 6

News features in talk shows, late-night comedy, and TV news magazines- reaches more people than regular news broadcasts.

Question 7

Muckraking

Answer 7

Journalistic exposes of corruption, wrongdoing, or mismanagement in government, business, and institutions of society.

Question 8

Feeding frenzy

Answer 8

Intense media coverage of a scandal or event that blocks out most other news.

Question 9

Pundits

Answer 9

An individual who offers expert opinion to the mass media.

Question 10

Name recognition

Answer 10

Public awareness of a candidate- whether people even know his or her name.

Question 11

Media events

Answer 11

Staged activities designed to attract media attention.

Question 12

Horse-race coverage

Answer 12

Media coverage of electoral campaigns that concentrates on who is ahead and who is behind, and neglects the issues at stake.

Question 13

Sound bite

Answer 13

Concise and catchy phrase that attracts media coverage.

Question 14

Prior restraint

Answer 14

Government actions to restrict publication of a magazine, newspaper, or books on the grounds of libel, obscenity, or other legal violations prior to actual publication of the work.

Question 15

Equal-time rule

Answer 15

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requirement that broadcasters who sell time to any political candidate must make equal time available to opposing candidates at the same price.

Question 16

Libel

Answer 16

Writings that are false and malicious and intended to damage an individual.

Question 17

Slander

Answer 17

Oral statements that are false and malicious and intended to damage an individual.

Question 18

Sullivan rule

Answer 18

Court guideline that false and malicious statements regarding public officials are protected by the first amendment unless it can be proven they were known to be false at the time they were made or made with “reckless disregard” for their truth or falsehood

Question 19

New media

Answer 19

Content and technology that result in the ability of individuals to actively and immediately share content generated in traditional media forms (text, image, sound, and video).

Question 20

Cyber culture

Answer 20

The emergent culture that results from computerization, networking, and use of new media.

Question 21

Cyber politics

Answer 21

The application of new media to campaign politics.

Question 22

Social media applications

Answer 22

Internet and new media applications that facilitate social coordination and interaction.

Question 23

Money bombs

Answer 23

Large amounts of money raised in a brief period of time using only online resources.

Question 24

Information overload

Answer 24

Situation in which individuals are subjected to so many communications that they cannot make sense of them.

Question 25

Selective perception

Answer 25

Mentally screening out information or opinions with which one disagrees.

Question 26

Television malaise

Answer 26

Generalized feelings of distrust, cynicism, and powerlessness stemming from television’s emphasis on the negative aspects of American life.

Question 27

What has been referred to as the fourth branch of government?

Answer 27

The media

Question 28

What is the most powerful media of communication?

Answer 28

Television

Question 29

What medium is the second-most used source for politics?

Answer 29

The Internet.

Question 30

According to the Pew Research Center survey taken December 1-5, 2010, what percentage of Americans says that the news organizations generally “get their facts straight”?

Answer 30

29 percent

Question 31

What was Thomas Jefferson’s view on newspapers and how did it change?

Answer 31

He once wrote that he would prefer newspapers without government to a government without newspapers. But after serving as president, he wrote that people who never read newspapers are better informed than those who do, because ignorance is closer to the truth than the falsehoods spread by the newspapers.