Midterm+Questions

THE QUESTIONS ON THIS PAGE WERE POSTED BY STUDENTS AND BY THE INSTRUCTORS. **A GOOD WAY TO STUDY WOULD BE TO REVIEW THESE QUESTIONS, RESEARCH THE ANSWERS AND ADD YOUR ANSWERS TO THIS PAGE.**


 * Be sure you understand the steps to evaluating the credibility of a news story. Refresh your memory with this handout:**

The NewsTrust site also has some very helpful articles on evaluating information: [|**Think Like a Journalist**] [|**Crap Detection 101**] [|**NewsTrust Review Questions**]

A:Coffee Shops -Danielle Davis
 * Q: In the 1700's, where was the main place that expanded the news?**

- A regime of control over what content emerges from print and broadcast media to audiences. Form of a filter. -Journalists, editors, and owners. -Gatekeeping is the process in which publications and such are filtered while censorship is the direct supression of speech which might be considered controversial. Gatewatching is the process of noting, evaluating and distributing the work of many gatekeepers.
 * Q: What is gatekeeping in journalism? Who is a gatekeeper in journalism? What is the difference between gatekeeping, gatewatching and censorship?**

Hard news is that would commonly be found on CNN, Fox and other large news programs. Whereas, soft news is usually more opinIon pieces. - Hard new generally refers to up-to-the-minute news and events that are reported immediately, while soft news is background information or human-interest stories. -Politics and war are considered hard news and focus mostly on what happened, who was involved, and very detail oriented. Soft news is considered more entertainment news, like how-to articles, or articles about exercise tips.
 * Q: What is the difference between hard and soft news?**

A: Past journalism allowed viewers to create a personal relationship with the anchor. Known as "appointment tv", news was broadcast at one set time usually 6pm. It was very straight-forward, giving only the facts and important details of the story. Current media has transitioned to become more entertainment based and interesting. The news is delivered throught many different outlets such as twitter and blogging, instead of limited sources i.e television and print.
 * Q: What are the elements of past journalism and how are they different from now?**

Answer: 33% //(This is a rough estimate)//
 * Q: What percent of an audience doesn't pay attention to news?**

Answer: Radio & T.V. Radio & T.V. are considered push media because the news is delivered to you. There is no need to go search for the news- it is delivered at the push of a button. It is constantly being pushed towards you, even if you did not desire to view the news.
 * Q: What media is considered push media?**

Answer: Newspaper & Magazines Newspapers & Magazines are considered pull media because you have to go out and find the media, you have to physically pick up (or purchase) the publication and search through the editorials/advertisements to find the news. You must pull it towards you, it is not delivered.
 * Q: What media is considered pull media?**

Answer: An opinion based news article. An editorial is an article with very strong opinions. It's not necessary to source every fact but the writer must maintain credibility and present verified facts in a compelling way.
 * Q: What is an editorial?**


 * Q: What does polarization mean? What is group polarization and what causes it? Why are some people concerned about online journalism creating more polarization? How might journalism students reduce polarization in the classroom?**

Answer: -A sharp division of a population or group into opposing factions. -Group polarization is the tendency of groups of people with similar opinions to strengthen those opinions after communicating with each other. It results from a lack of contrary opinions and facts that would prevent people from strengthening their opinion. -Online journalism allows people to choose what types of stories they are exposed to, thus limiting the potentially contrary information that would otherwise mediate their opinions. -Journalism students can avoid polarization in the classroom by putting forward contrary facts to the issues being discussed.

A: Walter Lippmann was known for his advocacy of objective journalism and for creating a professional class of expert journalists. Lippmann thought most people didn't have the time or interest to participate in politics or governance. John Dewey wanted to make journalism more democratic, or closer to the public. Dewey argued that shifting responsibility to experts would diminish democracy and demean the public that is supposed to be 'self-governing.' Their arguments are significant because they represent two fundamentally different ways of conceptualizing the role of journalism in a democracy.
 * Q: Who were Lippmann and Dewey and what was their argument about journalism? Why is it significant?**

A: Credibility is the trustworthiness of a source. It must be considered when reviewing any news source for accuracy.
 * Q. What is credibility?**

A: Identify the type of source/evaluate the credibility of the author/ determine what facts are presented in the story as evidence/evaluate the claims made in the story/determine whether the story is complete/determine what conclusions the author makes in the story. -Cecilia Rollins
 * Q: How do you evaluate the credibility of online information? How do you know if a news story is credible? How do you tell if a story is truthful or untruthful?**


 * Q: In your opinion, which role of journalism (the gatekeeper the watchdog, or the guard dog) is most applicable today?**

A: Most consumers of news assume everything they hear to be true or rely on a single source. A reader should do background checks on the news they hear. They can do this by reading into different sources, looking up information about the journalist to see if they are reporting out of self interest, or finding out whether or not the organizations sourced are pushing an agenda. This is especially important today because there are numerous amounts of media outlets. Anybody can post whatever they want on the internet without a responsibility to be truthful. Opinions are thrown out everywhere, a reader must verify facts.
 * Q. The 8th rule in the Jackson and Jamieson reading is to 'cross check everything.' Why is this important today?**


 * Q. The 6th rule in Jackson and Jamieson is "know who's talking." Why is this important today?**

A: They are drawing a line between communication and journalism. Everyone communicates the news, but not everyone is a journalist because not everyone sources the facts they cite when retelling news.
 * Q: Kovach and Rosenstiel, in the reading on independence, state: "Everyone can be a journalist, but not everyone is." What do they mean by this?**

-Something that they can cite. If they can report on something and also include facts that are able to be backed up then they consider that to be truth. If a journalist cannot cite where they get their information from, they consider the information to be made up.
 * Q: How do journalists define truth? What is significant about truth to journalists?**


 * Q: What role do you think journalists should have in society?**

-Everything is considered news now, and anyone can post news. This makes it harder to trust the things we read as well as trust different sources. We are bombarded by it everywhere we go, so we are expected to know everything that's going on around us, but many times we don't know which stories are credible and which sides of the story to believe.
 * Q: How is technology shifting the way news is being created and distributed to the public?**

A: Journalism can be considered a process and a product because it must go through many steps to develop something that can be released to the public. Information has to be gathered, sources need to be checked for credibility and reliability, which is the process. Then the information that is found has to be put into a form that can be easily understood, which is the product.
 * Q: How is journalism a process and how is it a product?**

-proximity, impact, prominence, timeliness, whether it affects you or someone you know, or if its interesting to you.
 * Q: What are the elements that make something newsworthy?**

Christakis describes the bucket brigade as a linear social network. One person is connected to another person and the information travels one by one with one mutual tie between each connection. The telephone tree is more of a branched social network because every person (except the first and the last) are connected to three other people, but have no mutual ties.
 * Q: What kind of social network did Christakis describe when he used the bucket brigade as an example? What about the telephone tree?**


 * Q: How do our social networks shape us an individuals? How do social networks affect the distribution of news? What role might online social networks play in the future of journalism?**

A: News is a more general term that applies to any new thing that has happened. Journalism, more specifically, is a report on something that happened that references credible sources and presents a more objective view of the topic.
 * Q. What is the difference between news and journalism?**

A: An area in social life where people can gather and freely discuss and identify social issues and influence social action.
 * Q: What is the public sphere?**

A: Objectivity refers to the neutrality, fairness and removal of subjectivity when writing an article. It is important to remove personal bias from your writing in order to maintain credibility. This is a contested term because some people believe that a journalist cannot be fully objective when writing an article. A solution to this problem would be to include both sides of an argument in your writing and then supporting your facts with credible sources. See Chapter 4 of Kovach's //Elements of Journalism// for an in-depth discussion on objectivity.
 * Q; What is objectivity? Why is it important? Why is it a contested term in journalism?**

A: Verification is the process of checking the credibility, reliability, and truthfulness of information. "Verification is what separates journalism fiom entertainment, propaganda, fiction, or art" (Kovach, Elements of Journalism). Verification is extremely important today because the amount of user-generated content/news available online is staggering and the public needs to know what information they can trust. Journalists practice verification by verifying their facts, checking their sources, and providing concrete evidence.
 * Q; What is verification? Why is it important to journalists? How do they practice it?**

A: An editor's job is to maintain credibility, critique a journalist's articles, enforce verification, and to encourage authors to produce content that is relevant and appropriate for their publication or news organization.
 * Q: What is the role of an editor at a news organization?**