Journ 201 Final Exam

Journalism and news-ness

• Journalism is the activity of gathering, assessing, creating, and presenting news and information.

• "News-ness" refers to the specific qualities that make an event "news," such as timeliness, proximity, prominence, impact, and conflict.

Define Objectivity and the problem of "Bothsidesism" (False Balance).

• Objectivity is the practice of reporting facts without bias or personal opinion.

• Bothsidesism is a critique of objectivity where journalists present two sides of an issue as equally valid, even when one side is factually incorrect or lacks evidence, creating a "false balance."

Define Interpretive, Literary (Narrative), and Advocacy Journalism.

• Interpretive: Goes beyond "who, what, when, where" to explain the why and provide context.

• Literary (Narrative): Uses storytelling techniques (character development, scene-setting) usually found in fiction to report on real-life events.

• Advocacy: Expresses a position to support a social cause while maintaining journalistic tenets like verification.

Define News Deserts, Ghost Newspapers, and News Avoidance.

• News Deserts: Geographic communities with little to no access to local news.

• Ghost Newspapers: Publications that still exist but have been stripped of their reporting staff, often providing only generic or recycled content.

• News Avoidance: The intentional or unintentional act of consumers steering clear of news content.

Define Citizen Journalism and OSINT.

• Citizen Journalism: Ordinary people using social media to report news.

• OSINT (Open-source investigations): Collecting data from open, public sources (satellite, social media) to verify events.

What is the difference between Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary sources?

• Primary: Original, first-hand evidence (interviews, raw data, original documents).

• Secondary: Analysis or interpretation of primary sources (scholarly books, documentaries).

• Tertiary: Indexes or summaries of primary/secondary sources (encyclopedias, textbooks).

What is the major difference between Journalism and Strategic Communication?

• Journalism aims to inform the public and act as a watchdog

• Strategic Communication (PR/Advertising) aims to persuade an audience or manage the reputation of a specific brand/organization.

Explain the TNSA Analytic Framework.

A framework used to analyze communication campaigns:

1. Target Audience

2. Need (What is the goal?)

3. Strategy (How will we reach them?)

4. Action (The implementation/metrics).

Describe the ELM Model (Elaboration Likelihood Model).

A theory of persuasion featuring two routes:

• Central Route: High-effort processing; focuses on facts, logic, and arguments.

• Peripheral Route: Low-effort processing; focuses on surface cues like celebrity endorsements, music, or attractive visuals.

Define Thin vs. Thick Persuasive AI.

• Thin AI: Simple automation (e.g., automated email subject lines).

• Thick AI: Highly personalized, data-driven AI that can simulate human interaction or create deepfakes to manipulate psychological triggers.

What is the difference between First-Party and Third-Party Cookies?

• First-Party: Stored by the website you are visiting directly (remembers your login/cart).

• Third-Party: Placed by an outside domain (advertisers) to track your behavior across different websites to build a profile.

Front: What is Agenda Setting vs. Framing?

• Agenda Setting: The media doesn't tell us what to think, but what to think about (importance of topics).

• Framing: The media suggests how to think about an issue by highlighting certain aspects and ignoring others.

Define Cultivation Theory.

Suggests that long-term exposure to media (especially TV) shapes a person’s perception of reality, often leading them to believe the real world is more dangerous than it is ("Mean World Syndrome").

What is the Hostile Media Phenomenon?

The tendency for people with strong biases on an issue to perceive neutral media coverage as biased against their own side.

Define Algorithmic Bias vs. Automation Bias.

• Algorithmic: When human prejudices are encoded into computer code, leading to unfair outcomes.

• Automation: The human tendency to favor suggestions from automated systems, even when they contradict human reasoning.

Explain the Spiral of Silence.

People are less likely to express their opinions if they feel they are in the minority, due to fear of isolation or social reprisal.

What is the Knowledge Gap Theory?

As more information enters a social system, segments of the population with higher socioeconomic status tend to acquire this information faster than lower-status segments, increasing the gap in knowledge between them.

Define Media Literacy.

The ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act using all forms of communication. It involves understanding the intent and bias behind media messages.

What is the "Politics of Good Enough" in rural broadband policy?

The practice of providing rural areas with internet speeds that are barely functional for modern needs, rather than investing in high-speed infrastructure comparable to urban centers.

Define Ideological vs. Affective Polarization.

• Ideological: Disagreement based on policy and political positions.

• Affective: Mutual dislike, distrust, and hostility between groups (e.g., Republicans and Democrats) regardless of policy.

What are the two basic models of Social Media Structure?

• Broadcast Model: One-to-many (like Twitter/X or public profiles).

• Network/Peer Model: Many-to-many/Symmetrical (like early Facebook or private messaging groups).

Define Data Privacy and Data Disaffection.

• Privacy involves how government, companies, and individuals handle data.

• Disaffection is the feeling of hopelessness/fatigue regarding lack of data control.

What are the five types of Media Convergence?

• Organic: Multimedia multitasking by the audience.

• Technological: Different kinds of technology merge.

• Economic: Horizontal and vertical integration (Megacorps).

• Cultural: Stories flow across platforms; audiences "talk back."

• Global: Geographically distant cultures influence one another.

Define Fact-checking, Investigative, Solution, and Data Journalism.

• Fact-checking: Investigating public claims aggressively (the "new paradigm").

• Investigative: Deeply researching a single topic of interest (e.g., corruption).

• Solution: Focuses on responses to social issues rather than just the problems.

• Data (Computational): Uses statistics, polls, and research for factual reporting.

Define Persuasion vs. Manipulation.

• Persuasion is a relational capacity to influence decisions through logic or cues.

• Manipulation involves hidden intent or deceptive tactics where the audience's interests are disregarded.

Define Sports Communication and Social Impact Storytelling.

• Sports Comm: Strategic messaging within the sports industry.

• Social Impact Storytelling: Using narrative to drive awareness or support for social causes/values.

Define Magic Bullet Theory and Two-step Flow Theory.

• Magic Bullet: Media "infuses" messages into people who cannot resist them (Direct Effects).

• Two-step Flow: Media flows to opinion leaders, who then explain/filter it for others.

Define Echo Chamber

• Echo Chamber: Encountering only information that reinforces your beliefs

Government Regulation vs. Media Self-regulation.

• Government (e.g., CIPA, Australian ban)

• Self-regulation (industry-set codes of ethics and standards).

Define Ideological vs. Affective Polarization.

• Ideological is disagreement on policy/facts.

• Affective is mutual dislike and hostility between groups (feeling-based).

How is AI used in Health and Marketing?

• In Marketing, AI handles data sharing and personalized ads.

• In Health, AI is used for information dissemination (cognitive effects) and patient monitoring.