Exam #1

Question 1

Why Americans Hate the Media and Why it Matters – LADD

Answer 1

Power and economics of newspapers. Privately owned and politicians have incentives. Governments try to control through subsidies. Sensationalist coverage used to avoid controversy. American Revolution changed relationships = Stamp Act led to anti-government coverage. Free press emerged. Papers started having party connections. Jacksonian Era > close to the paper we have now (forced subscriptions). Paper turned to tabloids. Telegraph made news quicker. Printing press created more papers, lowered price, more coverage, and took less time/money to produce. Smaller papers died. Yellow Journalism emerged = sensationalism, color, and big headlines.

Question 2

Post-Broadcast Democracy: How Media Choice Increases Inequality in Political Involvement & Polarizes Election – PRIOR

Answer 2

Before/During TV and Radio. TV = Fastest Growing Media. Increased voter turnout. Easy to watch; requires less attention. 3 Networks: CBS, ABC, and NBC. Movies/Radio declined, as TV increased (even w/ less choices). Push medium > everyone gets the same.

Question 3

The Bad News About the News – KAISER

Answer 3

Free press; watchdog, but succumbs to sensationalism. Internet is fragmented with ideological news. Newspaper profits low, Google profits increasing (targeted marketing). Craigslist killing small advertisement. Newspapers dying due to online versions being free and stories becoming oversaturated.

Question 4

In Changing News Landscapes Even Television is Vulnerable: Trends in News Consumption: 1991-2012 – PEW RESEARCH CENTER

Answer 4

Mobile news increasing, as newspapers and TV declining. More social networks on phones. Young news consumption has changed. CNN going down. More online news than on paper. Twitter/FB news.

Question 5

Political Polarization & Media Habits – MITCHELL

Answer 5

10 question survey decided if someone was liberal or conservative. Little overlap between how they get their news. Consistently Conservative: Mainly FOX, tight knit groups, distrust media, are political on FB, have online like-minded friends. Consistently Liberal: Less unified loyalty in media, more trust of media, will end friendships on FB due to politics, follows issue-based groups

Question 6

Making the News Chapter 3 – BOYDSTON

Answer 6

Alarm/Patrol Hybrid. Patrol mode hard due to restrictions and pressured. Alarm mode hard due to false alarms, no alarms, and false absence of alarms. More attention is positive feedback and less attention is negative feedback. Catholic Priest Scandal: Patrol, then Alarm. Led to corrupt Catholic organization. Hurricane Katrina: Alarm, then Patrol. Let to show America’s racial and socioeconomic divide. Jerry Sandusky: Alarm, Alarm, then Patrol. Sexual abuse of 40+ students. Let to focus on larger football/college.

Question 7

CMO of Microsoft - MICH

Answer 7

Marketing becoming more digital and quantitative. Shift in Advertising and the skills needed. Changes in: Mobile (live, on our terms, 24 hours, and real-time – Ads are targeted and mass) Open Systems: Uber/AirBNB (selling your talent/what you have on your own terms and time – advertising in house). Social (information about us is being sold to huge companies). Big Data (all of our information is being sold to marketers, more personal NOT first party). Programatic (high speed trading in real-time). Internet of Things (every device will be wired), AR/VR (AR will give us a first hand experience as we can have it there). Amazon (hugely powerful). 4 Horsemen: Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook. Marketing > analytical, left/right brain, will machines take over? Privacy is declining as Google knows it all.

Question 8

New Media and the Polarization of American Political Discourse – BAUM and GROELING

Answer 8

Wanted to know if the media was biased. Used AP stories and analyzed media outlets who picked them up. Quantified whether they chose stories that favored Democrats/Republicans. H1 - Liberal Media: Favor Dem, Harm Rep. H2 - Conservative Media: Favor Rep, Harm Dem. H3 - Nonpartisan: Equal to both. H4 - Non Partisan 2 - Cheap News. All like scandals, but FOX stops talking about Iraq. Concluded FOX is right skewed, AP critical of Republicans, and blog users can be opinion leaders.

Question 9

Podcast – THIS AMERICAN LIFE

Answer 9

Observed the way that friendships have been ruined by political elections. Some cannot get past their friends’ political affiliations and result to name-calling. Plus, two authors try to find a way for liberals/conservatives to talk without arguing.

Question 10

Examples of mass media before print:

Answer 10

Town Criers, Hand Copied Books, and Church Pulpits

Question 11

Printing in the Reformation

Answer 11

Martin handed out pamphlets with bible messages on them

Question 12

Printing in the Counter-Reformation

Answer 12

Catholic Church/French/British had a list of banned books, which the postal system monitored and enforced. There was censorship and licensing involved, British had 1 company who did all the printing. Only allowed to cover favorable or foreign news.

Question 13

Where did papers succeed in the past?

Answer 13

Where there was a weak government who couldn’t enforced rules and where there was a tolerant government who was okay with different viewpoints.

Question 14

Early Newspapers: Content and Economics (Law)

Answer 14

Content: Regulated by the government
Economics: So expensive, not available to all

• Libel laws emerged*

Question 15

Early American Papers: Content and Economics:

Answer 15

Content: Old news, trade news.
Economics: Sideline job, not profitable

Question 16

Boston News-Letter

Answer 16

First continuing paper- was subsidized by an authority.

Question 17

Why were the royal governors not a fan of the news?

Answer 17

They did not want to be criticized/ or wanted to public to have mass information.

Question 18

Printing Before the Revolution: Politics

Answer 18

Not political, low circulation, only printed laws proclamation and overall information for the goverment

Question 19

What was the Zanger case?

Answer 19

Zanger case led to a man being jailed and having all copies of his books burned, but the jury decided that the only defense to seditious libel was the truth.

Question 20

How did the Stamp Act politicize the press?

Answer 20

There was a tax on printing, since the Sons of Liberty began printing against the government. Paper began to get partisan.

Question 21

Partisan Press Era

Answer 21

Papers supported by political parties. Parties gave them stories, contracts, and postage, and papers gave them coverage. Elites had these.

Question 22

Editors during the Partisan Press Era

Answer 22

Depended financially on parties even though they didn’t take orders from them.

Question 23

How did the Penny Press change newspapers and their economics?

Answer 23

Papers became a mass medium. It cost a penny and was paid for by advertisements. More people were able to afford the paper. Literacy rate increased. Technology made printing easier; grew into an actual business.

Question 24

What is yellow journalism?

Answer 24

Papers that are more sensationalistic because of competition, cover sports, fast and loose with the truth, crime, weather, theater, divorce, suicide, etc.

Question 25

How did TV change politics?

Answer 25

Got us more involved- more people tuned in to political elections.

Question 26

Radio and Politics

Answer 26

Politicians were given air time, but people didn’t really listen. Spurs of consumption during crisis and wars. More of an entertainment medium.

Question 27

What was the fastest growing medium ever?

Answer 27

TV (Radio and Movies fell dramatically even though there was lest content to choose from. But it was easier to watch. Requires less cognitive attention and effort.

Question 28

What were the first 3 networks?

Answer 28

CBS, NBC, and ABC

Question 29

How did syndication help papers?

Answer 29

Local papers could print larger stories and pool their stories from many different papers. It led to more objective coverage of events, since thy wanted to sell to all papers. More neutral papers arose from this.

Question 30

What were the major newspaper developments in: Business Model, Political Role, Content, and Government Role

Answer 30

Business: Sideline, subsidized, independent

Political: None, revolutionary, party subsidy, independent political force, less partisan

Content: Old news, party rhetoric, stenographers, sensationalistic, but neutral

Government Role: constrained by colonial governors, revolutionary, political but subsidized, independent

Question 31

Radio as a Medium

Answer 31

Used stories from newspapers, was cheaper as it was a one time purchase, mass medium, entertainment and news, advertising as a push medium.

Question 32

TV as a Medium

Answer 32

More widespread, dominated by 3 networks, Advertising easier as people could see the product,

Question 33

Campaign vide of Humphrey, McCarthy, and Nixon vs. Trump, Bernie, and Clinton

Answer 33

Back then coverage was more objective, less sensationalistic, no real opinion, boring to watch. Now very partisan, sensationalistic, deliverer of news has an ideology and known political affiliation.

Question 34

What type of news do local news cover?

Answer 34

Soft news, advertisement, weather, teasers, entertainment, and information. (minimal national coverage though there is some)

Question 35

Local News as a Medium

Answer 35

Cheap to make, politicians can target certain locations, local news focuses a lot on numbers and what will drive views, obsessed with competition with other channels and not other mediums, they want to be less sensationalist, but then repeal what the most common viewer is.

Question 36

Political Implications of Cable TV/Satellite TV

Answer 36

24 hours, less of a push medium, more ideological specialization and niches, more competition for viewers, less regulatory incentive of airwave regulation. Led to a huge droop in network viewing.

Question 37

Cable vs. Networks (Gender, Race, Age, Education, Income, Party)

Answer 37

Cable leads in all!

Question 38

The Internet as a Medium: Economics, Political Implications, and Revenue

Answer 38

Economics: Basic infrastructure already in place (phones) produced information and was cheap to transmit.

Political Implications: widely available, cheap, niche, person to person communication, diffusion of mass media power

Advertising Revenue: Fell to 20B because it is cheaper to make. Google bigger than all newspapers combined. Eventually mobile newspaper revenue will fall and mobile will rise.

Question 39

What is news (now)?

Answer 39

Has changed. Struggle between what people need and what they want. Focus on numbers, gossip, technology, sex, and other marketable subjects.

Question 40

The height of newspaper circulation:

Answer 40

About 1945

Question 41

The height of TV consumption:

Answer 41

About 1970 (more widespread than plumbing at that time)

Question 42

At one time, who was the most trusted man in America? What was his profession?

Answer 42

Walter Cronkite. CBS evening news anchorman.