A company such as Disney that owns a movie studio, cable channels (ABC Family, ESPN and A&E), a cable television company (Capital Cities) and an over-the-air broadcast network (ABC) is said to have:

	a. horizontal integration.
	b. a partnership.
	c. vertical integration. D. convergence.

.

A company that produces television shows and controls distribution can run the same program on two channels and on the Internet for nearly the same cost as broadcasting it on only one channel. This is an example of:

	a. horizontal integration.
	b. intertextual integration.
	c. diagonal integration.
	d. vertical integration.

.

A high-concept advertising campaign can be a risky strategy because:

	a. the ads pound the consumer with facts about a company’s products.
	b. the ads often make no mention of what the product does or actually is.
	c. the ads might be too expensive for a company to afford.
	d. the ads rely too heavily on the endorsements of celebrities.

.

A mass medium is to mass communication as:

	a. the telephone is to television.
	b. a channel is to a receiver.
	c. a channel is to a message.
	d. a sender is to a message.

.

A person who is sending a text message on a cell phone while surfing the Internet on a computer while watching a movie on television is, according to professor Henry Jenkins, engaged in:

	a. economic convergence.
	b. global convergence.
	c. technological convergence.
	d. organic convergence.

.

According to Daniel Boorstin, as quoted on Michael Turney’s website, which statement is most correct in describing a pseudo event?

	a. A pseudo event is a spontaneous showing of support or appreciation for a company that generates positive news coverage.
	b. A pseudo event is not spontaneous, and it is created for the purpose of being reported and arranged for the convenience of the news media.
	c. A pseudo event is not spontaneous, but is always arranged around a newsworthy event or a real situation.
	d. A pseudo event is not spontaneous, but the event itself is unpredictable in how it plays out and in its results.

.

According to marketingcharts.com, which number best represents the total dollar amount spent on advertising for 2011 in the United States?

	a. $141 million
	b. $141 billion
	c. $141 trillion
	d. $141 quadrillion

.

According to marketingcharts.com, which statement is most accurate about advertising spending for 2011 in the United States?

	a. Advertising revenue increased for all media, with television experiencing the greatest growth.
	b. Advertising revenue decreased for all media, with television experiencing the greatest decline.
	c. Revenue increased for television, radio and magazine advertising, but decreased for Internet advertising.
	d. Revenue decreased for television, radio and magazine advertising, but increased for Internet advertising.

.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, media literacy is an important subject to teach children because:

	a. children control much of the disposable income in the United States.
	b. children should learn to make informed decisions about what products they want.
	c. children cannot tell the difference between programs and commercials.
	d. children have limited exposure to media and must learn to make the most of it.

.

According to the lecture video by professor Terry Dugas, which of these is relevant to the ideological meaning of an advertisement?

	a. It is clearly stated and consistent in its meaning, no matter who reads the ad.
	b. It is often an unintended meaning, one that advertisers fear.
	c. It is the sales meaning that advertisers want us to understand.
	d. It is usually aligned with the intended meaning of the ad.

.

Advertising strategist Douglas Atkins says ads like the Macintosh 1984 commercial tap into the need people have “to belong and to make meaning.” In this regard, he says, consumers are very much like members of:

	a. corporate boards of directors.
	b. religious cults.
	c. rock-concert audiences.
	d. army units.

.

As advertising space has become more cluttered, some companies have turned to public relations with activities such as sponsoring events. The goal is:

	a. to get people attending these events to buy the product on their way out.
	b. to gather personal data from a group of people who match the company’s most desirable customer profiled.
	c. to place advertising in event venues where a captive audience has no choice but to see the message.
	d. to associate a company with specific personal and cultural values that hold meaning for consumers.

.

Before mass communication was developed, culture was:

	a. uniform across a country because of the influence of national identity and pride.
	b. totally individual because mass communication provides our common culture.
	c. almost totally the product of religion, meaning huge areas had common cultures.
	d. a local phenomenon defined by language, village customs and religion.

.

Claire Cane Miller wrote that Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign for president of the United States made “use of a new medium” that “will forever change politics.” The medium was:

	a. the Internet and ecommerce.
	b. the Internet and online games.
	c. the Internet and social media.
	d. the Internet and search engines.

.

Clay Shirky in one of his TED talks stated that the Internet is the first medium:

	a. that is good for conversations.
	b. that is good at forming groups.
	c. that is not good for conversations or for forming groups.
	d. that is good both for conversations and for forming groups.

.

Cultural convergence can best be described as:

	a. when a single company has interests across many kinds of media.
	b. when geographically distant cultures are able to influence one another.
	c. when stories flow across several kinds of media platforms, through many channels.
	d. when different kinds of technology merge into one device, such as a smart phone.

.

DeBeers’ Diamonds are Forever advertisements were part of the ultimate example of a soft-sell campaign because:

	a. the ads went beyond creating a feeling for the product and instead changed the culture of engagement and marriage.
	b. the ads tapped into long-held cultural beliefs about the importance of diamonds in the rituals of courtship and marriage.
	c. the ads stressed the value of diamonds as a long-term investment.
	d. the ads used a high-concept approach where the product, DeBeers diamonds, was never mentioned.

.

Fill in the blank: _______________ is the practice of promoting a product or service through the use of paid announcements.

	a. Public relations
	b. Propaganda
	c. Journalism
	d. Advertising

.

Fill in the blank: _________________ is the attempt to use the free press to encourage favorable coverage.

	a. Public relations
	b. Propaganda
	c. Journalism
	d. Advertising

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In book publishing, just a few major publishers put out most best-selling books. This economic model goes by the name of:

	a. monopoly.
	b. oligopoly.
	c. monopolistic competition.
	d. antitrust.

.

In their exchange on stayfreemagazine.com, Sut Jhally and James Twitchell both connect advertising to happiness. Which of these statements is most accurate about their opposing points of view?

	a. Twitchell says advertising provides a way of escaping reality; Jhally says happiness can never be found by escaping reality.
	b. Twitchell says ads are informative and thus make us more happy and confident; Jhally states that ads make us more nervous and self-conscious.
	c. Twitchell says happiness can be found in buying and owning the things advertisers sell; Jhally says that happiness cannot be found in things.
	d. Twitchell says advertising entertains us and makes us happy much like other programming; Jhally says advertising is dull and unimaginative.

.

India’s Bollywood film industry combines traditional Indian music and dance with American-style filmmaking, which is an example of:

	a. vertical integration.
	b. horizontal integration.
	c. hybrid culture.
	d. cultural imperialism.

.

Joseph Straubhaar argues that rather than U.S. media fostering one dominant world culture, people around the world experience layers of interacting culture: local, regional, ethnic, religious and national. This is counter to the argument that powerful media companies give American culture hegemony over local cultures in a process called:

	a. global economics.
	b. imperial capitalism.
	c. cultural imperialism.
	d. cultural capitalism.

.

Mass communication can create a common culture through:

	a. political action.
	b. compelling entertainment.
	c. shared experience.
	d. attention to detail.

.

Mass communication is different from other types of communication in that:

	a. mass communication is transmitted electronically.
	b. mass communication is transmitted to a large segment of the population.
	c. mass communication is transmitted rapidly, with little delay.
	d. mass communication is not meant to be public.

.

Mass media fulfill several roles in culture; which of these IS NOT one of them?

	a. Entertaining and providing an outlet for the imagination.
	b. Storing information for access by the public.
	c. Serving as a public forum for the discussion of important issues.
	d. Acting as a watchdog for government, business and other institutions.

.

Media companies raise revenue for their services mainly from which two fundamental sources?

	a. Consumers and advertising
	b. Purchase price and subscription
	c. Advertisement and product placement
	d. Public relations and advertising

.

Narrowcasting is the process of:

	a. aiming cable television shows at a specific audience, such as young women.
	b. finding a niche audience through programming, such as AM talk radio or on-demand television.
	c. bypassing traditional media to reach niche audiences directly on the Internet through social media.
	d. presenting movies and television shows on the Internet so viewers can watch when they want.

.

One technique propaganda experts use is transfer, meaning:

	a. they call upon a respected person to endorse a product or cause.
	b. they employ a spokesperson from humble origins who can be trusted.
	c. they create fear and arouse prejudice by using bad names to create an unfavorable opinion.
	d. they associate something we respect and revere to something they would have us accept.

.

Our dominant culture guides our behavior when:

	a. we are with friends.
	b. we are with family.
	c. we are alone.
	d. we are out in public.

.

Positioning is a favored advertising technique in the 21st Century because advertisers believe:

	a. consumers want solid information about a product before they decide to buy.
	b. price is the most important factor for consumers in deciding what to buy.
	c. with so many ads and so many products, consumers will buy the brands that stick in their minds.
	d. consumers appreciate friendliness in the brands they see advertised.

.

Propaganda differs from other types of information in that:

	a. information is manipulated to influence public opinion.
	b. information is presented in a transparent manner to affect public opinion.
	c. information is presented with total disregard for public opinion.
	d. information is manipulated to make money.

.

Psychologist Laurence Steinberg criticizes the American Academy of Pediatrics study linking sexual content in the media and teen sexual behavior, stating that teens interested in sex are more likely to watch content of a sexual nature. His criticism illuminates a weakness of media studies that assume the audience is:

	a. teenagers.
	b. media literate.
	c. passive.
	d. aggressive.

.

Ratings for movies (G, PG, R and NC-17) and video games (E, E10, T and M) are examples of:

	a. advertising regulations written into the Federal Trade Commission Act.
	b. self-regulation imposed by an industry to promote transparency in its products.
	c. requirements for media industries established through the courts.
	d. meaningless symbols designed to ease the minds of nervous parents.

.

Studies of how media affects violent and sexual behavior by George Gerbner and by the American Academy of Pediatrics rely on cultivation theory. In simple terms, this theory states:

	a. that the media play an important role in creating and propagating shared symbols.
	b. that exposure to repetitive and consistent media messages causes individuals to develop a false perception of reality.
	c. that consumers use the media to satisfy specific needs or desires.
	d. that the issues most often presented in the media become the issues that the public discusses and demands action on.

.

Sut Jhally believes that the study of advertising must be at the center of our study of the media because:

	a. the primary purpose today of media – print, radio, television, the Internet – is to produce audiences for sale to advertisers.
	b. advertising creates some of the most inventive and entertaining media messages.
	c. we depend on advertising for the information we need to make rational decisions as consumers.
	d. advertising is a bastion of capitalism in a world threatened by Marxist and socialist thought.

.

Synergy and symbiosis are:

	a. complex technical terms that describe how one company integrates its electronic media with another company.
	b. corporate structures that define which company owns or controls other companies.
	c. styles of storytelling that are made possible by vertical integration, horizontal integration or a partnership.
	d. two desired outcomes of vertical integration, horizontal integration or a partnership, but not actual corporate structures.

.

The 1984 Macintosh ad, like all high-concept ads, leaped over the task of selling the computer and aimed for something bigger. Which statement best describes the goal of this ad?

	a. To align Macintosh computers with an alluring young woman with athletic ability.
	b. To establish the importance of large video displays in selling personal computers.
	c. To attract more customers in the age bracket that watch professional football.
	d. To establish a spiritual connection with the viewer beyond the qualities of the product.

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The advertising experts interviewed by radio host Kojo Nnamdi agreed that most packaged goods such as food, clothes and toiletries might have men in them but are still aimed at women. This is known as:

	a. gender simplification.
	b. gender edification.
	c. gender stereotyping.
	d. gender storytelling.

.

The best example of technological convergence from the list below would be:

	a. a smart phone that can connect to the Internet, play video, play music and send text messages.
	b. a high-definition television screen that can show a picture within a picture.
	c. an mp3 player that can play music and audio podcasts.
	d. a video camera that can upload images directly to YouTube.

.

The consequences of monopolization by one media company could be alarming because:

	a. parents would be powerless in controlling what their children watched.
	b. those who distribute information would become inordinately wealthy.
	c. those who distribute information could influence public policy and public opinion.
	d. consumers would have few choices for entertainment.

.

The earliest examples of what could be called advertisements date back to:

	a. the turn of the 20th Century with the invention of radio.
	b. the First Century, when the Romans advertised wine, food and other merchandise.
	c. the middle of the 15th Century, when Gutenberg invented a practical method of printing.
	d. the late 1940s, when televisions became a regular fixture in American homes.

.

The era of mass communication can be said to begin with which of these?

	a. The invention of radio by Marconi in the early 20th Century, uniting vast territories under a common culture.
	b. The invention of a practical system of printing by Gutenberg in the middle of the 15th Century, fueling the spread of learning.
	c. The invention of the Internet and web browsers by Tim Berners-Lee, among others, in the middle of the 20th Century, unifying print, video and audio in 1 system.
	d. The invention of the automobile in the late 19th Century, allowing delivery of books and periodicals across a wide area.

.

The Internet has blurred the definition of what is mass communication because:

	a. the Internet allows a single person who is not a professional communicator to achieve a mass audience.
	b. the Internet makes encoding and decoding messages a much simpler process that does not involve machines.
	c. the Internet cannot be easily turned off like television or radio.
	d. the Internet is limited to personal messages, not public messages.

.

The Obama campaign logo has been called brilliant in its design, although as Ward Sutton wrote in his analysis of campaign posters, “Logos are all in the eyes of the beholder.” Which answer is most accurate? Logos have become more important in politics as candidates adopted the public relations strategy of:

	a. consumer polling.
	b. fundraising.
	c. event planning.
	d. branding.

.

The practice of using brain scans to gauge reaction to advertisements is called:

	a. propaganda.
	b. neuromarketing.
	c. psychoanalysis.
	d. neurotransmitting.

.

The social critic Neil Gabler, in his discussion with Bill Moyers, said popular culture has changed politics in that:

	a. we expect our political leaders to operate the same way that movie heroes operate.
	b. we expect our political leaders to hold press conferences more regularly than in the past.
	c. political campaigns have become more like serious academic debates than in the past.
	d. our political leaders see television as a threat to their policy decisions.

.

The surface meaning of an advertisement could be defined as:

	a. the first impression we take away from the ad.
	b. the sales message the advertiser is trying to get across.
	c. what we read into an ad based on our culture and our beliefs.
	d. none of these answers.

.

The United States did not have a national culture until:

	a. the radio provided a national common experience beginning in the 1930s.
	b. newspapers connected people across the country in a common experience beginning in the 18th Century.
	c. Americans went abroad in large numbers as soldiers in World War I.
	d. immigrants learned how to be Americans by going to the movies.

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To say that something in the media causes a certain behavior is difficult to prove. One thing philosophers agree about cause and effect is:

	a. the effect must occur before the cause.
	b. intervening factors can be ignored in linking a cause to an effect.
	c. the cause must occur before the effect.
	d. performing an experiment once is enough to establish cause and effect.

.

We define popular culture as the media, products and attitudes considered to be:

	a. an expression of the tastes and attitudes of the cultural elite.
	b. on the cutting edge of a given culture, marked by high art and intellectual exchange.
	c. in the mainstream of a given culture and the everyday life of common people.
	d. the moral, social, religious beliefs and values of a given culture.

.

Whether we’re talking about movies, television shows or newspapers, creating the first copy is high while the marginal cost of producing subsequent copies is low. This is why large corporations have an advantage through:

	a. economies of scale.
	b. an experience good.
	c. switching cost.
	d. monopolistic competition.

.

Which of these IS NOT an example of a hard-sell advertising technique?

	a. Price-based ads
	b. Battering with facts
	c. Unique selling position
	d. Advancing the image

.

Which of these is NOT one of the five core concepts of media literacy?

	a. Media messages are constructed using a creative language with its own rules.
	b. Every person experiences media in the same way and absorbs the same message.
	c. Media have embedded values and points of view.
	d. Most media messages are organized to gain profit and/or power.

.

Which of these statements about soft-sell advertising is most correct?

	a. Soft-sell ads lay out a unique selling position.
	b. Soft-sell ads often contain no factual information about the product.
	c. Soft-sell ads operate under the philosophy that it is better to be remembered than loved.
	d. Soft-sell ads often use price advantage as a selling point.

.

Which of these statements best defines transmedia storytelling?

	a. When a media company expands into areas that are at different points on the same production path, such as when a movie studio owns a distribution company and a television network.
	b. When integral elements of a story are spread systematically across several delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience.
	c. When two or more companies work together to produce a result not independently obtainable, such as a fast-food chain cross-promoting a movie and gaining product placement in return.
	d. When distinct technologies come together, as in a cell phone that also allows users to take video and check e-mail.

.

Which of these statements is most accurate, according to your readings?

	a. Although studies show a correlation between seeing violence in the media and violent behavior, we cannot say that violence in the media causes violent behavior.
	b. After 12 students were killed at Columbine High School in 1999, investigators found that violent video games led shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold to carry out the slayings.
	c. Studies cited by the American Academy of Pediatrics show that violence in the media – TV, movies and video games – causes many children to behave violently.
	d. In studying media effects, researchers have found that the quality of a person’s family life has no bearing on whether watching violence in the media leads to violent behavior.

.

Which of these statements is NOT TRUE of laws regulating advertising?

	a. Certain industries, such as automobile, clothing and appliance manufacturers, fall under special regulations that outline how they can label and market their products.
	b. Marketers who advertise through the Internet are urged to follow good advertising practices, but the laws regulating advertising on other media do not apply to web ads.
	c. Manufacturers and marketers who make claims about the amount of U.S.-made content in their products must comply with Federal Trade Commission policy.
	d. Under the Federal Trade Commission Act, advertisers must have evidence to back up their claims.

.

Which statement best describes the practice known as greenwashing?

	a. A corporation uses positioning ads to portray itself as ecologically friendly whether it is or not.
	b. A corporation limits its spending on advertising to reduce the “visual pollution” in our culture.
	c. A corporation advertises products that actually are ecologically beneficial.
	d. A corporation uses the color green throughout its ad campaign because it is soothing.

.

Read the following statements about culture and choose the one that is most accurate.

	a. Each person’s culture is unique because each of us has different traditions and life experiences.
	b. Only a group can have a culture because culture is made up of shared values, attitudes, beliefs and practices.
	c. As individuals, each of us lives in a single culture as members of a single dominant group.
	d. As individuals, we easily adapt to other cultures because roles and behaviors are more or less the same for all cultures.

.

A major challenge for magazines with online editions is:

	a. how to put a 5,000-word article into one page that will require extensive scrolling.
	b. where to find authors who are willing to be published online.
	c. how to attract readers who might not like to read much or who have shorter attention spans.
	d. how to translate an attractive magazine cover into an online document.

.

A revolutionary book format introduced in the 1930s was the:

	a. ebook.
	b. hardcover book.
	c. dust-cover book.
	d. paperback book.

.

As more and more books are digitized, librarians and educational institutions fear these books will eventually be lost because storage methods such as hard discs, compact discs or flash memory are not considered permanent. They fear books will suffer:

	a. dry rot.
	b. digital irrelevance.
	c. digital decay.
	d. digitalis.

.

Benjamin Day pioneered the newspaper as a mass medium with two innovations:

	a. the motorized delivery truck and the comics page.
	b. the steam-locomotive press and paved streets.
	c. the inverted pyramid and the classified advertisement.
	d. The steam-powered press and a purchase price anyone could afford.

.

Copyright is the exclusive right given to an author to copy, distribute or adapt his or her work. When the copyright on a book expires it becomes part of the public domain, meaning:

	a. the book can be distributed to libraries and checked out by patrons without the library having to pay royalties.
	b. the book essentially becomes public property and can be used freely by anyone without permission or royalty payments.
	c. the book can be published on the Internet under the .pub domain.
	d. the book’s author is free to offer the book to any member of the public, not just book publishers.

.

During the 1930s, the Great Depression and the Nazi threat to global stability led readers to want more analysis and a deeper explanation of world events. This desire gave rise to:

	a. interpretive journalism.
	b. literary journalism.
	c. muckraking.
	d. objective journalism.

.

Early in 2012, Random House, one of the Big Six book publishers, announced it would sell ebooks to libraries at a somewhat higher price, but with no limit on how many times it could be checked out. The problem publishers face with libraries buying ebooks is:

	a. libraries expect to pay nothing for a product that they cannot put on their shelves.
	b. libraries check out printed books until they wear out, then buy another; ebooks never wear out.
	c. libraries are too insecure digitally, leading to pirating of popular book titles.
	d. libraries do not generate enough traffic in the digital age, so few people see the books.

.

Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote a novel that some say helped to start the Civil War with its stark and sympathetic portrayal of slaves in the south. The book was:

	a. Gone with the Wind.
	b. Ivanhoe.
	c. Birth of a Nation.
	d. Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

.

In 1734, Alexander Hamilton defended in court John Peter Zenger, publisher of The New York Weekly Journal, who had been arrested by the colonial Gov. William Cosby after Zenger criticized Cosby in print. Hamilton set a precedent by arguing that:

	a. truth should be a defense against charged of slander or libel.
	b. by arresting Zenger, the governor was restricting free trade in New York.
	c. no British court should be able to try an American journalist.
	d. taxation without representation was immoral and unconstitutional.

.

In his chapter on newspapers, Professor Jack Lule writes, “More and more, as readership declines, newspapers must answer to advertisers and shareholders as they choose which stories to report on.” This choosing of stories and how they are reported best fits which theory of media effects?

	a. cultivation theory
	b. gate-keeping theory
	c. direct-effects theory
	d. uses and gratifications theory

.

In his lecture, Gay Talese, the “father of New Journalism,” described his approach to journalism. Which statement best sums up this approach?

	a. Public figures who guide the great enterprises of society are important and have been at the center of Talese’s writing about public life.
	b. The process of government is where the real stories about public life can be found, so Talese has been motivated to tell these stories.
	c. Talese celebrates the great accomplishments of wealth and power, such as the building of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York.
	d. Talese has been curious to know ordinary people, and then to write stories about them that reveals diversity of the American experience.

.

In the 1990s, independent bookstores began to close because they could not compete with superstores such as Barnes & Noble. Today superstores, with their in-house coffee shops and thousands of titles are under economic threat from:

	a. mega-superstores.
	b. cable television.
	c. discount retailers such as Wal-Mart.
	d. digital-print publishers.

.

Ladies’ Home Journal, in its mission statement, says it is for “women who recognize the importance of taking time for themselves.” This statement represents an editorial point of view known as:

	a. the slant.
	b. the bias.
	c. the POV.
	d. the view.

.

Martin Luther grasped the potential of the new medium of printing for spreading his ideas for reforming the church. But The Economist argues that how he distributed his pamphlets was just as important, a distribution process resembling that of:

	a. television and radio broadcasting.
	b. the daily newspaper.
	c. book publishing.
	d. social media.

.

Newspapers and magazines face a paradox in that they still have a large audience, especially online, but:

	a. not everybody in that audience has a computer, so access is limited.
	b. businesses would rather advertise in print than online because of the prestige factor.
	c. Google gets most of the money from online ads.
	d. people in that large audience has come to expect that they will get their content for free.

.

Newspapers were slow to adapt to the coming of radio and television, and later the Internet. The article Design Comes to the Newsroom states that the failure to adapt comes from a deep-seated problem known as:

	a. bunker mentality.
	b. superstitious learning.
	c. superiority complex.
	d. crisis management.

.

Owen Wister’s The Virginian (1902) and Zane Grey’s Riders of the Purple Sage (1912) were among the first Western novels. The Western is an example of a fiction:

	a. genre.
	b. ideology.
	c. medium.
	d. market.

.

Printing itself dates back to Eighth Century China, with its block printing of sacred scrolls. Gutenberg’s major contribution was the invention of:

	a. ink and paper made from rags or animal skins.
	b. a process using mechanical moveable type.
	c. a printing press derived from a wine press.
	d. the binding of individual pages between wooden covers.

.

Pulps, sensational and often sordid books featuring stories of murder, sex and violence, were named for:

	a. the type of paper they were printed on.
	b. the warning that reading such books would turn the brain to pulp.
	c. the cautionary tales they contained about moral behavior (the term is short for pulpit).
	d. the lurid, comic-book style of the cover artwork.

.

Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper The Daily, billed as the “iPad newspaper,” proved that for now:

	a. tablet computers are too fragile to stand up to the rigors of newspaper reading.
	b. publications designed for tablet computers must be far more sensational than print newspapers and magazines.
	c. publications designed for one particular device cannot attract enough paying customers to make a go of it.
	d. the iPad is well on its way to world domination.

.

Tablet computers offer economic promise for newspapers and magazines because:

	a. everyone will soon own a tablet and take it with them everywhere.
	b. readers have to buy an app to read the publication, offering a new revenue stream.
	c. tablets like the iPad have WiFi and cell phone capabilities.
	d. producing content for a tablet is cheap and easy.

.

The article on writersdigest.com titled Anatomy of a Bestseller outlines common elements that most best-selling books have. This suggests that most popular novels are written according to a formula that caters to publishing’s:

	a. blockbuster syndrome.
	b. genre syndrome.
	c. superstore syndrome.
	d. Amazon syndrome.

.

The author of one of the first treatise on freedom of the press wrote, “He who destroys a good book, kills reason itself, kills the image of God, as it were in the eye.” That author was:

	a. Jonathan Swift writing in A Modest Proposal.
	b. Thomas Paine writing in Common Sense.
	c. John Milton writing in Areopagitica.
	d. John Donne writing in Letters to Several Personages.

.

The list of “50 books that changed the world” demonstrates how the printed book:

	a. gave powerful people the ability to sway thought, giving rise to the practice of propagandizing.
	b. allowed many people to be exposed to the same ideas at the same time, giving rise to mass culture.
	c. provided a way to classify information according to its genre, such as religion, science and politics.
	d. made the library a source of power and influence for the elites of the Renaissance.

.

The style of writing in which a reporter puts the most important facts first, then continues with less and less important facts is called:

	a. the obverted paragraph.
	b. the extroverted rhombus.
	c. the introverted triangle.
	d. the inverted pyramid.

.

The term yellow journalism derived from two sources. They were:

	a. the sensational, lurid news printed in late 19th Century city newspapers and the color of newsprint.
	b. the more objective style of news from wire services in the late 19th Century and color of newsprint.
	c. the sensational, lurid news printed in late 19th Century city newspapers and the popular Yellow Kid comic character.
	d. the more objective style of news from wire services in the late 19th Century and the popular Yellow Kid comic character.

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The Yellow Kid is widely considered to be the first newspaper comic strip. Mary Wood attributes its wide popularity at the dawn of the 20th Century in New York to:

	a. funny, reverent portrayals of the American Dream.
	b. humorous depictions of middle-class families.
	c. humorous depictions of the growing population of immigrants living in slums.
	d. funny yet pointed critiques of city politicians.

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The importance of Gutenberg’s Bible cannot be overstated because it was the first example of:

	a. mass production of media texts that could be distributed to large audiences.
	b. religious text that the common person could read and understand.
	c. a cultural artifact that would become extremely expensive over time.
	d. the first Bible printed in a language other than Latin.

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After the Fairness Doctrine, David Foster Wallace states in his article Host, radio broadcasting’s primary responsibility changed from serving the public interest to:

	a. serving the government’s interest.
	b. to attracting and retaining listeners to generate revenue.
	c. providing platform for political opinion.
	d. bringing new forms of entertainment to its listeners.

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As told by American Radio Works, music played on the radio in the 1930s was “respectable music,” sophisticated performances with a “big-city sound.” Which answer best explains why this was so?

	a. Because corporations that owned stations catered to the demands of government and advertisers.
	b. Because recordings of jazz and other popular forms were not available.
	c. Because most people listened to the radio for news.
	d. Because only the cultural elites had the money to buy a radio.

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Black-face minstrelsy, a powerful influence on the music of Stephen Foster, demonstrates the interchange between popular music and culture. Which of these statements about black-faced minstrelsy is most true?

	a. These depictions of black people by white performers humanized blacks and led to society being more accepting of them.
	b. The racist characterizations of black people by white performers came to define how white people expected black people to behave, to some extent even to this day.
	c. White performers for the first time were playing music with African rhythms, leading directly to the acceptance of jazz and big-band music.
	d. The dominant culture before the Civil War refused to accept racist portrayals, causing these performances to pass quickly out of fashion.

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Chicago Blues as a style of music had a large influence on rock and roll musicians. The Chicago blues sound itself was greatly influenced by:

	a. music brought to Chicago by waves of immigrants from Ireland, Italy, Poland and Mexico.
	b. music brought to Chicago by the Great Migration of blacks from the Deep South after World War II.
	c. music brought to Chicago by Appalachian whites seeking jobs during the Great Depression.
	d. music brought to Chicago by the explorers, such as the Voyageurs, who passed through on their way to setting the West.

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Fill in the blank: In his article Host, David Foster Wallace states that politically charged talk-radio hosts such as John Ziegler are first and foremost ______________, whose job it is to stimulate.

	a. patriots
	b. journalists
	c. philosophers
	d. entertainers

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For many communities, the antenna-based method of broadcasting invented by Marconi is still a strong cultural force in the age of the Internet. Which statement is most accurate in expressing why this is so?

	a. Community radio brings the important official messages of the government to people who do not get a newspaper or have the Internet.
	b. Community radio is a good way for advertisers to reach small groups of people who might not be aware of the latest products and services.
	c. Community radio plays the music that small groups of indigenous people really like.
	d. Community radio allows marginalized people to engage in discourse and participate in making decisions at every level of government.

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In the global music business, a few companies dominate production and distribution in an economic model known as:

	a. a monopoly.
	b. an oligopoly.
	c. a panoply.
	d. a cartel.

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Just as iTunes and portable music players such as the iPod changed the business model for the music industry, iTunes and similar direct-purchase music services are threatened by:

	a. cloud subscription services.
	b. terrestrial radio.
	c. laser technology.
	d. satellite radio.

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Nassira Nicola analyzes the parody song Barack, the Magic Negro, presented on the Rush Limbaugh show by comedian Paul Shanklin in an imitation of the Rev. Al Sharpton. Nicola, in the analysis, concludes that Limbaugh is engaging in something very similar to:

	a. opera buffa.
	b. radio drama.
	c. black-face minstrelsy.
	d. kabuki theater.

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Pat Boone had six No. 1 hits in the 1950s performing covers of songs originally done by black rhythm and blues artists, a practice known as:

	a. hijacking.
	b. copy-catting.
	c. moonlighting.
	d. repackaging.

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Radio station formats such as classic rock, urban contemporary, country and pop contemporary are each designed for an audience defined by its:

	a. demographic profile.
	b. regional location.
	c. political philosophy.
	d. buying preferences.

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Teenagers began to influence the decisions of record companies beginning in the 1950s, when the teens:

	a. got old enough to have their own transistor radios.
	b. got their driver’s licenses and were able to listen to what they wanted to in the car.
	c. began letter-writing campaigns to make record companies more responsive to what they wanted.
	d. gained enough buying power to influence record sales.

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The Beatles and the “invasion” of British bands in the 1960s marked a turning point in the history of rock and roll. Which statement is most accurate about this turning point?

	a. The British bands made rock and roll understandable and acceptable to parents of teenage girls.
	b. The British bands were the first rock and roll groups to perform on network television.
	c. Bands such as the Beatles introduce foreign instrumentation, such as the sitar, into rock music.
	d. Bands such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones broadened rock and roll’s appeal and led to it branching out into genres such as surf, soul and folk rock.

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The Fairness Doctrine, an FCC rule adopted in 1949 and repealed in 1987, required broadcasters to do what?

	a. Be open in their hiring practices, ensuring diverse voices are heard and fairly represent a radio or TV station’s community.
	b. Devote some airtime to discussing controversial matters of public interest and to air contrasting views on such matters.
	c. Ensure that a radio or TV station’s signal was fairly distributed over all of the station’s surrounding area and not targeted at certain groups.
	d. Provide channels for public access that give minority groups an outlet for airing their views.

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The most important development that led to the emergence of politically charged talk shows such as Rush Limbaugh as a wide-spread radio format was:

	a. the development of digital satellite radio, a superior technology broadcasting nationwide.
	b. the rise of political conservatism beginning with the presidential campaign of Republican Barry Goldwater in 1964.
	c. the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine by the Reagan administration in 1987.
	d. the consolidation of radio station ownership in the hands of a few large corporations, such as Clear Channel.

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The New Yorker’s Sasha Frere-Jones says that rock music by white performers in the 21st Century displays few of the African-American influences of early rock and roll. It has become “a paler shade of white.” Frere-Jones says this has come about because:

	a. Strict copyright enforcement has limited sampling between artists, thus eliminating an avenue of cross-genre influences.
	b. Because anybody, anywhere can post or download songs on the Internet, individual genres have become much less significant.
	c. Black musicians are now visible and influential in their own right, so white musicians have no incentive to sound like black musicians.
	d. All of these answers.

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Rhythm and blues, or R&B, a precursor to rock and roll music, did not receive widespread play on the radio, in part because:

	a. R&B was considered “race music,” despite substantial crossover with white audiences.
	b. R&B record companies produced records that played at 78 revolutions per minute (RPM) rather than the more popular 45 RPM.
	c. popular disc jockeys such as Alan Freed refused to play R&B because it did not pay as well.
	d. All of these answers.

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According to Brook Barnes’ article in The New York Times, the main challenge for Disney in improving its theme parks is to:

	a. cash in on the profitable ESPN network to pay for rides and other fun stuff.
	b. put in rides that are traditional, such as the Ferris wheel, while exploiting the stable of Disney characters, such as from the movie Toy Story.
	c. speed up the lines to its new rides to account for the reduced patience of today’s consumers.
	d. take advantage of its popular movie franchises, such as Toy Story, while catering to a public that expects something new and keeping up with technology.

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Although In the Heat of the Night seems tame by today’s standards, one scene in particular was shocking to audiences in the 1960s, when racial tensions were at a peak. Which of these describes the scene best?

	a. A white plantation owner, played by Larry Gates, slaps the black detective Virgil Tibbs, played by Sidney Poitier, and Tibbs immediately slaps him back.
	b. The handsome, well-dressed Tibbs strikes a waiter after Tibbs is refused service at a café while poorly dressed white people are served.
	c. Tibbs and the white police chief Bill Gillespie, played by Rod Steiger, have a drink together in Gillespie’s home as they discuss the case.
	d. Tibbs is confronted by a truck-load of white supremacists and stands his ground, armed only with a police revolver.

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Author Mark Harris believes four films nominated for the 1968 Academy Award for best picture – Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and In the Heat of the Night – were revolutionary because:

	a. they were filmed in Todd AO 70mm film, adding to the wide-screen experience.
	b. they were the first movies to use rock and roll music in the sound track.
	c. the productions were somewhat removed from the studio system, heralding the indie film movement to come.
	d. with their frank treatment of subjects such as race, violence and social alienation, the films helped Hollywood catch up with changes in American culture.

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Author Mark Harris says the movie The Graduate signaled a major cultural shift in film-making. Why?

	a. it depicted a much older woman, Mrs. Robinson, seducing a man young enough to be her son.
	b. it depicted the generation gap from the other side, from the point of view of college-age young people rather than the side of their parents.
	c. it depicted getting college education as a waste of time.
	d. it depicted marriage as an outdated social institution at a time when sexual barriers were falling.

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Director Arthur Penn discussed the “ballet of dying” in his movie Bonnie and Clyde, a climactic scene that was controversial because:

	a. it shows Bonnie and Clyde being hit by hundreds of bullets in slow motion and from several angles, bringing a strange beauty to death.
	b. it shows Bonnie and Clyde dancing humorously as they gun down police officers, trivializing death.
	c. it shows Bonnie and Clyde flouting the law by making a captured Texas Ranger “dance” as they shoot at his feet.
	d. it shows Bonnie and Clyde getting away with murder, fleeing gracefully from law enforcement in a carefully choreographed shot.

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Director Sidney Pollack states that Bonnie and Clyde was a radical departure from how movies were made in 1967 because:

	a. it was slavishly accurate in its representation of the 1930s and the Great Depression.
	b. its stars, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, were new, young faces who replaced aging stars such as Henry Fonda and Elizabeth Taylor.
	c. the film took the story of “two hapless, semi-pathetic people” and made them heroes, or more accurately, anti-heroes.
	d. it was the first film to receive an X rating and still be considered for an Academy Award.

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Frank Capra, the director of movie favorites such as It’s a Wonderful Life, made a series of films after the start of World War II titled Why We Fight. These films, intended to influence American attitudes, fit the definition of:

	a. folklore.
	b. propaganda.
	c. soft sell.
	d. documentary.

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Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner treats the subject of interracial marriage delicately. For example, the white woman, played by Katharine Houghton, makes a point of saying that she has not had sex with her black fiancé, played by Sidney Poitier. Film historian Donald Bogle says this reluctance to deal frankly with the subject reflects:

	a. a contractual obligation with the stars of the film, Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy.
	b. the fearfulness of the major studios in dealing with the issue of interracial sexuality.
	c. a reaction to the civil rights movement by movie executives.
	d. the belief of writer William Rose and director Stanley Kramer that such a relationship would not be believable to audiences of the 1960s.

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Hollywood became the center of the film industry mostly because:

	a. that’s where stars such as Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks chose to live.
	b. being away from the population centers of Chicago and New York allowed for greater creative freedom.
	c. the weather allowed for movies to be made year-round, satisfying the appetite of a populace hungry for feature films.
	d. California’s lower taxes drew hard-nosed businessmen such as Samuel Goldwyn away from the eastern states.

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In the 1959 film The World, The Flesh and the Devil demonstrates the reluctance of the movie industry to break down interracial sexual barriers. In this film, the black actor Harry Belafonte shies away from intimate contact with the white actress Inger Stevens even though:

	a. they share the same tastes in food, music and literature.
	b. Stevens’ character seeks out Belafonte’s help in dealing with personal issues.
	c. the movie is set in the future, when racial barriers were sure to be removed.
	d. their characters were two of the last three people left alive after a nuclear holocaust.

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In the Heat of the Night surprised critics by winning the 1968 Oscar for best picture over the more “game-changing” films Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate. Author Mark Harris says the choice was not as odd as it seems because In the Heat of the Night was and is:

	a. an action-packed thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat.
	b. the least offensive of the five Oscar nominees to Southern audiences.
	c. first and foremost a good murder mystery that does not push its liberal message too hard.
	d. an example of how great cinematography can win out over movies with inferior production values.

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In the two short documentaries about the Lumière brothers, film historian Deac Rossell states that the brothers’ main contribution to movie-making was:

	a. the first feature motion picture, Le Voyage Dans La Lune.
	b. celluloid film that was flexible enough to go through a projector.
	c. the first movie studio, where scenes could be staged for narrative films.
	d. a complete light-weight system for capturing movies, printing copies and projecting the images.

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Jennifer Holt’s economic analysis of the giant media companies – Time-Warner, Disney, News Corp., Viacom, NBC Universal and Sony – can best be summed up with the statement:

	a. Television is important to these companies’ earnings, but movies pay the bills.
	b. What we think of as movie companies are really making most of their money from print publishing.
	c. Although we think of these conglomerates as movie companies, television now helps keep the film business afloat.
	d. Television’s contribution to the profitability of these companies is shrinking.

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More and more movies are being released using 3D, as well as other high technologies such as IMAX and fast-frame digital used in making The Hobbit. Such technologies are attractive to the movie industry because:

	a. such movies look great on the new high-definition TV sets, opening up new markets for the films.
	b. movie critics such as Roger Ebert have high praise for the quality of 3D movies and their heightened sense of realism.
	c. 3D movie glasses are suddenly a much sought after fashion accessory in New York, Paris and London.
	d. audiences will turn out in greater numbers for an experience they cannot get at home and will pay a premium for tickets.

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Movie studios such as 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros. and Walt Disney were eager to apply innovative technology such as Technicolor even though it meant films were more expensive to make. The main reason for their doing this was because:

	a. movie moguls had a fondness for tinkering with technology and a fascination with gadgets.
	b. movie stars insisted on being presented in the best possible way.
	c. studio heads would do anything to win an Academy Award.
	d. movie audiences liked technological advances such as sound, color and wide-screen formats.

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Often what we consider to be an independent film still relies on funding and distribution from a major studio. In light of this, the term independent film really is shorthand for:

	a. cheap slasher movies and horror films, such as Paranormal Activity.
	b. movies without broad appeal but with high artistic value, such as Dogville.
	c. movies made by directors who obtain unconventional funding, such as Robert Rodriguez, who sold his body to science to make El Mariachi.
	d. movies with lower budgets and unconventional subject matter compared with typical studio-sponsored films, such as Sex, Lies and Videotape.

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The Birth of a Nation is one of the great spectacles of movie-making, but why has the film created controversy from the day it was released in 1915?

	a. The Birth of a Nation was vilified for its negative portrayal of African-Americans and its heroic depiction of the Ku Klux Klan.
	b. The Birth of a Nation lacked sympathy for the hardships faced in the former Confederate states after the Civil War.
	c. The Civil War battle scenes depicted in The Birth of a Nation were staged inaccurately, giving the impression that the South won.
	d. At three hours long with its spectacular battle scenes, The Birth of a Nation was so expensive it nearly bankrupted the movie industry.

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The Jazz Singer is a sad commentary on early 20th Century culture because:

	a. Al Jolson’s character would rather sing jazz in nightclubs than in his father’s synagogue.
	b. jazz music is portrayed as being associated with low-class behavior.
	c. Al Jolson performs his closing musical number in blackface.
	d. women were not allowed to attend showings of the movie.

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The Jazz Singer, released in 1929, is a movie-making milestone for what reason?

	a. It was the 1,000th feature film made in Hollywood.
	b. It was the first feature film to use synchronized sound for spoken dialogue.
	c. It was the Hollywood debut of the Al Jolson, one of the top singers of the day.
	d. It was one of the first sympathetic film portrayals of the Jewish religion.

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Warner Bros. has opened a Harry Potter theme park and has started a Harry Potter website, pottermore.com. These efforts keep the Harry Potter story alive using:

	a. a transmedia strategy.
	b. technical wizardry.
	c. literary adaptation.
	d. media conglomeration.

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While movie studios and movie theaters have been slow to adopt digital movie-making and distribution, it is the wave of the future. Which of these is the most important reason why all movies might eventually be made and distributed digitally?

	a. Digital technology will save the movie industry more than $800 million a year in the cost of making prints and shipping the heavy reels around the country.
	b. The editing process for film-makers is streamlined, especially where special effects are needed.
	c. Digital technology eliminates the need to reload the camera, giving film directors more flexibility.
	d. Digital movies do not lose quality through the printing process or become scratched through use; each copy and each showing is pristine.

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Worried that movies including sex and violence would draw government censorship, the major Hollywood studios formed the Motion Picture Association of America, or MPAA, as a means of voluntary censorship. Today, the MPPA is responsible for:

	a. reviewing all films that are produced in or enter the United States and applying a rating designed to alert viewers to the age-appropriateness of a film.
	b. administering a voluntary rating system designed to alert viewers to the age-appropriateness of a film while still protecting the filmmakers’ artistic freedom.
	c. collecting the votes of academy members and awarding the Oscars.
	d. writing the reviews of movies that appear online at such websites as Netflix and Amazon.

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Georges Méliès, a French stage magician and cinema owner, created his own movies that were the first to use:

	a. celluloid film.
	b. the camera dolly.
	c. spoken dialogue.
	d. special effects.

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According to a UCLA study published in 2011, popular TV shows teach children that the most important value is:

	a. wealth.
	b. competitiveness.
	c. kindness.
	d. fame.

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Adam Helweh of socialmediaexplorer.com describes how celebrities have boosted viewership during live television events, such as the Grammy Awards, by twittering. In writing about trends in the TV industry, what name did Professor Jack Lule give to this sort of activity?

	a. pop-culture TV.
	b. social-inclusion TV.
	c. interactive TV.
	d. time-sensitive TV.

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After watching the video clips from Fox News’ interview with Jon Stewart and the articles about Fox News by Seth Ackerman on fair.org and S. Robert Lichter in Forbes, which statement below best summarizes the current state of television news?

	a. TV news shows are better than ever at maintaining high standards of objectivity and independence from the business side of the organization.
	b. TV news shows come to us in an era when we find it difficult to separate opinion from reporting at networks such as MSNBC and Fox News, and where entertainment can merge with journalism, as on The Daily Show.
	c. TV news shows are not profitable when they mingle opinion with reporting, as proved by the poor ratings received by Fox News.
	d. TV news people see themselves less as journalists than as political operatives, working to promote the interests of one candidate over another.

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Cable television, with its dozens of channels, helped bring to an end the “water-cooler era,” in business magazine editor Chris Anderson’s words. Which statement most accurately defines what the meant?

	a. We began to drink bottled water that was heavily advertised on cable television, where advertising was less expensive.
	b. We no longer could share a common culture where we all watched and discussed the same relatively small pool of content from the three networks.
	c. American businesses became more competitive, leading them to eliminate employee facilities that might waste time, isolating us from one another.
	d. Cable TV brought with it a complexity that confused the average viewer, leading to a reluctance to discuss things with coworkers.

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Digital video recorders and technology that erases TV commercials, seen as a threat by some in the television industry, are all part of what the University of Nebraska’s Professor Josep Valor calls:

	a. interactive technology.
	b. market-research technology.
	c. disruptive technology.
	d. apocalyptic technology.

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ESPN, the sports broadcasting giant, hired the Poynter Institute for Media Studies for guidance on ethical issues. One ethical issue has been of particular concern. Which statement best describes it?

	a. ESPN falls prey to conflicts of interest, such as cross-promoting sports events on its own channels while ignoring those events on other channels.
	b. ESPN no longer has airtime for the minor sports, such as barefoot waterskiing, that once thrived from the exposure a 24-hour sports network could provide.
	c. ESPN hiring practices are heavily skewed toward white males, so Poynter advised the network on diversity issues.
	d. ESPN reports often have factual errors, so Poynter assisted the network in improving its fact-checking and editing.

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In 1993, Nicholas Negroponte correctly predicted that high definition would not be as important to the TV industry as:

	a. cable networks that allow hundreds of channels to reach the consumer.
	b. video delivered digitally that is easily translated from one format to another, making your computer or cell phone into a TV.
	c. LED technology that would enable manufacturers to make larger and larger screens, bringing about the home theater era.
	d. greater consolidation of the television industry, resulting in fewer and fewer real choices for consumers.

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In his 2007 TED Talk, Silicon Valley executive Peter Hirshberg asks, “How did a machine that was built for accounting and artillery morph into media?” But the idea of using the computer to deliver video had been predicted in 1993 by:

	a. Edward R. Murrow on his television show See It Now.
	b. Nicholas Negroponte in his book Being Digital.
	c. Philo T. Farnsworth in his patent application for electronic television.
	d. Newton Minow in his “vast wasteland” speech to the National Association of Broadcasters.

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In his article You Don’t Understand Our Audience, former NBC Dateline reporter John Hockenberry writes about how NBC News, in its drive to attract viewers:

	a. put its correspondents in extreme danger by requiring them to report from war zones.
	b. tried to avoid any conflict of interest that might hurt credibility, such as interviewing the bin Laden family when parent company GE does business with them.
	c. showed the plight of everyday Iraqi citizens and what they were suffering at the start of the Iraq war.
	d. rejected morally complicated but important stories in favor of more dramatic fare that touches the audience’s “emotional center.”

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In his article You Don’t Understand Our Audience, former NBC Dateline reporter John Hockenberry wrote that by dismissing the interactive technology of the Internet as a “gadget,” news executives:

	a. missed opportunity to use technology to help create a nation of engaged citizens bent on preserving their freedom and their connections to the broader world.
	b. misunderstood a classic example of how the basic economic principle of supply and demand worked in the information age.
	c. moved too cautiously because they were worried about losing a loyal but aging audience that did not use the Internet.
	d. alienated the tech-savvy young reporters and producers entering the media workforce, of which Hockenberry was one.

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In his speech to the National Association of Broadcasters in 1961, newly appointed FCC Chairman Newton Minow urged the group to broadcast in the public interest. He is most famous for telling the group that if they watched their shows, they would:

	a. “learn a thing or two about culture.”
	b. “feel their arteries harden with boredom.”
	c. “see the world through a twisted frame of reference.”
	d. “observe a vast wasteland.”

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Networks that are centrist in their politics, such as CNN, often lose out to networks with fierce groups of supporters, such as MSNBC and Fox News, what Professor Jack Lule calls:

	a. fair and balanced news networks.
	b. thinking-people’s news networks.
	c. partisan news networks.
	d. liberally biased news networks.

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One approach to studying media effects theorizes that heavy exposure to media, especially repetitive messages, causes people to develop a false sense of reality. An example would be the juror who watches CSI regularly, and then expects the police to solve a crime quickly using high-tech methods. This theory is known as:

	a. cultivation analysis.
	b. spiral of silence.
	c. agenda-setting theory.
	d. uses and gratifications theory.

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Professor Jack Lule states that Gunsmoke became the longest-running western in television history (1955-1975) because:

	a. during the 1960s, the show adapted to its audience, such as becoming sympathetic to ethnic minorities, being in tune with the civil rights era.
	b. it portrayed the strength of the nuclear family, providing comfort to a nation that was struggling with cultural upheaval in the 1960s.
	c. the star, James Arness, reminded viewers of John Wayne and his overt patriotism at a time when America was seen negatively in the 1960s.
	d. even though Marshal Dillon and Miss Kitty seemed sweet on each other, the show contained no sexual overtones, meaning the whole family could watch.

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Some prosecutors believe the CSI Effect makes getting a conviction more difficult because:

	a. jurors who watch CSI and other crime procedurals cannot be fooled as easily by courtroom tricks.
	b. television crime dramas make criminals into sympathetic characters.
	c. jurors who watch CSI and other crime procedurals expect all prosecutors to be strikingly handsome men or beautiful blond women.
	d. some jurors confuse TV drama with reality and are not impressed unless the prosecution presents high-tech forensic evidence.

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The FCC has a long-standing policy against the use of profanity in network television shows under its authority to regulate broadcasting on public airways. Professors Bradley L. Yates and Anthony L. Fargo argue that the networks (NBC, CBS, ABC and FOX) have been “pushing the envelope” in allowing profanity in their shows, because:

	a. profanity has moved into mainstream American speech and no longer shocks the average person.
	b. hotshot TV producers, such as Aaron Sorkin of The West Wing, believe in portraying reality in all its grittiness.
	c. given the racy anything goes policy of premium cable channels, such as HBO, the networks believe they must do the same to compete for viewers.
	d. network executives swear a lot themselves and do not see what harm can be done by allowing their TV characters to do the same.

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We have described media as a cultural industry; it creates the ideas and symbols we use to make sense of life. But Bravo’s Lauren Zalaznick offers an opposing view in her discussion of the dominant themes of popular TV shows. Her view is best summarized by which statement?

	a. Television is the “idiot box” that merely entertains us, not a real force in our culture.
	b. The most popular television shows play to our animal instincts, in keeping with the low nature of TV programming.
	c. The most popular television shows reflect the social conscience of the nation rather than serve as that conscience.
	d. Television exploits for profit events that occur in this country, such as the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2011.

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The invention of the first all-electronic television system is generally credited to:

	a. Philo T. Farnsworth, an Idaho farm boy who sketched out his system in 1922 at the age of 15.
	b. David Sarnoff, who was born in the small Belarus town of Uzlyany and rose to lead the giant Radio Corporation of America (RCA).
	c. Guglielmo Marconi, who at the age of 20 began his experiments in his native Italy, working on his own with the help of his butler Mignani.
	d. Lee de Forest, an American inventor with more than 180 patents who invented a vacuum tube that takes weak electrical signals and amplifies them.

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A study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology linked violent video games with aggressive thoughts, feelings and behaviors. The authors describe how the shooters at Columbine High School in 1999 had played video games and acted out violent scenes from them, implying that games were in part to blame for the massacre. But this study, like many media effects studies, suffers from a serious shortcoming. Which statement best describes this problem?

	a. The researchers did not have the subjects play other highly stimulating video games, only the most violent.
	b. The researchers did not include girls in the study.
	c. The researchers performed the experiment in a laboratory setting and could measure only short-term effects.
	d. The researchers used a theoretical model that had never been applied to video games before.

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Anita Sarkeesian in one of the videos you watched discusses the “Evil Demon Seductress” who uses her sexual wiles to manipulate others in movies or television shows. She calls this character a trope, best defined as:

	a. a common pattern in a story or a recognizable attribute in a character that conveys information to the audience.
	b. an element in a movie or video game borrowed from some other media, such as Lara Croft’s video-game character appearing in a movie.
	c. a physical form that serves as a metaphor for personal character, such as Catwoman in the Batman comics and movies.
	d. a character trait that is exaggerated or obsessive, such as the Joker in the Batman comics and movies.

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Christopher Hanson in his article Television Sport Broadcasting and Technology, writes that sport video games have borrowed much of their portrayal from television, including framing of the action as if a camera were being used, commentary by announcers and:

	a. tactile strategies, such as controllers with the sleek feel of sports equipment.
	b. strategies of depiction, such as personalizing players and developing storylines.
	c. fan involvement strategies, such as pregame tailgate parties.
	d. sound-track strategies, such as video-game music using team fight songs.

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First-person shooter games, such as Doom and Quake, greatly increased the popularity of video games. What factors made these different from previous video games?

	a. These games had vivid 3D graphics that took advantage of the personal computer’s superior processing power, pushing realism to new heights.
	b. The games took place in a fantasy world taken from childhood experiences with intuitive controls and simple objectives.
	c. The games had catchy, interesting soundtracks, and some of the songs went on to become hits for recording artists.
	d. The games could be found at big-box discount stores, such as Target and Wal-Mart, not just at video-game specialty stores.

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GamesRadar’s Justin Towell writes that lens flare is the “most over-used special effect in video games.” Lens flare, caused by imperfections or dust on a camera lens, is often present in video games because:

	a. game designers rarely can afford the high-quality lenses that are free of aberrations.
	b. game designers are notoriously careless about keeping their camera equipment clean.
	c. game designers add it digitally when they want a game to look historical in nature.
	d. game designers add it digitally because we are used to seeing it on TV and it feels more realistic.

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Jen-Hsun Huang, in his discussion of the RSX Reality Synthesizer Graphic Processing Unit for the PlayStation 3, describes the tremendous investment being made in video games. He says the major challenge for game developers is:

	a. not wasting valuable development time playing the games themselves.
	b. increasing both the speed and realism of the games, to conflicting goals that require lots of processing power.
	c. shrinking the physical space required to house processing units so that games can be accessed through cell phones.
	d. dealing with graphic artists who create the images for the games and often do not understand them.

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Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) blur the line between:

	a. video-game playing and social media.
	b. video-game playing and television.
	c. video-game playing and education.
	d. video-game playing and movies.

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Peter Singer of the Brookings Institute says the military uses video-game-style controllers for operations such as drone warfare because gaming companies have spent millions coming up with just the right setup and because:

	a. young soldiers in essence come into the military already trained at the skills needed for such activities.
	b. such off-the-shelf components fit in with a leaner military operating on a more limited budget.
	c. game controllers use no sensitive technology, so no damage is done if equipment falls into enemy hands.
	d. video-game controllers with their compact design are ideal for combat situations in tight quarters.

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Peter Singer of the Brookings Institute states that the video game America’s Army was created:

	a. by EA as a first-person shooter game taking place in a socially acceptable setting.
	b. by the Office of Veterans Affairs for soldiers on active duty as a way to help them unwind.
	c. by EA Games to compete with Activision’s wildly popular Call of Duty.
	d. by the U.S. Military as a recruitment tool.

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Professor Jack Lule describes geeks as people:

	a. who are technically adept and thus feel superior to others.
	b. who feel excluded by society and favor the imaginary worlds found in video games.
	c. who dress and act in a certain way, favoring unisexual clothing and hair styles.
	d. who work at the highest levels of media technology and make lots of money at it.

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Professor Jack Lule writes that sexism has been a long-standing issue in the video game industry. Anita Sarkeesian found out this is still true today. Which statement best describes her experience?

	a. She surveyed hundreds of gamers and discovered a deep-seated distrust of women, including an unwillingness to include them in online games such as Runescape.
	b. She examined court testimony from criminal trials and discovered that men guilty of abusing women often were video game players.
	c. She wrote an article about sexism in the video-game culture, but no magazine on video gaming would publish it.
	d. She sought funds for a study of female tropes in video games and received messages and comments included threats of violence and sexual assault.

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Sports have been a video-game topic from the early days, beginning with a tennis game named:

	a. Pong.
	b. Jimmy Connors Tennis.
	c. Super Mario Tennis.
	d. Racket Sports EA.

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The authors of the paper Video Games and the Future of Learning cite as an example of learning through video games a political race for the president of Alphaville, one of the towns in The Sims Online. They write that video games are effective learning tools when:

	a. players have good equipment that does not slow down the pace of the game.
	b. the games are most realistic, so that players lose themselves in the virtual world.
	c. games bring together ways of knowing and ways of doing.
	d. games stay away from themes of sex and violence.

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The concept of the uncanny valley, as illustrated by the Heavy Rain Casting Call video, points up a basic problem that still plagues video games today. Which best describes this problem?

	a. How to overcome the legacy of cartoonish, simplistic characters, such as the Super Mario Bros., and produce more realistic characters.
	b. How to find animators who can bring to life the more humanlike characters of today’s video games.
	c. How to create human characters who portray realistic emotion and lifelike movement without appearing zombie-like.
	d. How to move video game production out of the Silicon Valley and into areas of the country where labor and living costs are more reasonable.

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The Wii and Kinect motion sensing devices provided a new dimension to video gaming, but they also opened a path for integrating game technology into daily life. Which statement best describes that path?

	a. The Wii and Kinect systems made so much money, Nintendo and Microsoft were able to donate to research efforts such as finding a cure for cancer.
	b. The Wii and Kinect systems could be placed in airports and doctor’s offices to give people some physical activity while they waited.
	c. The Wii and Kinect systems could be used with other household devices, such as stoves and refrigerators, as remote controls.
	d. The Wii and Kinect systems provided hackers with low-cost interfaces in other areas of technology, such as robots or physical therapy.

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Video games are now influencing how television networks present sports. Two football examples Christopher Hanson cites in his article Television Sport Broadcasting and Technology are a video overlay technology that allows broadcasters to “paint” graphics on the field, and:

	a. aerial shots as if taken from a blimp of the stadium and city skyline.
	b. sideline shots of individual players.
	c. skycam technology that mimics the floating camera perspective of video games.
	d. animated graphics introducing the starting lineups for each team.

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Virtual worlds such as Second Life, similar to some role-playing games, also are showing promise as:

	a. an economic system that can help players practice their investment strategies.
	b. a way to help patients with Asperger’s syndrome, a type of autism, navigate through social situations.
	c. a way to help politicians try out campaign strategies on virtual constituents.
	d. a place where fashion designers can put on virtual runway shows before the real thing.

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Which statement best describes Microsoft’s attitude toward hackers using the Kinect interface for other purposes?

	a. At first Microsoft resisted such activity, but now the company actively promotes it as a way to use the system for social good.
	b. Microsoft forbids using the Kinect interface outside of the Xbox environment, but by and large the company has chosen to ignore such efforts.
	c. Microsoft allows inventors to use the Kinect interface for other purposes but charges a stiff royalty fee that makes such development impractical.
	d. Microsoft forbids using the Kinect interface outside of the Xbox environment and has sued anybody who has tried it.

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The video game crash of 1983 was due to several factors. The most prominent were:

	a. a government crackdown on games considered too violent and a general downturn in the economy.
	b. the tendency of home game systems to freeze up and the high cost of owning such systems.
	c. a copyright battle between Atari and Coleco over Pong and the entry of home computers into the market.
	d. overproduction of video games from the many large and small producers and poor quality of games such as ET: The Extra-Terrestrial.

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