COMM 305 Midterm Exam Study Guide
The exam will be administered on Blackboard: Due date is by Monday
Feb. 18
The exam will be divided into four sections:
1. Matching (list of terms to match with a list of definitions)
2. Short Answer
3. Multiple Choice
4. Short Essay
Here is the pool of terms, concepts, theories, names of people from which I will
select questions for the exam. Make sure you look both in the readings and ppt
presentations for answers. The point of this exam is not to make you memorize new
terms, dates, and names. I would like you to show an informed understanding of the
functions and responsibilities the mass media (those sequences we’ve covered so faruntil the music industry and radio) and how they affect the notion of democratic
society.
KEY TERMS AND CONCEPTS
Socratic method
Gannett
Life
Oral Communication
Convergence
Levine’s approach to culture
Analysis
Jeff Bezos
Book clubs
William Hearst
Inverted Pyramid
Yellow Press
Seditious libel
Demassification
Consolidation
E-zines
Gutenberg
Desktop publishing
Payola
Format Radio
FCC
Pacifica Foundation
Henry Luce
Bertelsmann
Gloria Steinem
SMCR model
Selective exposure
postmodernism
Gatekeeper
Manuscript culture
Acta Diurna
Interpretive journalism
Nellie Bly
Muckraking journalism
Saturday Evening Post
Joseph Pulitzer
Penny Press
Photojournalism
Demographic editions
Adolph Ochs
Cover Music
Sirius
RCA
ClearChannel
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LECTURES, READINGS, VIDEO:
1) Explain how culture, mass communication, and mass media are related and how
they affect each other.
2) Is there any value in looking at culture using the ‘skyscraper’ metaphor? Why or
why not?
3) What kind of cultural and social changes did each of the communications eras
bring about?
4) Why is it important to analyze the mass media within a cultural context?
5) What is the difference between the linear and alternative model of
communication?
6) Why is the map approach to culture better and more conclusive than the vertical
approach? Define the steps of the critical process Campbell is suggesting in
applying the map approach.
7) Describe some of the factors that led to an increased popularity of books and
bookstores in the U.S. between 1880 and 1920?
8) How did the elite react to the first paperback books in late 19th century?
9) Discuss some of the concerns resulting from the increasing consolidation of
ownership in the book publishing industry.
10) Why did objective journalism develop, and what are its characteristics? Make sure
you remember the people who created this type of reporting and explain how that
has defined the journalism of today. Also, what kind of journalism/writing
followed objective journalism and why?
11) What is yellow journalism, and what kind of journalistic practices did it affect?
Explain the role of Pulitzer and Hearst in defining newspapers history.
12) Why has newspaper circulation declined over the years? How has the industry
been reacting in the digital era of communication?
13) Who started the trend of consolidation of ownership in newspapers’ history and
how is that affecting the industry today and the role of newspapering in
democratic society?
14) How was the social and cultural impact of magazines different from that of
newspapers in the history of the two industries?
15) What factors contributed to the rise and then decline of general-interest
magazines?
16) How did muckraking in magazine writing lead to the need for a general audience?
17) Describe some of the factors that triggered the move toward magazine
specialization?
18) Discuss how the term cultural minority changed from the 1960s to the 1980s and
1990s thanks to magazines.
19) If magazines through heavy corporate advertising identify readers as consumers
first and citizens second, what kind of impact this might have on democracy?
20) Why did cover music become so prominent in the development of rock and roll
and consequently the record industry in the 1950s?
21) What do we mean by the British invasion in U.S. music history and what impact
did it have on the recording industry?
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22) Why do many forms of alternative music become commercially successful?
23) Why did the government encourage monopoly of radio ownership and what
changes did the 1934 Communications Act bring?
Essay questions:
24) How does the Internet and satellite technology present alternative avenues for the
success of radio?
Why were some early philosophers like Plato and Socrates so attached to the oral
tradition of communication? Can you think of any examples from today’s mass
media to support your answer?
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