Midterm Review

Question 1

What are the two categories for traditional media?

Answer 1

Commercial and State Run/Public/Alternative (SRPA)

Question 2

What are the two genres of media?

Answer 2

1) News and Information 2) Entertainment * Advertising is not a genre*

Question 3

What was invented in the 1440s?

Answer 3

Gutenberg Printing Press

Question 4

What was invented in the 1830s?

Answer 4

Telegraph

Question 5

What was significant about the invention of the telephone exchange switch?

Answer 5

Enabled two way communication without an intermediate individual connecting the call.

Question 6

What decade was the telephone exchange switch invented?

Answer 6

1930s

Question 7

According to Postman, what are the five things we need to know about technological change?

Answer 7

1) Always a tradeoff with technology and technological change 2) New technology always benefits some, harms others 3) Embedded in all change are assumptions and ideas that influence how we behave and react 4) Technological change is not additive but “ecological” 5) Technology is created, not God given

Question 8

What was invented in the 1920s?

Answer 8

Commercial radio

Question 9

Was commercial radio a step back or step forward for media?

Answer 9

Step backwards, reverted back to one way communication

Question 10

What’s significant for the emergence of TV in the 1940s?

Answer 10

Purposefully accepting advertising in exchange for free content.

Question 11

What are the three factors that constrain how news is shaped?

Answer 11

1) Format, 2) the routines of journalists, and 3) goal of being impartial.

Question 12

According to Noam Chomsky, what is concision?

Answer 12

Format has profound impact on how news is presented. News broadcasters can’t offer up anything new because the time in between commercial breaks doesn’t allow for the presentation of new ideas or the evidence required to advocate for them.

Question 13

What are the three functions of media in a democratic society?

Answer 13

1) Public Information 2) Public Watchdog 3) Public representative

Question 14

What was the name of the German scholar who wrote about the public sphere?

Answer 14

Jurgen Habermas

Question 15

When was the telephone patented?

Answer 15

1867

Question 16

Who patented the telephone?

Answer 16

Alexander Grahm Bell

Question 17

What year was the first time the telegraph was connected between the Eastern and Western parts of North America?

Answer 17

1861

Question 18

What exactly is Metcalfe’s law?

Answer 18

Value of network increases roughly by squared number of connections. Value increases exponentially by the number of connections.

Question 19

What was the first electronic ICT?

Answer 19

Telegraph

Question 20

What decade was the telegraph invented?

Answer 20

1830s

Question 21

What is the distinction between old media and new media?

Answer 21

Old media is typically one way communication, while new media represents a form of interactive (two way) communication.