Media and Interest Groups

Question 0

Direct Mail

Answer 0

A mailing from an interest group focused at a specialized audience whose purpose is both to raise money and mobilize supporters

Question 1

Cue (political)

Answer 1

A signal telling a congressional representative what values (e.g., liberal or conservative) are at stake in a vote - who is for, who against a proposal - and how that issue fits into his or her own set of political beliefs or party agenda

Question 2

Ideological Interest Group

Answer 2

Political organizations that attract members by appealing to their political convictions with coherent sets of (usually) controversial principles.

Question 3

Incentive

Answer 3

A valued benefit obtained by joining a political organization.

Question 4

Institutional Interests

Answer 4

Individuals or organization that seeks to influence public policy

Question 5

Interest Group

Answer 5

An organization of people sharing a common interest or goal that seeks to influence the making of public policy

Question 6

Lobby

Answer 6

In interest group organized to influence government decisions, especially legislation.

Question 7

Lobbyist

Answer 7

A person attempting to influence government decisions on behalf of the group.

Question 8

Material Incentives

Answer 8

Benefits that have monetary value, including money, gifts, services, or discounts received as a result of one’s membership in an organization.

Question 9

Membership Interest

Answer 9

A member’s collective rights in a limited liability company, including the member’s share of profits and losses of the limited liability company, the right to receive distributions of the limited liability company’s assets and any right to vote or participate in management.

Question 10

Political Action Committee

Answer 10

A committee set up by and representing a corporation, labor union, or special-interest group that raises and spends campaign contributions on behalf of one or more candidates or causes.

Question 11

Public Interest Lobby

Answer 11

Political Organization the stated goal of which will principally benefit nonmembers.

Question 12

Purposive Incentive

Answer 12

The benefit that comes from serving a cause or principle from which one does not personally benefit.

Question 13

Ratings

Answer 13

An assessment of a representative’s voting record on issues important to an interest group.

Question 14

Social Movement

Answer 14

A widely shared demand for change in some aspect of the social or political order.

Question 15

Adversarial Press

Answer 15

A national press that is suspicious of officialdom and eager to break an embarrassing story about a public official.

Question 16

Attack Journalism

Answer 16

The current era of media coverage that seizes upon any bit of information or rumor that might call into question the qualifications or character of a public official.

Question 17

Background Story

Answer 17

Public official’s explanation of current policy provided to the press on the condition that the source remain anonymous.

Question 18

Confidentiality

Answer 18

Confidentiality Reporters’ keeping sources of their stories secret. Most states and the federal government allow courts to decide whether the need of a journalist to protect sources outweighs the interests of the government in gathering evidence in a criminal investigation

Question 19

Equal Time Rule

Answer 19

A rule of the Federal Communications Commission stating that if a broadcaster sells time to one candidate for office, he or she must be willing to sell equal time to opposing candidates.

Question 20

Fairness Doctrine

Answer 20

Former Rule of the Federal Communications Commission that required broadcasters to give time to opposing views if they broadcast a program giving one side of a controversial issue.

Question 21

Feature Stories

Answer 21

Media reports about public events knowable to any reporter who carers to inquire, but involving acts and statements not routinely covered by a group of reporters.Thus a reporter must take the initiative and select a particular event as newsworthy, decide to write about it, and persuade an editor to run it.

Question 22

Insider Stories

Answer 22

Information not usually made public that becomes public because someone with inside knowledge tells a reporter. The reporter may have worked hard to learn these facts, in which case it is called “investigative reporting,” or or some official may have wanted a story to get out, in which case it is called a “leak.”

Question 23

Loaded Language

Answer 23

Words that reflect a value judgment, used to persuade the listener without making an argument. If a person likes a politician, he might call him “the esteemed Senator Smith”: if he doesn’t like him, he might refer to him as the “that right-wing or radical senator”

Question 24

Market

Answer 24

An area easily reached by a television signal. There are about two hundred such markets in the country.

Question 25

Mental Tune-out

Answer 25

The attitude of a person who ignores or is irritated by messages from radio or television which do not agree with his or her existing beliefs. This has been me…MZ Huby over the last couple months! I’m fed up with the lies and poop

Question 26

Muckraker

Answer 26

A journalist who searches through the activities of public officials and organizations seeking to expose conduct contrary to the public interest. The term was first used by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 to warn that antibusiness journalism, while vaulable, could be excessively negative.

Question 27

Party Press

Answer 27

In the early years of the Republic, politicians of various factions and parties created, sponsored, and controlled newspapers to further their interests.

Question 28

Popular Press

Answer 28

Self Supporting daily newspapers aimed at a mass readership.

Question 29

Prior Restraint

Answer 29

The traditional view of the press’s free speech rights as expressed by William Blackstone, the great English jurist. According to this view the press is guaranteed freedom from censorship-that is, rules telling it in advance what it can publish. After publication, however, the government can punish the press for material that is judged libelous or obscene.

Question 30

Right of Reply Rule

Answer 30

A rule of the Federal Communications Commission that if a person is attacked on a broadcast (other than in a regular news program), that person has the right to reply over the same station.

Question 31

Routine Stories

Answer 31

Media reports about public events that are regularly covered by reporters and that involve simple, easily described acts or statements.

Question 32

Scorekeeper

Answer 32

The role played by the national media in keeping track of and helping make political reputations.

Question 33

Selective Attention

Answer 33

Paying attention only to those parts of a newspaper or broadcast story with which one agrees. Studies suggest that this how people view political ads on television.

Question 34

Sound Bite

Answer 34

A brief statement no longer than a few seconds used on a radio or television news broadcast.

Question 35

Trial Ballon

Answer 35

Information provided to the media by an anonymous public official as a way of testing the public reaction to a possible policy or appointment.

Question 36

Watchdog

Answer 36

The role played by the national media investigating political personalities and exposing scandals

Question 37

Yellow Journalism

Answer 37

The use of sensationalism to attract a large readership for a newspaper.

Question 38

Political Editorializing Rule

Answer 38

A rule of the Federal Communications Commission that if a broadcaster endorses a candidate, the opposing candidate has a right to reply.

Question 39

Federal Communications Commission

Answer 39

An agency of the federal government with authority to develop regulations for the broadcast media.