TEST GUIDE
Core 164

NB:  This information is intended only as a guide to what students should be prepared to address on their tests.   The actual test questions may vary from the questions as formulated below.  Students should also note that tests are often comprised of a single question.  Therefore, adequate test preparation entails being able to fully and effectively answer each and every one of the listed questions.

Test # 1
1.  From an economic perspective, what are media products?  Explain. 
2.  Discuss the nature and extent of the increasing concentration of ownership of media companies.  Discuss some of the major results of this concentration.
3.  What is cultural imperialism? While in his article "The New Global Media" McChesney recognizes that with the development of the global media system the specter of U.S. cultural imperialism remains a concern, he largely dismisses it as a problem. Why?  Is he correct? 
4.  Discuss the "ordinary" and "unique" powers of the media industry to influence politics, the electorate, and legislation. (re: Lewis, McCain, etc.)
5.  Discuss television's impact upon the political process.  (re: Cronkite, lecture, etc.)
6.  With respect to the media's influence on politics, discuss the parallels between Howard Dean's candidacy for President and the 2002 coup in Venezuela as shown in "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised".
7.  What is a fallacy?  Describe the major categories of fallacies (relevance, vacuity, and clarity) and give an example of each. 

Test # 2
 1.  Discuss the government's censorship and control of information as it is used for strictly political purposes.
2.  Discuss Orwell's belief that a major threat to free speech came from a voluntary censorship stemming from the prevailing orthodoxy. 
3.  How is copyright a governmental grant to private individuals of the power to censor?   According to Loren, what was the original purpose of copyright law as set forth in the U.S. Constitution and how has that purpose been subverted? 
4.  What alternatives to the "Hollywood model" of copyright are presented in the video "Good Copy Bad Copy"?
5.  Discuss the various aspects of corporate censorship developed in the Klein excerpt.  How are property rights a governmental grant to private individuals of the power to censor?  How, in turn, does this allow for corporate political influence?  
6.  What is propaganda?  In what ways might covert propaganda be far more insidious than overt propaganda?
7.  As presented by Chomsky, what are some basic points of agreement between Bernays and Lippmann?  What does Chomsky say about the success of the propaganda effort in manufacturing consent?  Explain.
8.  In what ways does the Webb article instantiate the ideas and themes developed in the Orwell and Bernstein readings?
 
 Test #3
 1.  Discuss the "free trade of ideas" rationale for protecting free speech (re: Abrams & Whitney) and its possible limitations when only a few corporations monopolize the media (re: Moyers).
2.  Discuss the censorship that is permitted by the 1st Amendment.
3.  What is the basic rationale underlying the FCC's ability to regulate broadcast media?
4.  Discuss the timing and types of media effects. 
5.  Discuss the symbiotic relationship between the political uses of fear and the media's own use of fear. Discuss the various techniques that news media employ to foster fear in their audiences.
6.  Discuss media in relationship to the creation of gender. 
7.  According to Kilbourne ("Killing Us Softly III"), what role does advertising play in the process of gender definition and to what effect? 
8.  Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes ties violence, misogyny and homophobia to mainstream (non-hip hop) culture.  At the same time, it argues that these same features of male gender identification are manipulated and perpetuated by media corporations in their pursuit of profit.  Discuss. 
9.  According to Jhally ("Wrestling with Manhood"), what gender messages are embodied in  professional wrestling?