4.2.7.4 Selection and presentation of news Quiz: AQA Sociology, Unit 2

The 20 questions

1. In the sociology of news, what is 'gatekeeping'?

   • The process by which editors and journalists select which events and stories become news and which are excluded
   • The use of paywalls and subscriptions by newspapers to restrict online access to stories and to protect advertising revenue
   • The practice of audiences choosing which news channel to watch, based on their existing political views and personal preferences
   • The legal process by which governments grant broadcasting licences to commercial channels and regulate their national output

2. Which of these is one of Galtung and Ruge's classic news values?

   • Negativity: stories about conflict, disaster or bad outcomes are more likely to be selected as news
   • Accuracy: stories are chosen only if their claims have been checked against at least three independent official sources first
   • Balance: every story must give equal space to each side of a debate, regardless of the evidence supporting either view
   • Local ownership: stories are chosen only if the newspaper's head office is located in the same region as the event

3. Which theorist's concept of 'primary definers' describes the way official sources such as the police set the terms of media debate?

   • Max Weber, who argued that bureaucratic authority depends on legitimate rules and impersonal procedures in modern society
   • Talcott Parsons, who argued that media transmit shared values that help maintain the stability of the social system overall
   • Herbert Gans, who argued that news reflects the values of journalists and the audience they imagine rather than facts
   • Stuart Hall and colleagues, in their study of mugging and moral panic (Policing the Crisis)

4. What is a 'moral panic' in relation to news coverage?

   • A situation in which journalists refuse to report a story at all in order to protect their sources from legal action
   • A sudden fall in advertising revenue for a newspaper, which forces journalists to reduce their coverage of local news stories
   • A legal ruling that requires broadcasters to remove any programme that causes public offence to a defined group
   • A period in which the media exaggerate the threat posed by a group or behaviour, prompting public concern and calls for control

5. Which concept describes news that is selected and framed to suit the interests of the owners and elites who control media organisations?

   • The propaganda model, which argues that ownership, advertising and official sources filter news content
   • The uses and gratifications approach, which argues that audiences actively choose news to satisfy their personal needs
   • The agenda-setting function of news, which describes how the media influence what issues people consider important
   • The encoding and decoding model, which describes how audiences interpret the messages they receive from news programmes

6. A newspaper runs a front-page story on a single violent crime and gives little coverage to a far larger rise in unemployment. Which news value best explains this selection?

   • Proximity to the paper's own offices: the unemployment rise affected only workers in a distant region of the country
   • Drama and negativity: a sudden, violent event is more dramatic and immediate than a gradual rise in unemployment figures
   • Balance: the paper is required by its code of practice to give more coverage to crime than to economic statistics in each edition
   • Timeliness through scheduled reporting: the unemployment figures were published several months earlier by the official statistics office

7. Which practice is most associated with sensationalism in news presentation?

   • Publishing corrections and clarifications on the same page as the original story to show errors were acknowledged quickly
   • Giving equal word counts to government and opposition spokespeople in every political story regardless of its news value
   • Presenting detailed statistical tables and full methodological notes so that readers can check the evidence behind each claim
   • Emphasising emotive headlines, dramatic images and personal stories to attract attention and increase readership

8. The 'agenda-setting' function of news refers to:

   • The requirement that journalists plan each week's stories in advance using a formal schedule approved by senior editors
   • The media influencing which issues the public regard as important, even if they do not determine what people think about them
   • The process by which news organisations set their advertising rates according to the size of their audience each month
   • The media deciding the exact policies that governments must introduce in response to every issue raised in news coverage

9. A study finds that news about young people is mostly framed around crime and anti-social behaviour. Which sociological concern does this most directly raise?

   • Media framing always reflects the statistical reality of crime, so the coverage can be taken as an accurate guide to offending
   • Media framing is a purely technical matter for broadcasters, with no implications for how social groups are understood by others
   • Media framing has no effect on public attitudes because audiences are aware of editorial choices and discount exaggerated stories
   • Media framing may create a distorted public image of a social group, reinforcing stereotypes and moral panics

10. Which factor is most likely to limit the range of perspectives in news coverage, according to the propaganda model?

    • The use of video cameras by reporters, which makes it harder to record events objectively in fast-moving situations
    • Strict legal limits on the number of journalists a newspaper may employ in any single news operation at one time
    • The requirement that all news stories be read aloud before publication so that editors can check each for accuracy
    • Concentrated ownership of media organisations by large corporations that depend on advertising revenue from other firms

11. A researcher compares news about a foreign country with news about the researcher's home country. Which pattern would best support the 'elite nations' news value?

    • Coverage of the foreign country is published only in the country's local language and never translated for overseas readers
    • Coverage of the foreign country is almost entirely about sport, weather and cultural festivals with no political content at all
    • Coverage of the foreign country includes equal numbers of stories about ordinary citizens, leaders and local community events
    • Coverage of the foreign country focuses mainly on its political leaders and powerful institutions rather than ordinary people

12. What is the main sociological concern with news that presents only official statements from the police as fact?

    • It gives privileged access to definers of events, so the public sees the issue through the framing of one powerful source
    • It is required by law to describe events in exactly the words used by official sources, which makes news less accurate
    • It reduces the cost of journalism because official statements are free, so news organisations lose money on every story
    • It guarantees a balanced account of events because official sources are always neutral and have no interest in the outcome

13. Which statement best describes the role of editorial policy in news selection?

    • Editorial policy concerns only the layout and typography of a newspaper, with no influence on the content of stories
    • Editorial policy is irrelevant to news selection because journalists choose stories entirely at random from incoming material
    • Editorial policy sets the criteria for newsworthiness, which can shape how stories are chosen, framed and prioritised
    • Editorial policy requires that every news story be published in full as received from the original source without change

14. Evaluate the claim that 'the news reflects reality'. Which point best challenges this claim?

    • News is a neutral mirror of events because journalists are trained to record exactly what happens without any personal judgement
    • News reflects reality accurately because audiences check every story against official statistics before believing its content
    • News is accurate by definition because all news organisations are regulated by independent bodies that verify each fact
    • News is the product of selection, framing and production constraints, so it presents a constructed version of events

15. A broadcaster decides to show a story about a mining accident as its lead item, but places an unrelated story about a celebrity first. Which news value explains the celebrity choice?

    • Timeliness of the mining accident: the accident occurred several years earlier, so it was no longer considered current news
    • Proximity of the mining accident: the accident took place in a country with no shared borders with the broadcaster's audience
    • Balance in scheduling: the broadcaster must alternate between disaster stories and celebrity stories in every news bulletin
    • Celebrity and personalisation: stories about famous individuals attract large audiences and are favoured in news selection

16. What does 'news values' refer to in media sociology?

    • The criteria, such as negativity, drama and proximity, that editors use to judge which events are worth reporting
    • The monetary cost of producing each news bulletin, including staff wages, studio hire and satellite transmission charges
    • The ethical principles that journalists must follow when reporting on children, victims and vulnerable people in society
    • The financial value of each news story, measured by the advertising revenue generated by its publication in a newspaper

17. Which practice describes news organisations deliberately seeking stories that will appear in more than one outlet, creating a shared news agenda?

    • Investigative journalism: the systematic uncovering of hidden wrongdoing through documents, sources and long-term reporting
    • Data journalism: the use of statistical datasets and visualisations to explain patterns in social and economic information
    • Churnalism: the reproduction of press releases and wire copy with little independent checking or original reporting
    • Citizen journalism: the publishing of stories by members of the public who witness events and upload them directly online

18. A paper publishes a story reporting a single, unconfirmed claim by an anonymous source about a politician. Which principle of responsible news selection is most clearly breached?

    • Proximity: the story should be published only if the politician lives within the same region as the newspaper's head office
    • Verification: a claim should be checked against reliable evidence before it is presented as fact to the public
    • Timeliness: the story should be published only in the next scheduled edition rather than online during the afternoon
    • Balance of length: the story should be shorter than other stories on the page to avoid overemphasis on any single claim

19. Which best describes the 'selection' stage of news production in a sociological model of news making?

    • Audiences choose from the news items they are offered, using the remote control or the website to filter the content
    • Governments choose which events must be reported, according to a legal list of matters of national security importance
    • Journalists and editors choose from many possible events the smaller number that will become news items for the audience
    • Advertisers choose which stories will be published, so that their products appear next to the most appealing content

20. A sociologist argues that news reflects the ideology of the dominant class. Which evidence would best support this argument?

    • Evidence that news organisations publish corrections promptly and give equal space to each error they have made in print
    • Systematic patterns in which business, political and elite sources are quoted far more often than trade unions or community groups
    • Evidence that audiences in every social class prefer exactly the same news stories when given a free choice of channels
    • Evidence that news programmes broadcast a wide range of views from many social classes in roughly equal proportions over time

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