Mass Media in the U.S.

Question 1

Mass Media (U.S.)

Answer 1

Mass media consists of any means of communication intended to reach a general, public audience. Note that mass media is widely used to reference the entire public communications industry, including: Newspapers, Magazines, Flyers, Billboards, Automated telemarketing, Radio broadcasts, Television broadcasts, Internet articles, Social media posts.

Question 2

State Media

Answer 2

In countries such as China and Russia, the national government controls the mass media. This is known as state media. In contrast, in the United States, corporations control most mass media.

Question 3

Print Media (U.S.)

Answer 3

Print media includes books, newspapers, newsletters, and magazines and was the dominant form of media throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. It can be traced back to the revolutionary period with the publication of The Federalist Papers.

Question 4

Yellow Journalism (U.S.)

Answer 4

Yellow journalism is journalism that exploits, distorts or exaggerates in order to attract readers. It particularly existed in the late 1800s. Widespread support for the Spanish-American War can be attributed to yellow journalism. President McKinley wanted to avoid a war, but sensationalized articles portrayed him as weak and encouraged the war in order to give Cubans independence.

Question 5

Muckrakers (U.S.)

Answer 5

Our nation’s first investigative journalism, Muckrakers were a group of journalists who exposed injustices and political corruption in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In fact, the muckraking tactics of two young Washington Post reporters exposed the Watergate scandal of the 1970s, and muckraking is common today.

Question 6

Broadcast Media

Answer 6

Broadcast media includes radio, television, and Internet. It’s any audio and/or video communication intended for the general public.

Question 7

Internet Media

Answer 7

Information gained from an Internet website is known as Internet media.

Question 8

Social Media

Answer 8

Social media describes social interaction between users in which they share and exchange information. It’s hosted through the Internet. Social media includes popular websites like Facebook and Twitter.

Question 9

Propaganda

Answer 9

Information that is biased or misleading in order to promote or publicize a particular political point of view.

Question 10

Political Attitude

Answer 10

Political attitude describes the way you think or feel about our government and related social and economic issues.

Question 11

Political Decision

Answer 11

A political decision is any choice dealing with government affairs, structure, or politics. We make our political decisions based on our political attitudes.

Question 12

New Media

Answer 12

New media includes Internet and digital-based forms of mass communication, including social media. New media is wide-ranging and offers: Immediate connection, news you can choose, sharing, liking, and donating.

Question 13

New Media - Immediate Connection

Answer 13

This allows protests or political gatherings to be scheduled last minute and widely publicized through tweets or Facebook posts.

Question 14

New Media - News You Can Choose

Answer 14

Meaning the Internet allows voters to look at the sources and stories that appeal specifically to them, while ignoring other points of view.

Question 15

New Media - Sharing

Answer 15

This allows voters to distribute news themselves, as through ‘retweeting’ or reposting. When news comes from a friend or trusted colleague, voters are more likely to support the same point of view.

Question 16

New Media - Liking

Answer 16

This allows voters to simply click a ‘thumbs up’ in order to publicize their support of a candidate or issue.

Question 17

New Media - Donating

Answer 17

This allows multiple donors to give smaller individual amounts to raise large overall totals.

Question 18

Media Criticism

Answer 18

Media criticism is the act of closely examining and judging the media.

Question 19

Media Bias

Answer 19

Media bias is the perception that the media is reporting the news in a partial or prejudiced manner. The most common include: Bias by omission, Bias by selection of sources, Bias by story selection, Bias by placement, Bias by labeling, and Bias by spin.

Question 20

Media Bias - Bias by Omission

Answer 20

• Leaving one side out of an article, or series of articles, over a period of time.
• This can happen with one story, or a series of stories as a news outlet reports one set of events, not another.
• Be aware of major perspectives on current events to find this type of bias.
• ‘Bias by Story Selection’ seems to be different than ‘Bias by Omission’ in that the latter is omitting without highlighting.

Question 21

Media Bias - Bias by Selection of Sources

Answer 21

• Includes more sources that support one view over another.
• This can be found when reporters use such phrases as “experts believe” or “observers say” or “most people believe”.
• Look for equal representation of both sides to find this type of bias.

Question 22

Media Bias - Bias by Story Selection

Answer 22

• A pattern of highlighting news stories that agree with the agenda of one side and ignoring the other side.
• To identify this bias, one needs to be aware of all perspectives involved.
• ‘Bias by Story Selection’ seems to be different than ‘Bias by Omission’ in that the latter is omitting without highlighting.

Question 23

Media Bias - Bias by Placement

Answer 23

• Story placement is a measure of how important the editor considers a story.
• Many people only read the headlines, and therefore only see the larger stories.
• To identify this type of bias, look for where a newspaper places political stories.

Question 24

Media Bias - Bias by Labeling

Answer 24

• There are two types of labeling - one in which one side of the political spectrum is given an extreme label, while the other side is not addressed with a label or given a more mild label.
• The other type is when one side is given a label, and the other is identified as an “expert” or “independent group.”
• When looking for this type of bias, remember labeling in and of itself is not bias. It is when one side is labeled and the other is not.

Question 25

Media Bias - Bias by Spin

Answer 25

• Spin occurs when a story only has one interpretation of an event or policy.
• The reporter gives subjective comments about objective facts.
• Making one ideological side look better than another.
• To identify this type of bias, look for which perspective a news story matches.

Question 26

Roles of the Media

Answer 26

Informing the public, serving as watchdog, providing a platform, allowing a public voice, and functioning as a public educator.

Question 27

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

Answer 27

Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA. The FOIA is a federal law that gives you the right to access information from the federal government. The media makes many FOIA requests to gather information for news reports and articles. (1967)

Question 28

Defamation

Answer 28

Defamation occurs when someone prints or broadcasts information that is untrue and harmful to someone else. It includes both libel and slander.

Question 29

Defamation - Libel

Answer 29

Libel is defamation of character in print, audio, or video publications.

Question 30

Defamation - Slander

Answer 30

Slander is defamation of character through unrecorded gestures or oral remarks.

Question 31

Federal Radio Act of 1927

Answer 31

When radio stations were first used, the stations operated on the same frequencies. This meant they often blocked each other’s signals. The Federal Radio Act of 1927 set up licensing procedures to allocate different frequencies to different radio stations because the airwaves were deemed public property.

Question 32

Federal Communications Act

Answer 32

In 1934, Congress enacted the Federal Communications Act. This Act established the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which continues to manage broadcast media and our airwaves to this day.

Question 33

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Answer 33

The Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, is a federal government agency responsible for regulating the public airwaves.

Question 34

FCC and Public Decency Standards

Answer 34

It’s a violation of federal law: To broadcast obscene programming at any time, To broadcast indecent programming during certain hours (usually 6 a.m. and 10 p.m), and To broadcast profane language during certain hours (usually 6 a.m. and 10 p.m).

Question 35

FCC and Public Decency Standards - Obscene

Answer 35

Obscene content does not have protection by the First Amendment. For content to be ruled obscene, it must meet a three-pronged test established by the Supreme Court: An average person, applying contemporary community standards, must find that the material, as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest (as in a morbid interest in sex); the material must depict or describe, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable law; and, taken as a whole, lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

Question 36

FCC and Public Decency Standards - Indecent

Answer 36

Language or material that, in context, depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory organs or activities. Also, it does not rise to the level of obscenity, and courts have determined it is protected by the First Amendment and can’t be banned.

Question 37

FCC and Public Decency Standards - Profane

Answer 37

Profane content includes “grossly offensive” language that is considered a public nuisance. Not to be confused with ‘profane’ in religious studies, which is an an ordinary element of everyday life - compared with ‘sacred’.

Question 38

FCC and Equal Time Rule

Answer 38

The FCC uses its Equal Time Rule to ensure that broadcasters provide an opportunity for equal broadcast time to all official candidates running for a particular office.

Question 39

FCC and Right of Rebuttal

Answer 39

The FCC uses the Right of Rebuttal to ensure that broadcasters provide candidates with an opportunity to respond to criticisms made against them.

Question 40

FCC and Fairness Doctrine

Answer 40

Though rarely used, and appealed in 1987, the FCC also had the Fairness Doctrine. This rule stated that a broadcaster who aired a controversial program had to provide time to also air opposing views.

Question 41

FCC and Open Internet

Answer 41

The FCC regulates broadband services, but only maintains rules to promote and protect Open Internet. Open Internet is based on free, publicly available principles that anyone can access and build on. This principle is also known as Net Neutrality because people are free to choose what applications and services they’d like to use, and what lawful content they’d like to access, create, or share.