COMM 214 FINAL EXAM QUESTIONS WITH VERIFIED ANSWERS LATEST UPDATE 2026

COMM 214 FINAL EXAM QUESTIONS WITH VERIFIED ANSWERS LATEST UPDATE 2026 What is a strategy news frame, as it is compared with a policy frame? - Answers A strategy frame presents news like a game or competition. It focuses on who's winning, who's losing, tactics, image, and political maneuvering. You'll see this a lot in election coverage — it's more about polls, fundraising, campaign strategy, or political "drama" than about actual issues. A policy frame, on the other hand, focuses on the substance of issues. It talks about what policies are proposed, how they work, what problems they address, and their potential impacts on people's lives. Simple comparison: Strategy frame = Politics as horse race (who's ahead, what moves are being made). Policy frame = Politics as problem-solving (what solutions are on the table, and what they mean). What is the effect of strategy frames in relation to cynicism? - Answers Strategy frame: News that focuses on political tactics, winning, and image rather than issues. Policy frame: News that focuses on policy ideas, solutions, and real-world impacts. Effect on cynicism: Strategy frames make people more distrustful of politicians and politics. What is citizen deliberation? - Answers Careful discussion among citizens to weigh different viewpoints and find the best solution to a public issue. What are the goals or aims of citizen deliberation? - Answers The goals of citizen deliberation are to share ideas, understand different perspectives, make better decisions, and strengthen democracy. What is the hostile media effect? - Answers the tendency of people to see neutral media coverage of an event as biased against their point of view What are some important consequences of the hostile media effect for mediated deliberation? - Answers It makes trust in news lower. It causes people to reject fair information. It deepens political divides. It makes productive discussion harder. The Early History of Radio - Answers -wireless telegraph: used radio waves as a way to carry morse code -Radio Act of 1912: congress licensed radio transmitters after the Titanic Radio traces its beginnings to the invention of the telegraph in the 1840s, but it did not become a full-blown mass medium until the 1920s. James Maxwell - Answers discovered electromagnetic waves; realized light was a type of electromagnetic wave Heinrich Hertz - Answers Demonstrated the existence of radio waves in 1885, setting the stage for the development of modern wireless communications. The measurement unit of electromagnetic frequencies was named for Hertz. Samuel Morse - Answers United States portrait painter who patented the telegraph and developed the Morse code () By 1844, Samuel Morse had developed the telegraph, which used wires to transmit messages. The telegraph had some significant limitations. What are these limitations? - Answers The telegraph needed physical wires to work. It could only send simple text messages, no sound or images. Messages had to be decoded by trained operators. It was expensive and slow to set up over long distances. Guglielmo Marconi - Answers Italian electrical engineer known as the father of radio () Reginald Fessenden - Answers Originally had the idea for voice transmission; broadcasted the first radio program only on AM in 1906; first one to put music on the radio Lee De Forest - Answers considered the father of radio broadcasting because of his invention that permitted reliable voice transmissions for both point-to-point communication and broadcasting Wireless Ship Act of 1910 - Answers mandated radio equipment on all major U.S. vessels. The Radio Act of 1912 - Answers the first radio legislation passed by Congress, it addressed the problem of amateur radio operators cramming the airwaves. required stations to be licensed and assigned special call letters. prompted by Titanic. RCA - Answers Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was created as a private-sector monopoly: a privately owned company with government approval to dominate the radio industry. created by General Electric (GE) in 1919. KDKA - Answers Frank Conrad, a Westinghouse engineer, set up a crude radio station above his Pittsburgh garage in 1916. In 1920, this radio experiment evolved into KDKA, the first professional radio station. What is the radio network and why did this network system arise? - Answers A type of radio that delivers programming via satellite to affiliate stations across the United States. It arose to save money, reach bigger audiences, and sell national advertising. AT&T networks - Answers AT&T (American Telephone and Telegraph) built networks for long-distance telephone service.It played a key role in developing radio networks by connecting stations across the U.S.AT&T's networks helped expand radio broadcasts nationally, enabling mass communication. NBC - Answers National Broadcasting Company. The first and oldest major broadcast network in the United States, NBC was formed in 1926 by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), then owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Company. CBS - Answers Columbia Broadcasting System, CBS was founded as a radio network in 1927 and then expanded to television in the 1940s. Although it primarily remained an independent, publicly-traded company (NYSE: CBS) throughout most of the 20th century, Paramount Pictures temporarily held a 49 percent ownership stake from 1929 to 1932. The Radio Act of 1927 - Answers This legislation introduced the principle that licensees did not own their channels but could use them as long as they served the "public interest, convenience, or necessity." Creates the Federal Radio Commission (FRC) Federal Communications Act of 1934 - Answers FRC becomes Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to monitor radio, telephone, and telegraph Made the FCC a separate agency of government and no longer a part of the Department of Commerce. What period is considered the golden age of radio? - Answers late 1920s through 1940s The public found it easy to believe Orson Welles's broadcast of War of the Worlds because? - Answers The public found it easy to believe because the broadcast was presented as a news report.It used realistic sound effects and pacing, which made it seem authentic.Many listeners tuned in late and missed the introduction stating it was fiction. Transistors (1950's) - Answers Transistors (1950's) - Transistors replaced the use of vacuum tubes. They controlled the flow of electricity in and out of the computer. They were much more reliable than the vacuum tubes. Making Radio Portable. The transistor enabled radios to shrink in size and be portable, allowing the medium to go where TV could not. The FM Revolution - Answers Improved sound quality in radio during the 1960s, infused radio with new life in the 1960s. format radio - Answers the concept of radio stations developing and playing specific styles (or formats) geared to listeners' age, race, or gender; in format radio, management, rather than deejays, controls programming choices Top 40 format - Answers the first radio format, in which stations played the forty most popular hits in a given week as measured by record sales Format Specialization - Answers Formats allow advertisers to target specific audiences at much lower costs than those for television. What is the nation's most popular format? - Answers Country music News/Talk - Answers Buoyed by popular hosts like Howard Stern and Rush Limbaugh, the news/talk format is the second most popular format in the United States. NPR - Answers National Public Radio (NPR) was established in 1970 following the passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, which created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Today, more than one thousand NPR member stations operate, providing an alternative to commercial broadcasting. About what percent of spending on media advertising goes to radio stations? - Answers Around 7-8% of media advertising spending goes to radio stations. What is payola? - Answers the practice of bribing someone to use their influence or position to promote a particular product or interest What is low-power FM? - Answers A type of radio station with a small broadcast range, typically under 100 watts.It provides local, community-based programming and is often nonprofit. The FCC cannot provide oversight for the practice of payola on streaming radio services - why? - Answers The FCC cannot oversee payola on streaming radio services because they are internet-based, not traditional broadcast radio. The FCC's authority applies primarily to over-the-air broadcasts, not digital platforms. The Early History of Television - Answers Between the late 1940s and the early 1960s, several major developments helped turn television into a dominant mass medium. Becoming a Mass Medium. Inspired by the invention of the transmission of audio signals, several inventors developed the technology to transmit visual images.The Development Stage: Television's early history involved a battle over patents between Vladimir Zworykin, a Russian-born scientist, and Philo Farnsworth, a teenager from Idaho. Zworykin - Answers invented the iconoscope, the first TV camera tube, which converted light rays into electric signals Farnsworth - Answers credited with transmitting the first TV picture electronically. quiz show scandals - Answers Staining Television's Reputation. Rigged quiz shows in which favored guests were fed correct answers created an enormous scandal. The networks ended sponsorship involvement, but the scandals undermined Americans' trust in television. Quiz shows were kept out of network prime time (7:00-11:00 p.m. EST) for 40 years. The 1950s quiz show scandals also caused the networks to decrease use of sponsors to create programs The Evolution of Network Programming - Answers In the 1950s, networks developed a variety of programming, including newscasts, variety shows, sitcoms, and soap operas. Later on, talk shows, newsmagazines, reality television, and public television emerged. Information: Network News. Americans gradually switched from newspapers to TV news, and three networks (NBC, CBS, and ABC) dominated TV news from the 1960s to the 1980s. affiliate stations - Answers stations that contract with a network to carry its programs sketch comedy - Answers short television comedy skits that are usually segments of TV variety shows; sometimes known as vaudeo, the marriage of vaudeville and video situational comedy - Answers emphasizes the humorous qualities of the situation in which the characters find themselves What is the key difference b/w chapter shows and serial programs? - Answers Chapter shows: Each episode has a self-contained story, with no need to follow previous episodes.Serial programs: Episodes build on each other, creating an ongoing storyline that requires watching in order. Example of a TV newsmagazine - Answers CBS's 60 Minutes. The Evolution of Cable Programming - Answers Cable programming evolved to provide specialized shows to niche audiences with the development of narrowcasting (i.e., delivery of specialized programming for niche viewer groups). Basic Cable. Basic cable offers channels appealing to specific interests, such as sports, news, music, and children's shows. Premium Cable. These premium channels provide movies, original programming, video-on-demand services, and pay-per-view. HBO is the Cable television's oldest premium cable channel. What is the must-carry rule? - Answers Cable systems must carry all the TV stations in the system's area of coverage Prime Time Access Rule - Answers an FCC regulation that reduced networks' control of prime time programming to encourage more local news and public affairs programs, often between 6 and 7 pm Fin-Syn Rules - Answers These prohibited ABC, NBC and CBS from owning most of the entertainment programming they aired. They also limited networks' involvement in producing syndicated shows Are cable companies electronic publishers or common carriers? - Answers Cable companies are considered electronic publishers because they control the content they distribute, unlike common carriers who just transmit content without control over it. Midwest Video Case 1979 - Answers U.S. Supreme Court declares cable a form of electronic publishing; retained right to dictate own content Time shifting - Answers recording video or audio for later viewing or listening DBS - Answers deep brain stimulation Deficit financing - Answers practice of funding government by borrowing to make up the difference between government spending and revenue Retransmission fees - Answers the fee that cable providers pay to broadcast networks for the right to carry their channels Syndication - Answers leasing TV stations or cable networks the exclusive right to air TV shows Fringe time - Answers in television, the time slot either immediately before the evening's prime-time schedule (called early fringe) or immediately following the local evening news or the network's late-night talk shows (called late fringe) A rating vs. a share - Answers Rating: households watching a TV show / All TV households Share: households watching a TV show / households using TV Neil Postman's Critique of TV - Answers Neil Postman's critique of TV, especially in his book Amusing Ourselves to Death, argues that television prioritizes entertainment over information. He believed TV turned serious topics into superficial entertainment, weakening public discourse and critical thinking. Postman claimed that visual media, like TV, are less suited for thoughtful, rational debate than print media. Robert Putnam - Answers argued that a decline in social capital has led to a decline in political participation. Mid-20th century societal changes fueling the decline in social capital: mobility and urban sprawl; technology and mass media; generational change. Who opened the first public movie theater in France in 1896? - Answers George Melies Edwin S. Porter - Answers Employee of Edison who began making early films for the Edison Company. Director of "The Great Train Robbery". This film is considered by many to be the first narrative film (1903) and the life of an american fireman Nickelodeon - Answers The first movie houses; admission was one nickel In an early attempt to dominate the film industry, inventor Thomas Edison formed what? - Answers the Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC), also known as the Edison Trust, a trust of major US film companies, in December 1908. After Edison, Adolph Zukor of Paramount tried to monopolize the film industry by controlling the three pillars of vertical integration. What were the three pillars? - Answers production (making movies), distribution (getting films into theaters), and exhibition (playing films in theaters). The "original" Big Five vs. the current Big Five - Answers Original = Paramount, MGM, warner bros, 20th century fox, RKO current = disney (including fox), warner bros, universal, columbia pictures, paramount block booking - Answers an early tactic of movie studios to control exhibition, involving pressuring theater operators to accept marginal films with no stars in order to get access to films with the most popular stars Hollywood narratives - Answers story + discourse standard characteristics: archetypes, story structure, conflict resolution What is cinema verité - Answers A style of documentary filmmaking that aims to capture reality as authentically as possible. It often features handheld cameras, real-life situations, and minimal editing to present an unfiltered view of events. Three major forces (or changes) that had an effect on Hollywood in the postwar era - Answers the rise of television, the Paramount Decree, and the Hollywood blacklist Paramount Decision of 1948 - Answers Supreme Court ruling that paramount violated antitrust act and had to divest -- sold movie houses (exhibition)Caused movie companies to compete for screen time in movie houses Flight to the Suburbs - Answers most significant social trend of postwar era; massive shift in population from the central city Competition from TV - Answers caused investors to produce plays, musicals with mass appeal. How did Hollywood adapt to the development of home entertainment? - Answers Hollywood adapted to home entertainment by embracing new technologies, expanding into home video markets (VHS, DVDs, Blu-ray), and diversifying its revenue streams through rentals and sales, while also exploring new genres and formats to attract audiences.