Name: __________________
1
Class:
Date: _____________
The mass media help ensure government accountability and responsiveness by performing
three important tasks: informing, ________ , and interpreting the news.
a. intellectualizing
b. investigating
c. modifying
d. concealing
2
Who uncovered the Watergate scandal?
a. Chet Huntley and David Brinkley
b. Walter Cronkite
c. Abbie Hoffman
d. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
3
Which amendment governs freedom of press?
a. Fourth
b. Eighth
c. Tenth
d. First
4
Which Supreme Court case limited the government's ability to suppress a news story?
a. Near v. Minnesota
b. McCulloch v. Maryland
c. Loving v. Virginia
d. Gibbons v. Ogden
5
In which Supreme Court case did the court require proof of actual malice in order to convict of
libel?
a. Gibbons v. Ogden
b. New York Times v. Sullivan
c. Near v. Minnesota
d. Loving v. Virginia
PAGE 1
Name: __________________
6
Class:
Date: _____________
Which federal agency is in charge of regulating electronic media?
a. the Department of Defense
b. the Consumer Financial Protections Bureau
c. the Federal Communications Commission
d. the Department of the Interior
7
Who was jailed in 1734 for criticizing the colonial governor of New York, eventually advancing
the idea of a free press?
a. John Peter Zenger
b. Patrick Henry
c. Daniel Shays
d. Alexander Hamilton
8
Who published the influential pamphlet, Common Sense, which attacked King George?
a. Daniel Shays
b. Thomas Paine
c. George Washington
d. Alexander Hamilton
9
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay published a series of articles in support of
the Constitution that are known as
a. the Federalist Papers.
b. the Articles of Confederation.
c. Public Occurrences.
d. the Sentiments of Democracy.
10 Which president started his own newspaper in order to get his message out?
a. George Washington
b. James K. Polk
c. Thomas Jefferson
d. Theodore Roosevelt
PAGE 2
Name: __________________
Class:
Date: _____________
11 How much did an issue of the New York Sun sell for in 1833?
a. $.50
b. $1.00
c. $.01
d. $.10
12 The press concealed the health of which president, thereby preserving his public image?
a. Thomas Jefferson
b. Theodore Roosevelt
c. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
d. George Washington
13 Which three major networks aired evening news broadcasts in the early 1960s?
a. Fox, ABC, NBC
b. PBS, Fox, ABC
c. Fox, CBS, NBC
d. ABC, NBC, CBS
14 The decline of newspaper readership might affect the public's exposure to
a. hard news.
b. classified listings.
c. soft news.
d. yellow journalism.
15 Which form of media has been hurt MOST by the rise of the Internet?
a. magazines
b. radio
c. television
d. newspapers
PAGE 3
Name: __________________
Class:
Date: _____________
16 The popularity of ________ has remained unchanged in the past decade as a medium of
communication.
a. the Internet
b. television
c. radio
d. newspaper
17 Which factor poses the biggest threat to the television evening news?
a. the prominence of "technical difficulties"
b. a lack of hard news
c. an aging audience
d. a lack of qualified journalists
18 Which form of media has enabled the average citizen to express his or her views to a wider
audience?
a. blogs
b. radio
c. television
d. newspapers
19 Which of the following is an example of a social networking site?
a. Wikipedia
b. Facebook
c. Google
d. eBay
20 Which model for interpreting public opinion asserts that the news media has only marginal
influence on the public's thinking about politics?
a. the propaganda model
b. the agenda setting model
c. the not-so-minimal effects model
d. the minimal effects model
PAGE 4
Name: __________________
Class:
Date: _____________
21 ________ is the process whereby people secure information from sources that agree with them,
reinforcing their beliefs.
a. Selective exposure
b. Agenda setting
c. Selective perception
d. Priming
22 By stressing certain issues, the media influence what the American public views as the most
pressing concerns. This effect is called
a. soft news.
b. agenda setting.
c. muckraking.
d. framing.
23 When the Bush administration waged war in Afghanistan, it emphasized the issue of fighting
terrorism, so the public would think about the war in a much more favorable light. This is an
example of
a. framing.
b. hard news.
c. priming.
d. agenda setting.
24 According to Journalist David Broder, what is the main factor that contributes to bias in the
media?
a. the speed with which journalists have to act
b. the inability of journalists to recognize their own bias
c. pressure from the government
d. the influence of large corporations
25 Abraham Lincoln sought to project himself as the self-made man that he was, so his 1860
campaign distributed pictures depicting him working with his hands as a rail-splitter. This shows
that ________ has always been important to politicians, even before the advent of television.
a. photography
b. image
c. soft news
d. manual labor
PAGE 5
ANSWER KEY
Copy of
1. b
10. b
19. b
2. d
11. c
20. d
3. d
12. c
21. a
ANSWER KEY - Page 1
4. a
13. d
22. b
5. b
14. a
23. a
6. c
15. d
24. a
7. a
16. c
25. b
8. b
17. c
9. a
18. a