Chapter 6 Quiz: The Evolution of Traditional Media
Instructions: Answer all questions. For multiple choice, select the best answer. Answers are hidden — click "Reveal Answer" after attempting each question.
Section I: Multiple Choice (Questions 1–15)
Question 1
The "penny press" revolution of the 1830s transformed journalism primarily by:
A) Introducing government subsidies for newspapers serving underrepresented communities B) Shifting the revenue model from subscriptions to advertising, making price and circulation the central commercial variables C) Establishing the norm of journalistic objectivity for the first time D) Creating the Associated Press cooperative wire service E) Introducing photographic illustrations to news reporting
Reveal Answer
**Correct answer: B) Shifting the revenue model from subscriptions to advertising, making price and circulation the central commercial variables** The penny press revolution, beginning with Benjamin Day's New York Sun (1833), restructured journalism economics by making papers cheap enough for mass audiences (one cent vs. six cents) and funding them through advertising revenue tied to circulation size. This created the fundamental structural tension in American journalism: content decisions are driven by what attracts the largest audience (and therefore the most advertising revenue) rather than what best serves subscribers' informational needs. This tension has never been fully resolved and underlies many subsequent developments including tabloidization, the 24-hour news cycle, and social media engagement optimization.Question 2
The term "Yellow Journalism" most accurately describes:
A) Newspapers funded by foreign governments to influence American opinion B) Sensationalist, often fabricating newspapers that competed for mass circulation through emotional drama, large headlines, and willingness to distort facts C) The use of yellow-tinted newsprint that was cheaper than standard paper D) Journalism that served primarily the interests of wealthy industrialists E) A journalistic tradition originating in the American South
Reveal Answer
**Correct answer: B) Sensationalist, often fabricating newspapers that competed for mass circulation through emotional drama, large headlines, and willingness to distort facts** Yellow Journalism, most associated with William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal and Joseph Pulitzer's New York World in the 1890s, was characterized by screaming multicolored headlines, fabricated stories, manufactured emotional drama, and systematic use of sensationalism to drive circulation. The name derives somewhat obscurely from the Yellow Kid comic strip that was the subject of competitive poaching between the two papers. It represents the commercial logic of circulation-driven journalism taken to its extreme, with minimal constraint from factual accuracy.Question 3
The Associated Press wire service, founded in 1848, contributed to the development of journalistic objectivity primarily because:
A) Its founding charter required adherence to factual reporting B) Government funding for the AP required politically neutral content C) Stories sold to politically diverse newspapers incentivized a politically neutral register that could serve all clients D) The AP was founded by journalism professors committed to professional standards E) Telegraph transmission costs required shorter, more factual messages
Reveal Answer
**Correct answer: C) Stories sold to politically diverse newspapers incentivized a politically neutral register that could serve all clients** The AP's cooperative structure — sharing reporting costs among competing newspapers of diverse political affiliations — created a structural incentive for political neutrality. AP copy that took a strong partisan line would be unusable for newspapers on the other side. The result was a practical, commercially motivated neutrality that preceded and helped establish the explicit objectivity norm that became journalistic doctrine in the early 20th century. This illustrates how professional norms often emerge from structural incentives rather than purely from ethical deliberation.Question 4
The Fairness Doctrine (1949–1987) applied to:
A) All news media including newspapers, magazines, and television B) Only publicly funded media such as PBS and NPR C) Only broadcast licensees (radio and television stations using public airwaves) D) Any media organization with more than 50,000 subscribers or viewers E) All media operating in markets with fewer than three competing outlets
Reveal Answer
**Correct answer: C) Only broadcast licensees (radio and television stations using public airwaves)** The Fairness Doctrine's constitutional basis — upheld by the Supreme Court in Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC (1969) — was the physical scarcity of the broadcast spectrum. Because broadcast frequencies are limited in number, licensees are granted exclusive use of public airwaves and therefore have obligations to serve the public interest. This scarcity rationale applies only to broadcast media, not to print media (which First Amendment doctrine protects from virtually all content-based regulation) or to cable, satellite, or internet media (which do not use public spectrum).Question 5
In New York Times Co. v. United States (1971) — the Pentagon Papers case — the Supreme Court ruled that:
A) The government had established sufficient grounds to prevent publication of the documents B) The New York Times had violated espionage laws and must return the documents C) The government had not met the heavy burden required to justify prior restraint of the press D) The First Amendment does not protect the publication of classified government documents E) Newspapers must consult with the government before publishing classified information
Reveal Answer
**Correct answer: C) The government had not met the heavy burden required to justify prior restraint of the press** In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court held that the Nixon administration had not demonstrated the extraordinary justification required for prior restraint — government suppression of publication before it occurs. The ruling established that prior restraint faces a very heavy constitutional presumption against it, and that national security concerns, while legitimate, do not automatically override press freedom. The decision is a landmark in American press law and remains the leading precedent on prior restraint.Question 6
Walter Lippmann's influential case for the objectivity norm in journalism, developed in "Public Opinion" (1922), argued that:
A) Reporters should advocate openly for the public interest without hiding their values B) Journalism should adopt scientific methods of verification and draw on expert knowledge rather than partisan advocacy C) Newspapers should be owned by nonprofit foundations to ensure independence from commercial pressure D) True objectivity was impossible, and transparency about bias was therefore the appropriate standard E) International news should be handled by international organizations rather than national press outlets
Reveal Answer
**Correct answer: B) Journalism should adopt scientific methods of verification and draw on expert knowledge rather than partisan advocacy** Lippmann argued that the complexity of modern industrial society had outstripped ordinary citizens' capacity to evaluate public affairs independently, and that journalism needed to adopt the authority and methods of science — systematic verification, expert sourcing, and separation of fact from value — to provide reliable information in this complex environment. His view was contested by John Dewey, who argued for a more participatory, community-building journalism. The Lippmann-Dewey debate defined the major tensions in 20th-century journalism philosophy.Question 7
The "CNN Effect" hypothesis refers to:
A) The tendency of 24-hour news to follow celebrity stories at the expense of substantive news B) The impact of real-time visual television coverage on government decisions, particularly in humanitarian crises C) CNN's systematic political bias toward centrist Democratic positions D) The homogenization of television news formats across competing networks E) Declining viewer attention spans caused by the 24-hour news format
Reveal Answer
**Correct answer: B) The impact of real-time visual television coverage on government decisions, particularly in humanitarian crises** The CNN Effect hypothesis, developed by scholars in the 1990s, proposed that continuous real-time visual coverage of humanitarian crises generated public emotional pressure that constrained or redirected government foreign policy decisions. The 1992-1993 Somalia intervention was the paradigmatic case: extensive coverage of famine and civilian suffering was followed by U.S. military intervention. Subsequent scholarship has found the effect to be real but more limited and conditional than initially hypothesized — political and strategic factors continue to shape policy, with media creating a permissive or constraining environment rather than determining outcomes.Question 8
The Gallup polling data on media trust shows that the most dramatic recent change has been:
A) An overall collapse of media trust across all demographic groups equally B) A sharp increase in media trust among younger generations C) An extreme partisan divergence, with Republicans' trust collapsing far below Democrats' trust D) Declining trust most concentrated among college-educated Americans E) A gradual, linear decline across all groups since the 1970s
Reveal Answer
**Correct answer: C) An extreme partisan divergence, with Republicans' trust collapsing far below Democrats' trust** While overall media trust has declined significantly from its mid-1970s peak, the most dramatic recent development is the extreme partisan divergence. Republican trust in mainstream media fell by approximately 20 percentage points between 2015 and 2016 (the year of the Trump campaign) while Democratic trust remained relatively stable. By the early 2020s, Republican trust in mainstream media was below 15% while Democratic trust was around 70% — a gap with no precedent in the polling history and with profound implications for democratic information sharing.Question 9
"False balance" in journalism refers to:
A) Financial imbalance in media ownership concentration B) The practice of presenting opposing viewpoints as equally credible when the evidence strongly supports one position C) Balanced coverage of both positive and negative aspects of a news event D) The unequal allocation of coverage time between major and minor political parties E) Reporting that accurately reflects the balance of expert opinion on scientific topics
Reveal Answer
**Correct answer: B) The practice of presenting opposing viewpoints as equally credible when the evidence strongly supports one position** False balance — also called "bothsidesism" — occurs when journalistic balance norms lead to presenting a poorly-supported position as equivalent to a well-supported one. The paradigmatic case is climate change: studies found that major newspapers frequently quoted climate skeptics as counterpoints to scientific consensus, creating a misleading impression that scientific opinion was divided when it was in fact overwhelmingly convergent. False balance is one of the most serious epistemological failures of the objectivity norm.Question 10
What did Ida Tarbell's investigation of Standard Oil (1904) and the Watergate investigation (1972-1974) have in common?
A) Both were conducted by the same journalistic organization B) Both involved fabricated documents that were later exposed as forgeries C) Both involved years of patient documentary research exposing the abuse of institutional power and had significant policy consequences D) Both were initially dismissed by their publications' editors before being forced through by investigative reporters E) Both were triggered by whistleblowers who later recanted their testimony
Reveal Answer
**Correct answer: C) Both involved years of patient documentary research exposing the abuse of institutional power and had significant policy consequences** Both investigations share the defining characteristics of the investigative journalism tradition: sustained documentary research conducted over years rather than days; targeting of powerful institutions (Standard Oil's monopoly, the Nixon White House); publication in outlets reaching mass audiences; and demonstrable policy impact (the 1911 Supreme Court dissolution of Standard Oil; Nixon's resignation). Both also required institutional support — editorial commitment to long-term, risky investigations — that is increasingly rare in the contemporary media environment.Question 11
The repeal of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987 is most directly associated with:
A) The decline of network television news audiences B) The launch of CNN and the 24-hour news format C) The rise of explicitly partisan political talk radio, exemplified by Rush Limbaugh's nationally syndicated show from 1988 D) Increased diversity of viewpoints in broadcast news E) The development of cable television news alternatives
Reveal Answer
**Correct answer: C) The rise of explicitly partisan political talk radio, exemplified by Rush Limbaugh's nationally syndicated show from 1988** Limbaugh's show, launched for national syndication immediately after the Fairness Doctrine's repeal, demonstrated that openly partisan political programming could build enormous audiences and generate substantial advertising revenue. The Doctrine had previously made explicitly one-sided political commentary commercially and legally risky; its removal opened space for a profitable partisan radio format. This commercial success later influenced the development of explicitly partisan cable television news (Fox News, 1996; MSNBC's later pivot).Question 12
"Access journalism" refers to a problematic pattern where:
A) Paywalls prevent lower-income readers from accessing quality news B) Journalists who depend on continued access to powerful sources are incentivized to avoid coverage that would cost them that access C) Government agencies control journalist access to public information through FOIA delays D) Technology companies restrict journalists' access to platform data for research E) Local journalism is inaccessible to rural populations due to distribution limitations
Reveal Answer
**Correct answer: B) Journalists who depend on continued access to powerful sources are incentivized to avoid coverage that would cost them that access** Access journalism describes the structural pressure that develops when reporters covering specific institutions (the White House, the Pentagon, major corporations) depend on ongoing access — interviews, background briefings, advance information — to do their jobs. Sources use the threat of withdrawing access to incentivize favorable or at least non-critical coverage. This creates a systematic bias toward institutional perspectives and against accountability reporting, regardless of individual reporters' ethical commitments.Question 13
Studies comparing the accuracy of coverage of contested scientific topics (such as climate change) before and after the Fairness Doctrine's repeal suggest that:
A) Fairness Doctrine requirements improved coverage accuracy by requiring diverse viewpoints B) The Doctrine improved accuracy on scientific topics by ensuring peer-reviewed perspectives were included C) The Doctrine was associated with false balance problems, as equal-time requirements forced coverage of poorly supported minority views D) Scientific accuracy was entirely unaffected by the Doctrine's presence or absence E) The Doctrine's repeal improved accuracy by allowing science journalists to report consensus without mandatory dissenting quotes
Reveal Answer
**Correct answer: C) The Doctrine was associated with false balance problems, as equal-time requirements forced coverage of poorly supported minority views** The objectivity and balance norms associated with the Fairness Doctrine era were implicated in false balance problems — giving air time to scientific dissidents in proportions far exceeding their representation in the scientific community. This was not unique to broadcast; similar false balance problems appeared in print coverage of climate change, vaccine safety, and evolution. The normative framework of "presenting both sides" is ill-suited to questions where the evidence strongly favors one position.Question 14
The "muckraking" tradition in American journalism refers to:
A) Investigative journalism of the Progressive Era (c. 1890-1920) that exposed corporate and governmental abuses for a mass audience B) Tabloid journalism that uses sensational tactics to expose celebrity scandals C) Investigative journalism exclusively focused on municipal corruption D) The practice of using anonymous sources to expose wrongdoing E) European-style political journalism with explicit advocacy for working-class interests
Reveal Answer
**Correct answer: A) Investigative journalism of the Progressive Era (c. 1890-1920) that exposed corporate and governmental abuses for a mass audience** Muckraking — the term coined by Theodore Roosevelt, who used it dismissively but which journalists later adopted proudly — describes the Progressive Era tradition of documentary investigative journalism targeting the abuses of industrial capitalism and political corruption. Key figures include Ida Tarbell (Standard Oil), Lincoln Steffens (municipal corruption), and Upton Sinclair (meatpacking). The tradition is characterized by patient research, use of documentary evidence, mass-audience publication, and explicit reform purpose — all features that define the investigative journalism tradition to the present.Question 15
Which of the following best describes the dominant trend in local news coverage in the United States since 2000?
A) Rapid growth driven by digital-native local news startups B) Stable coverage as national chains have invested to replace closing independent papers C) Significant decline as hundreds of local papers closed and surviving chains cut reporting staff D) Decline in print but near-complete replacement by local television news E) Decline primarily in rural areas with relative stability in suburban markets
Reveal Answer
**Correct answer: C) Significant decline as hundreds of local papers closed and surviving chains cut reporting staff** Since 2000 (and accelerating after 2008), over 2,500 local newspapers have closed in the United States, and surviving papers — increasingly owned by hedge funds and private equity chains — have implemented systematic cuts in reporting staff. The result is the "local news desert" phenomenon, documented by the Hussman School of Journalism, where hundreds of counties lack any regular accountability journalism covering local government, courts, or public institutions. This has been empirically associated with lower voter turnout, higher municipal borrowing costs (reflecting reduced corruption oversight), and reduced civic engagement.Section II: True/False (Questions 16–20)
Question 16
True or False: The Watergate investigation that brought down President Nixon was primarily the result of a single anonymous source known as "Deep Throat," without whom the story would not have been published.
Reveal Answer
**FALSE (with significant qualification)** Deep Throat (later revealed to be FBI Associate Director Mark Felt) was a crucial source for guiding Woodward and Bernstein's investigation and corroborating leads. However, the investigation relied on extensive documentary research, multiple additional sources, and a substantial body of reporting independent of Deep Throat's guidance. Moreover, the institutional support of the Washington Post — including Katharine Graham, Ben Bradlee, and the paper's legal team — was as important as any single source. Reducing the Watergate investigation to a single source understates the investigative process's complexity and obscures the institutional conditions that made it possible.Question 17
True or False: The decline in overall U.S. media trust documented by Gallup since 1976 is primarily a result of objectively lower quality journalism rather than of political attacks on media credibility.
Reveal Answer
**FALSE** The causes of media trust decline are multiple and include both legitimate factors (documented institutional failures, ideological homogeneity in elite newsrooms, coverage quality problems) and political/strategic factors (the deliberate cultivation of media distrust as a political strategy, most explicitly by political figures who benefited from delegitimizing mainstream media). Research by Kathleen Hall Jamieson and others has documented how explicit campaigns to position mainstream media as partisan enemies successfully shifted public perceptions, with the partisan divergence in trust after 2016 being particularly dramatic. Attributing the decline purely to journalism quality failures underestimates the role of strategic trust-destruction.Question 18
True or False: The "objectivity norm" in American journalism was primarily a philosophical commitment to metaphysical neutrality about truth claims.
Reveal Answer
**FALSE** As journalism historian Michael Schudson and others have argued, the objectivity norm was primarily a professional strategy — a way of claiming authority, differentiating professional journalism from partisan advocacy, and responding to the complexity of modern governance. It was also a defensive posture in an environment of growing public skepticism of institutions. As a philosophical matter, sophisticated practitioners understood that absolute objectivity was impossible; the norm represented a commitment to systematic verification, diverse sourcing, and separation of fact from opinion, not a metaphysical claim about transcending perspective. Understanding its strategic and sociological origins helps explain both its genuine epistemic value and its characteristic failures.Question 19
True or False: The FCC's Fairness Doctrine applied to cable television networks as well as broadcast television.
Reveal Answer
**FALSE** The Fairness Doctrine applied only to broadcast licensees — stations that use public airwaves under government license. Cable television does not use public spectrum; cable companies operate through franchise agreements and have First Amendment protections more analogous to print media than to broadcast. The Supreme Court upheld the Fairness Doctrine's constitutionality specifically on the scarcity rationale (Red Lion, 1969) which applies only to broadcast. This is why the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine opened space primarily for partisan radio — not for cable news, which was never subject to the Doctrine.Question 20
True or False: Research consistently shows that communities that lose their local newspaper experience higher voter turnout in local elections, as citizens seek information from alternative sources.
Reveal Answer
**FALSE** Research on the effects of local newspaper closure (including studies by Snyder and Strömberg, 2010, and Rubado and Jennings, 2020) consistently finds that communities that lose their local newspaper experience *lower* voter turnout in local elections, not higher. The newspaper served as an information infrastructure that motivated civic participation; in its absence, residents are less aware of local races, local candidates, and local government actions. This finding is one of the strongest pieces of evidence for the functional democratic value of local journalism — and for the severity of the local news desert problem.Section III: Short Answer (Questions 21–25)
Question 21
Explain the "scarcity rationale" that justified the Fairness Doctrine constitutionally, and explain why this rationale could not be used to impose content requirements on print media or the internet.
Reveal Answer
**Model Answer** The scarcity rationale holds that broadcast frequencies are physically limited in number — only a finite number of radio and television stations can operate in a given geographic area before signal interference makes communication impossible. Because the supply of broadcast licenses is scarce, the government grants them to specific operators who thereby gain enormous economic and communicative advantages over those who do not have access to the spectrum. In exchange for this exclusive access to a public resource, the Supreme Court (Red Lion Broadcasting, 1969) held that Congress and the FCC could impose content requirements to ensure the licensed spectrum serves the public interest — including requirements to present diverse viewpoints. This rationale does not extend to print media because there is no physical limit on the number of newspapers, magazines, or pamphlets that can be published — anyone can in principle publish in print. The First Amendment protects print media from virtually all content-based government regulation. Similarly, the internet is not spectrum-based and has near-infinite capacity; the scarcity rationale is inapplicable. This is why proposals to extend Fairness Doctrine logic to social media face severe constitutional obstacles — the constitutional foundation for such regulation simply does not exist in the current legal framework.Question 22
What is "agenda setting" in media studies, and how does it differ from "framing"? Provide a concrete example of each.
Reveal Answer
**Model Answer** Agenda setting, theorized by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw (1972), refers to the media's influence on *what issues* the public considers important, as opposed to what they think about those issues. The famous formulation: "The media may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling them what to think *about*." If every major news outlet covers immigration for three consecutive weeks and crime coverage falls, public concern about immigration rises and concern about crime falls — not because immigration became more severe but because it received media attention. Example of agenda setting: Extensive television coverage of shark attacks in the summer of 2001 drove public concern about shark attacks to record levels, despite the actual rate being historically normal. The media's choice of what to cover shaped public risk perceptions. Framing refers to how a selected story is presented — which aspects are emphasized, what causal explanations are invoked, what solutions are implied. The same event can be framed very differently (immigration as "economic opportunity" vs. immigration as "security threat") shaping interpretation rather than determining whether the issue is on the agenda. Example of framing: Coverage of drug addiction can be framed as a criminal justice issue (emphasizing punishment, personal responsibility, law enforcement) or a public health issue (emphasizing treatment, systemic factors, medical intervention). The choice of frame systematically influences the policy solutions audiences find appropriate.Question 23
The Watergate investigation required institutional conditions — editorial independence, legal resources, sustained time — that are under severe pressure in contemporary journalism. Identify two specific current journalism funding models that might restore one or more of these conditions, and assess each model's limitations.
Reveal Answer
**Model Answer** Two models: 1. **Nonprofit journalism funded by philanthropic foundations**: Organizations like ProPublica (founded 2008) and The Texas Tribune are funded primarily through foundation grants and individual donors rather than advertising or subscriptions. This model can restore the editorial independence and long-term investment conditions that Watergate required: without advertiser dependencies, editors can support investigations that might alienate commercial sponsors; grant funding can support multi-year investigations without quarterly revenue pressure. Limitations: Philanthropy is not democratically accountable — funders' priorities shape coverage whether or not there is explicit editorial interference; foundation funding concentrates in coastal urban markets, leaving other communities underserved; dependence on large grants creates vulnerability to major funder withdrawal; the market for philanthropic support for journalism is competitive and not reliably growing fast enough to compensate for advertising revenue loss. 2. **Reader-supported subscription models** (e.g., Substack, The Guardian's membership model): By making revenue directly dependent on reader satisfaction rather than advertiser satisfaction, these models restore a form of editorial independence from commercial sector pressures. Limitations: Reader-supported models tend to favor politically engaged, higher-income audiences who are willing and able to pay for journalism, making it difficult to serve the full demographic community; the aggregated revenue available through subscriptions is substantially less than peak advertising revenue; individual investigative projects that readers may not find immediately interesting are hard to sustain in a model where readers can cancel subscriptions if specific content displeases them.Question 24
Explain why the 24-hour news cycle creates structural pressures toward reporting before full verification, using a specific logic that flows from the economics of continuous news production.
Reveal Answer
**Model Answer** The 24-hour news cycle creates a structural first-mover advantage problem: in continuous news, the economic value of a story is partly determined by who reports it first. A story that breaks on one network immediately becomes a competitive imperative for all others — to wait for verification is to allow competitors to set the narrative, capture the audience, and capture the advertising revenue associated with breaking news traffic. This first-mover dynamic creates rational economic incentives to publish preliminary information quickly rather than waiting for full verification. Compounding this, the continuous format creates the paradox of constant novelty demand: to maintain viewership across 24 hours when genuinely significant developments occur slowly, producers must generate content that appears fresh. This means publishing and broadcasting speculative interpretations, analysis-without-sufficient-evidence, and "developing story" frames that present incomplete information as news. The commercial structure of 24-hour news thus systematically rewards speed over accuracy, creating predictable failure modes including premature attribution (e.g., the Boston Marathon bombing misidentification of suspects), false reports of events that did not occur, and over-confident interpretations of developing situations.Question 25
What is a "local news desert," how is it created, and what are its documented consequences for democratic governance?