Chapter 8: Public Opinion and the Media in Texas (GOVT 2306)

______________ provides a specific context and background through which audiences engage with a particular topic or story.

Priming

The earliest form of public opinion polling (as we know it today) consisted of newspapers setting up outside polling places and interviewing voters after they cast their ballots. These polls are called

straw polls.

Pandora, Spotify, and Netflix are examples of

streaming services.

True or false: Connecting with the public directly is the most important advantage that the Internet offers political campaigns.

True

Which of the following best characterizes a "public"?

its communicative nature

What type of survey reinterviews people to determine changes in opinion over time?

panel survey

One big advantage of the use of digital media for political campaigns is that it

saves money.

What is the literal meaning of "democracy"?

rule by the people

Today, we use "press" and "media" somewhat interchangeably. At the founding of the nation,

these two words had more nuanced meanings.

What are the three broad functions the media serve within their communities?

acting as linkage institutions

shaping perception

providing information

The systematic selection of particular news that presents a distorted view of reality is called _____ bias.

selection

When the local newspaper and local television station repetitively cover a story about a new stadium opening, that repetition is an example of

priming.

Political scientist Thomas Patterson argues that the ____________ that citizens can access affects their interest in the news.

quality of information

Mass media filter down all of what is happening in a given community into a specific set of news that is then transmitted to an audience. This is called

gatekeeping.

In the example of the news coverage of Texas's Child Protective Services and its severe problems, the issue finally received attention only after it was covered in the media. This is an example of

agenda setting.

What is the most widely circulated newspaper in Texas today?

Houston Chronicle

What was the location of the earliest radio stations in Texas?

college campuses

Citizen journalism is especially problematic on _____________, as described in the text, because people generally ignore the site's guidelines about attribution.

YouTube

Texas gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis received a big boost in popularity after her senatorial filibuster speech went viral on

Twitter.

At the time of the founding of the nation, journalists were called

"newsmongers."

Which of the following would be classified as spending on traditional media for a political campaign?

television ads

direct mail

billboards

Citizens consider information they receive directly from the media in light of _____________, exacerbating media bias.

their own ideological biases.

How did the 2014 decision in Verizon v. FCC affect net neutrality?

It effectively ended it.

True or false: Only the federal government, not the states, may pass laws to regulate the Internet.

False

In Texas, concentration in media has resulted in

a selection bias that has a national slant.

less local news.

The 2016 simulcast of presidential debates in Spanish is an example of how

consumers drive media content.

When candidates and campaigns use social media sites to share news with the public, they are better able to control

what is covered.

who sees the news.

how a story is covered.

Research has shown that newspapers from counties near the U.S.-Mexico border tend to have an overall negative slant toward immigrants. This "slant" is an example of

framing.

In terms of medium, which of the following are categorizations we use?

print

electronic

In which of the following ways have social media proven to be disruptive to the traditional forms of media?

They have made people part of the news as it happens.

They allow citizens to shape the news agenda.

They expose many to news outside of mainstream sources.

In 2015, the FCC reclassified broadband Internet transmission as a ____________, but the protections offered by that decision ended in December 2017.

telecommunications service

What does the term "concentration" mean when discussing media in the U.S.?

A few conglomerates have emerged as the major providers of information.

The collection, dissemination, and analysis of news and information by the general public, especially by means of the Internet, is called _____________ journalism.

citizen

What 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision ruled that corporations and unions have a First Amendment right to spend unlimited funds on campaign advertisements, as long as the ads were not formally "coordinated" with any candidate?

Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission

Which of the following contribute to media selection bias?

personnel

budgetary constraints

time

What are the top three most popular social media sites in the U.S.?

YouTube

Facebook

Twitter

The 1996 Telecommunications Act did what?

It relaxed the limit on how many radio and TV stations one company could own.

Which of the following is a problematic aspect of citizen journalism?

It may not be based upon facts.

The actual or perceived failure of the media to report news objectively is called

media bias.

Approximately what portion of American adults use at least one form of social media to share information?

two-thirds

Which of the following contributed to changes in polling in the 1970s?

The relative complexity of political issues in the U.S. increased.

Politicians began taking polling more seriously.

_______________ are perhaps the greatest threat to traditional media's longevity.

Streaming services

What is a potential pitfall for candidates who use digital campaigning?

Any problematic statement or action, if digitally recorded, can come back to haunt them.

What type of survey interviews a scientifically determined sampling of people within a population?

probability sample survey

Why is Texas a state in which digital media can be especially cost-saving for statewide campaigns?

It's very large and costly to travel to all areas in person.

The act of writing or presenting news stories that reflect a significantly distorted view of reality, favoring one party over another in the case of political parties, is called _____________ bias.

presentation