What is coverage bias?The tendency for the media or a particular media outlet to give less attention in terms of column space or air time to certain kinds of stories or aspects of stories.
What is gatekeeping bias?The tendency for the media or a particular media outlet to not report stories of a particular nature.
What is infotainment?Mass media programming that is intended primarily to entertain, but also provides political news.
What is mass media?Media that is intended to be publicly available, or at least targeted at large numbers of people.


Define media.The methods or technologies people use for communication, such as phones, radio, newspapers, televisions, or the Internet.
What is the press?The people and organizations that provide content about public affairs -- news and commentary -- that is disseminated across media.
What is statement bias?The tendency for the media or a particular media outlet to interject opinions into the coverage of an issue.
What is ''yellow journalism''?Style of journalism born of intense competition and characterized by screaming headlines and sensational stories. Coined at the end of the nineteenth century, the term referred to the ink in which the New York World's comic strips were printed.


What is a news beat?A regularly assigned venue that a news reporters covers on an ongoing basis.
What is carrying capacity?The amount of information a communication technology can deliver to its audience. Newspapers have much higher carrying capacities than do television news programs.
What is the credibility gap?The widespread suspicion among reporters that presidents will lie to the media when doing so serves their interest and they think they can get away with it.
What is the equal time rule?A ''fairness'' rule established by the Federal Communications Commission to ensure that broadcasters offer balanced coverage of controversial issues. If a radio or television station sells or gives airtime to one candidate for political office, it must provide other candidates with equal time.


What is the fairness doctrine?Rule that assures that different points of view on controversial issues have access to the airwaves.
What is a media leak?Strategically consequential information given to reporters on the condition that its source not be identified by name.
What is libel?A published falsehood or statement resulting in the defamation of someone's character. The First Amendment does not protect these statements.
What is media bias?Bias or slant in the selection of which news to report and how the news is reported.


What is muckraking?Journalistic investigation and exposure of scandals, corruption, and injustices, pioneered during the late nineteenth century Progressive Era.
What is pack journalism?A method of news gathering in which news reporters all follow the same story in the same way because they read each other's copy for validation of their own.
What is prior restraint?A government agency's act to prohibit the publication of material or speech before the fact. The courts forbid this except under extraordinary conditions.
What are shield laws?Laws that protect journalists from having to testify about their sources in court.


What is slander?False and malicious verbal statements that damage another person's reputation.
What is a sound bite?A catchy phrase or slogan that encapsulates a politician's message, broadcast especially on television news programs.
What is a trial balloon?Policy announced by the president in order to test public opinion and floated either by members of Congress or the media.
What is unit cost?The cost of transmitting a news product to a consumer.