quiz 4, chapter 1, Mass Communication in Canada, seventh edition, Oxford University Press Canada

Instructions: For each question, click on the radio button beside your answer. When you have completed the entire quiz, click the 'Submit my answers' button at the bottom of the page to receive your results.

Question 1:

A representation is ________.
a) a full and exact description of the thing it describes or refers to
b) a simplification or interpretation of the thing it describes or refers to
c) a lexicon
d) prosaic

Question 2:

In C. S. Peirce’s categorization of signs, a symbol ________.
a) looks like the object it describes
b) is related to the object it describes
c) bears no direct resemblance to what it signifies
d) is indeterminate

Question 3:

When we study communication content, we are generally studying practices or processes of ________.
a) polysemy
b) representation
c) space bias
d) visuality

Question 4:

The fact that any given sign can have many meanings illustrates ________.
a) the indeterminacy of representation
b) the structural nature of meaning
c) the iconic nature of communication
d) the symbiosis of the sign

Question 5:

In semiotics, a sign is comprised of ________.
a) signifier
b) signified
c) representation
d) both A and B

Question 6:

As a ‘social’ model of communication, the encoding/decoding model draws attention to the fact that communication is given form by ________.
a) money
b) technology
c) journalists
d) social factors

Question 7:

The social responsibility theory of the press arises from ________.
a) the idea that libertarian theory fails to produce a press of general benefit to society
b) John Locke
c) Marxist perspectives on media
d) auteur theories of the press

Question 8:

The mass society thesis sees society as comprised of ________.
a) a collection of isolated individuals
b) people sharing a common set of ideas and values
c) people concerned about constructing a common vision
d) both B and C

Question 9:

In Marxist analysis society is organized around ________.
a) industry
b) the protection of workers
c) communicative rights
d) the reproduction of capital

Question 10:

Discourse analysis focuses on ________.
a) a speaker's expressed intent
b) mythological allusions
c) rhetorical conventions
d) how language positions us in the social world

Question 11:

According to Dallas Smythe, the real business of commercial media is ________.
a) top inform people
b) to entertain people
c) to sell audiences to advertisers
d) both A and B

Question 12:

In the 1930s, soap operas were designed to socialize a home-confined, female audience with disposable income into ________.
a) understanding media
b) consuming
c) a better understanding of human relations
d) dramatic content

Question 13:

The key attraction of reality TV to producers and television networks is ________.
a) its flexibility
b) that it employs real life situations
c) its cost
d) its ability to attract audiences

Question 14:

Media form analysis examines ________.
a) the structure of news stories
b) how each medium organizes particular elements of content
c) media distribution
d) all of the above

Question 15:

For Herman and Chomsky, the reason large media networks and news organizations work in favour of political and economic elites is ________.
a) they are owned by a few large corporations
b) they depend on advertising
c) they rely on government and business elites as sources of news and opinion
d) all of the above

Question 16:

In C. S. Peirce’s categorization of signs, an icon looks like the object it describes.
a) True
b) False

Question 17:

‘Denotative meaning’ refers to the range of subtle or less obvious meanings.
a) True
b) False

Question 18:

In semiotics, the ‘signified’ is an idea or mental concept.
a) True
b) False

Question 19:

Libertarian theorists seek to limit the power of the state in the realms of mass media and communications.
a) True
b) False

Question 20:

The encoding/decoding model provides an exact and accurate representation of the complexities of the process of communication.
a) True
b) False

Question 21:

Political-economic analysis focuses specifically on the content of media messages.
a) True
b) False

Higher Education

Mass Communication in Canada, 7e: Chapter 4