American Politics Today - Essentials (3rd Ed)

158 CHAPTER 5|PUBLIC OPINION AND THE MEDIA

equal time provision (p. 150)

concentration (p. 151)

cross-ownership (p. 152)

media conglomerates (p. 152)

media eff ects (p. 152)

fi ltering (p. 153)

slant (p. 153)

priming (p. 153)

framing (p. 153)

CRITICAL THINKING AND DISCUSSION:

One argument against deregulating the media is that con-
solidation and the formation of media conglomerates would
reduce the number of independent sources of information
that are available to the average American. Based on the
media sources that you and your friends use, do you agree or
disagree with this argument? Why?

PRACTICE QUIZ QUESTIONS

12. What is one result of the decreased barriers to publica-
    tion on the Internet?
    a) Few opportunities exist for citizens to interact
    with reporters or government offi cials.
    b) People with no offi cial connection to candidates
    can have signifi cant infl uence on elections.
    c) The accuracy of political information has
    improved.
    d) Few average citizens report on events as they
    happen.
    e) Like-minded political supporters have diffi culty
    organizing and staying informed on issues.


13. Why hasn’t the Internet increased citizens’ political
    knowledge?
    a) It can be hard to fi nd political news on the
    Internet.
    b) Most people do not have access to the Internet.
    c) Most people read content from a wide range of
    balanced media sources.
    d) Most people only focus on sites that reinforce their
    own views.
    e) Search engines don't include political topics.


14. What is the fairness doctrine?
    a) TV and radio stations must off er a variety of politi-
    cal views in programs.

S PRACTICE ONLINE

“What Do Political Scientists Do?” video exercise:

Issue Framing

b) TV and radio stations must give equal time to can-

didates running advertisements.

c) News anchors cannot slander political candidates.

d) Radio station owners cannot also own TV and

print media outlets.

e) Journalists must investigate challengers as well as

incumbents.

15. The deregulation of the media has resulted
    in __.
    a) increasing enforcement of the equal time
    provision
    b) increasing enforcement of the fairness doctrine
    c) increasing use of the Internet
    d) increasing scrutiny of media concentration
    e) increasing frequency of cross-ownership


16. What is priming?
    a) a journalist’s decision about which story to report
    on and which story to skip
    b) a journalist giving favorable coverage to one can-
    didate without providing balanced coverage on the
    opponent
    c) the phenomenon of a journalist’s story aff ecting
    the importance people place on the issue covered
    in the story
    d) the particular way that a journalist decides to pre-
    sent and describe a story
    e) the decision to prioritize one story over another


17. Space limitations mean that some __
    is inevitable.
    a) fi ltering
    b) slant
    c) priming
    d) framing
    e) soft news