AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE &

TECHNOLOGY

Communication Arts Department

EXAM II

SPRING 2020

COM 225 – Mass Communication Essentials

Time: 80 Minutes Only

Student’s Name: Wael Salman

Student’s ID: 12190291

(6 pages including this one)

LISTED BELOW ARE DIFFERENT SORTS OF QUESTIONS. READ
EACH QUESTION VERY CAREFULLY AND THEN ANSWER. GOOD
LUCK!

I. GENERAL CONTENT: TRUE/FALSE QUESTIONS (One Point Each-Total of 60

Points)

1. __True____ Synergy describes a situation in which the whole is greater than the sum
of its parts.

2. ___True_____ The term re-purposing refers to the restructuring of old new media
industries as new media conglomerates.

3. _True__ The term peer-to-peer computing refers to joint ventures developed by two
media conglomerates.

4. _True___ Critics point out that the growth of media conglomerates increases risks for
investors.

5. ____False_ Audience segmentation rarely occurs in media industries that are not
supported by advertising.

6. __False___ Although digital convergence is a characteristic of production, it has little

impact on distribution and exhibition.

7. __False____ Once technology is brought into a communication situation it can no

longer be considered interpersonal communication.

8. ___True_ Mass communication would NOT have been possible WITHOUT the
invention of technologies such as the printing press, broadcast transmitters, and
Internet servers.

9. __True__ Their ability to exchange user-generated content is one of the main reasons
“social media” became the common name for this 21st century form of
communication.

10. __True__ Social media and mass communication are both mediated forms of
communication.

11. __False_ Industrial media production can be successfully accomplished by almost

anyone who has access to an Internet-capable computer and basic software skills.

12. _True__ Most of our media exposure is invisible to us – or at least goes unnoticed –
at a conscious level.

13. __TrueThe better your media literacy skills, the better equipped you are to deal with a
 deluge of media messages.

14. __False_Media literacy is only concerned with how messages are received and
perceived; media production is concerned with how they are prepared and sent.

15. __False_ The different technologies on which media are shaped do NOT affect
messages.

16. _False_ Media literacy emphasizes the importance of understanding tradition as a

way of understanding the media and thereby promotes many of the most popular
media myths .
17. _False__ Researchers of mass media have consistently proven that video games
directly cause violent crime.

18. _True__ In the U.S., mass media have traditionally served as a watchdog on behalf of
the people against governmental misdeeds.

19. _True__ Information comes in many forms besides news; even advertising offers
information that helps consumers make intelligent buying decisions.

20. __True__ Media literacy enables us to more effectively use the mass media for our
own advantage and avoid being conned by them.

21. __True_ Mass media have become so integrated into our lives that media
multitasking is common.

22. _True__ Before mass media, people created their own diversion, entertainment and
amusement.

23. _False_ Mass media first came into existence in the late-1800s.

24. _False__ Regrettably, the mass media’s ability to unify and bind society only applies
to negative situations and times of pain, sorrow, and tragedy.

25. _True___ Over time, mass media contribute to the evolution of society’s view of
what is considered acceptable and what is unacceptable behavior .

26. _False__ The general trend among the mass media today is to seek the largest
possible mass audience.

27. __False__ Mass communication is any technology-enabled process that permits long-
distance messaging.

28. __True___ The growing quantity of printed materials fueled literacy and, slowly, a
standardization in written languages.
29. _True__ Harold Lasswell devised the narrative communication model.

30. __True__ Gatekeepers are media people who make judgments about the content of
messages.

31. __True___ The Federal Communication Commission is an example of a regulator.

32. __False___ A military censor who stops a combat story from being released is called
a gatekeeper.

33. __False___ Unlike “noise,” a filter does not impede mass communication.

34. _True___ One obstacle in regulating the Internet is that it is decentralized.

35. _True__ Mass media have become so integrated into our lives that media
multitasking is common.

36. __False__ Instant messaging and e-mail are two of the newest mass media to emerge
as a result of computer technology.

37. __False___ Technology makes it possible to draw clear distinctions between

interpersonal communication and mass communication.

38. __True___ People who use media, the industries that advertise in media and the
companies built around media have a symbiotic relationship.

39. __True___ Mass media research involves the use of systematic methods to
understand or solve problems regarding the mass media.

40. __False___ A sample is a subset of a population that is selected through systematic

methods in such a way that the answers from the subset can be considered
generalizable to the entire population.

41. __True_ A content analysis counts certain aspects of media products.

42. True__ George Creel headed the U.S. propaganda effort during World War One.

43. __True___ Carl Hovland’s American Soldier research is an example of a naturalistic

experiment.

44. _True__ People who are information-rich to begin with get richer faster than people
who are information-poor.

45. __False__ The term digital divide refers to the separation of new and old media.
46. __True___ The term knowledge gap refers to the differences that exist between print
and electronic media.

47. _True__ Media activist Robert McChesney has argued that a journalistic system that
focuses more on attracting the attention of audiences rather than trying to build an
informed society threatens the ability of citizens to participate in public affairs.

48. __False___ Cultural colonialism is a term that refers to how different parts of the
world specialize in doing what they do best.

49. _False____ An understanding of media research is interesting but certainly not

crucial to developing media literacy.

50. __False____ Education has little influence in determining whether or not a person
pays attention to news and public affairs.

51. __true____ Opinion leaders are important elements in the two-step-flow.

52. _True__ Although sociology has influenced mass communication research,

anthropology has not.

53. __False___ Reliability refers to the extent to which a study accurately describes the
circumstances that exist in the real world.

54. __True__ It is usually impossible for a media literate person to recognize how a
particular example of media research fits into a particular research tradition.

55. __False___ The two-step-flow model indicates that media influence people in ways
consistent with the magic-bullet concept.

56. __True___ Both quantitative and qualitative research are empirical.

57. _True__ Scholars who study media effects tend to have little interest in television
programs that contain acts of violence.

58. __False____ Conceptual research has no influence on the types of questions asked by
empirical researchers.

59. __False___ Audience erosion is a term that refers to a decrease in the percentage of
the population using a particular mass medium or a specific media outlet.

60. _True____ When a media outlet is not advertiser-supported, it must target segments
of the population that are large enough or wealthy enough to cover the costs of the
media product.
II. GENERAL CONTENT:ESSAY QUESTIONS (10 Points Each-Total of 40 Points)

1. The scientific evaluation of any problem must follow a sequence of steps to increase
the chances of producing relevant data.

a) List and explain briefly each of these steps.

b) Explain and discuss how a media research we encounter is worth serious
attention?

Answer:a) 1- Selection of the topic: That the researcher searches the title
2- Review of existing research &theory : to have a background information
and to prove wring theories
3- Statement or hypothesis : that the researcher have a question to research
based on to prove ot
4- Determination of Appropriate Methodology and research design; that the
researcher will use the method and design to help him in the research
5- Data collection: That the researcher will go and start his experiment on
the ground and collect information.
6- analysis and Interpretation of data: is that he will analyze the collected
data to get a result
7- presentation of the result.
8-replication of the study
b) It is worth serious attention that is because we should consider the nature of
the sample, the size of the sample and how it is collected, the design and reliability of the study.
2. American social observers worried that the invasion of European immigrants in the
early 20th century could not be assimilated into societies. Here was the idea of
relying on media to play their roles in creating what? And How? List, explain,
analyze and discuss.

Answer: First, Media’s role in keeping a sense if American community alive.

Second,Media’s role in encouraging bad behavior in children.

3. Since 1940, there has been new focus on how media affects one person differently
than another. In the 1940s, sociologists at Columbia University began to explore
whether social interactions were a major factor influencing the way people interpret
media messages differently. For example, does talking about a movie with friends
afterward affect your opinion of what you’ve just seen?

Based on your understanding to what was discussed in the class and in your textbook,
explain, analyze, and discuss the findings of some major research about media effects.

Answer: In the 1940s researchers argue that media is done to persuade people under certain
conditions and specific people. For example The American Soldiers study in 1949.In which
4,200 U.S. soldiers were shown films explaining America’s reasons for entering World War
II.Study concluded that exposure to media content had little effect on changing already held
opinions

4. There have been some critical perspectives regarding blurring media boundaries. What
are the positive and negative views of media boundaries? Why? Why not? Explain,
analyze and discuss.

Answer: Positive views: The splintering of audience and increasing corporate size via
conglomeration in not necessarily a problem/ Fragmentation allows for the recognition of
audience needs that hadn’t before been recognized/
Negative views: Audience segmentation emphasis people’s differences over their
similarities. / media globalization and conglomerates take the problems that and audience
bring and spread them internationally