Chapter 02 Multiple Choice Self-Quiz

. A news story is said to possess timeliness if it

stresses events that have occurred in the last month.

stresses events that occurred today or yesterday.

has been written within the last six hours.

has been read or heard within the last six hours.

. In regard to news values, prominence refers to

the extent to which the story will affect a number of people.

whether the story has one central, or prominent, character.

how well known the people involved in the story are.

the location of the story on the newspaper page or in the news broadcast.

. A news story possesses singularity if it

takes the point of view of just one person involved in the events.

is reported and written by a single individual.

describes events that are completely unique in human history.

reports on unusual events that deviate from the commonplace.

. Journalists recognize two types of news stories: hard and soft. In this regard,

"hard news" is about complicated topics, like science and economics, and "soft news" is about things like entertainment and fashion.

"hard news" stories have long, complicated sentences, and "soft news" stories have short, simple sentences.

"hard news" is about serious topics and recent events, and "soft news" refers to human interest stories.

"hard news" stories are always 2,000 words or more, and "soft news" stories never exceed 500 words.

. People often complain about the amount of bad news in newspapers and news broadcasts. Systematic studies have shown that

people understate the amount of crime news in the media.

people understate the amount of upbeat news in the media.

people exaggerate the amount of crime news in the media.

people exaggerate the amount of upbeat news in the media.

. Public or civil journalism is a movement that says

journalists should do what they can to support broad involvement in public affairs.

the best journalism is that which focuses exclusively on public affairs and ignores such things as sports and entertainment.

journalists should reveal every step they take in the reporting process to regain public confidence.

journalists should provide only the news the public wants to read or hear.

. Bias is most likely to appear in a news story when

the reporter relies on multiple sources and gives abundant time or space to all sides of a controversy.

the reporter's story is reviewed by a large number of editors and supervisors.

the reporter is writing about a topic that she or he already knows a lot about.

the reporter is writing about people she or he has known for some time.

the reporter relies on one source or gives disproportionate time to space to one side of a controversy.

. When it comes to writing about rape cases, the practice of most news organizations is to refuse to

identify the suspected rapist.

identify the rape victim.

identify the rape victim and the suspected rapist.

publish any information about the crime.

. Which of the following is NOT among the kinds of details news organizations avoid including in their stories?

trade names

names of criminal suspects

profanity

grisly or gruesome photographs

. Which of the following is NOT one of the factors that leads to inaccuracies in news reports?

carelessness and laziness

lack of understanding of the topic

use of generalities instead of specifics

having editors check and question a reporter's work

. Reports that New Orleans experienced widespread looting, rapes and murders in the wake of Hurricane Katrina are examples of

offensive details.

civic journalism.

prominence.

rumors.

. Journalists avoid using trade names in news stories because

editors often consider that to be free advertising for the product.

federal law prohibits the use of trade names in news stories.

companies are likely to sue over the unauthorized use of trade names.

trade names diminish the credibility of the story.

. One of the goals of public journalism is to

make horse-race coverage of politics more interesting.

publish information desired by political elites rather than the general public.

encourage people to participate in democracy.

emphasize the voices on the extremes of the political spectrum and not the center.

. The concept of proximity suggests that a news organization is likely to carry a story about a murder, if that crime

involved a well-known person.

was committed locally.

occurred within the last 24 hours.

was unusually gruesome.

. The New York Times traditionally emphasizes politics, business and foreign news, while the New York Post emphasizes crime, sex and sports. This difference illustrates

the tendency toward sensationalism among "elite" news organizations.

how some news organizations place more emphasis on timeliness than others.

how the nature of "news" varies from one medium to another.

the appeal of public or civic journalism in publications with mass audiences.

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