Study guide for our final examination in MCOM 101

The final examination for our course (MCOM 101) will be Friday, April 29, at 8:30 a.m. Be prepared, most likely, for a test that will have short answer questions, multiple choice, possibly a few fill in the blank items, definitions, and maybe, (I haven’t decided for sure at this point, but maybe) a few true-false questions.

Because I like to reward class attendance, this exam will cover topics we’ve talked about or touched on in class since I became your MCOM 101 professor. It may also cover any field trip we took (to the campus radio station and to the campus TV station), and there may be a few questions about the student presentations made in our class.

I also like to reward students who have closely read all my blog posts (since I started teaching MCOM 101 this semester in February). So study what I have blogged about for our class. If a blog post includes a video, watch and listen to that carefully. Likewise, if a post has a link or links, click on those links and read. You can find my blog at: http://larrytimbs.blogspot.com

The exam will also cover the following chapters in our textbook “Media Impact: An Introduction to Mass Media” (Eleventh Edition) by Shirley Biagi:

Chap. 3, Chap. 4, Chap. 5, Chap. 6, Chap. 9, Chap. 14.


The following study guide lists key concepts and terms that might well be on the test; however, there may also be other material from these chapters, not listed here, that you will be asked about.

Note: this guide does not include notes, videos or other material presented to you in class; if you have missed class, I would strongly advise you to get the notes from a reliable classmate(s).

Be able to identify, evaluate, define and discuss the following key concepts, terms, or names in our textbook:

Chap. 3:
Yellow journalism
Alternative press
Paywall
Libel
USA TODAY
Libel
Ida B. Wells
Tabloid
Departments you can work in at a newspaper
National newspapers
Online news content

Chap. 4:
Target audience
Ida Tarbell
Types of magazines
Departments you can work in at a magazine
Freelancers
Demographics
Zines
Saturday Evening Post
W.E.B. Du Bois
Point-of-purchase magazines
Henry Luce

Chap. 5:
File sharing
Copyright
iTunes
Online piracy
MP3 technology
Motown
Thomas Edison
iPhone
Rolling Stone Magazine
Billboard
RIAA

Chap. 6
Guglielmo Marconi
Station KDKA
War of the Worlds
NPR
Satellite radio
FCC
Where most people listen to radio
FM
AM
Payola
Most popular radio formats
Licensing of radio stations

Chap. 9:
Touch technology
MOOCs
Blog
Digital divide
HTML
Podcast
30-year rule
Wiki
Facebook
Net neutrality
Social media
Steve Jobs
Search engine
Tim Berners-Lee
Convergence
Mark Zuckerberg

Chap. 14:
Censorship
Invasion of privacy (4 ways or torts it is defined)
Libel
Prior restraint
First Amendment
New York Times v. Sullivan
Fourth estate
Embedding reporters
Obscenity
Defenses for libel
FCC and net neutrality

Good luck in your preparation for our final examination!