Instructor Resource

Filak, Dynamics of Media Editing, 1e

SAGE Publishing, 2020

Chapter 1: Audience-Centric Editing

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. What audience-centric questions should an editor ask herself as she reads any
written piece?
a. Who cares about this story?
b. Why should they care?
c. Do the readers have everything they need to know about this story?
d. all of these
Ans: D
Learning Objective: 1.2: Know the key questions editors must ask of themselves to
better understand and serve their audience.
Answer Location: Introduction

2. An editor understands that the paper’s audience is ______.

a. large and heterogeneous and likely to care about a given issue in a variety of ways
b. small and homogenous and likely to care about every issue with intensity
c. unlikely to read deeply into a story to evaluate the importance of a given issue
d. unlikely to believe the paper is reporting truthfully on the issue
Ans: A
Learning Objective: 1.1: Understand why media professionals need to value the
audience now more than ever.
Answer Location: Introduction

3. Editing with a focus on small details and minutia is known as ______.

a. microprocessing
b. macroeconomics
c. thinking small
d. microediting
Ans: D
Learning Objective: 1.1: Understand why media professionals need to value the
audience now more than ever.
Answer Location: Editing for an Audience

4. Which is NOT one of the five elements of interest that attract readers?
a. fame
b. foreignness
c. oddity
d. conflict
Ans: B
 Instructor Resource
Filak, Dynamics of Media Editing, 1e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
Learning Objective: 1.5: Apply the five elements of interest that attract readers: Fame,
oddity, conflict, immediacy and impact.
Answer Location: What Attracts an Audience?

5. An audience-centric piece is one that puts the focus on ______.

a. the center
b. memes
c. the people reading the piece
d. the people quoted in the piece
Ans: C
Learning Objective: 1.1: Understand why media professionals need to value the
audience now more than ever.
Answer Location: Introduction

6. What is NOT a recommended way to help figure out who is in your audience?
a. readership surveys
b. focus groups
c. robo calls
d. website analytics
Ans: C
Learning Objective: 1.3: Understand what makes media users different today than in
previous generations and how to use that knowledge to best serve your readers.
Answer Location: Helpful Hints: How to Figure Out Who Is in Your Audience

7. What makes this generation of audience members different from those in the mass-
media era?
a. They have unlimited access to information.
b. They are bombarded by hoaxes and fake news.
c. They have short attention spans.
d. all of these
Ans: D
Learning Objective: 1.3: Understand what makes media users different today than in
previous generations and how to use that knowledge to best serve your readers.
Answer Location: Media Users Today

8. According to a 2017 study from the Pew Research Center and the Knight Foundation,
roughly what percentage of adults get some of their news online via a computer or a
portable device?
a. 93%
b. 73%
c. 38%
d. 12%
Ans: A
Learning Objective: 1.3: Understand what makes media users different today than in
previous generations and how to use that knowledge to best serve your readers.
Answer Location: Media Users Today
 Instructor Resource
Filak, Dynamics of Media Editing, 1e
SAGE Publishing, 2020

9. Today’s readers also have a heightened surveillance need, meaning they have a fear
of ______.
a. spiders
b. heights
c. missing out
d. politics
Ans: C
Learning Objective: 1.3: Understand what makes media users different today than in
previous generations and how to use that knowledge to best serve your readers.
Answer Location: Media Users Today

10. A 2018 study by MIT found that falsehoods posted on social media are ______
times faster in their spread and deeper in their penetration than true stories.
a. 2
b. 6
c. 60
d. 70
Ans: B
Learning Objective: 1.3: Understand what makes media users different today than in
previous generations and how to use that knowledge to best serve your readers.
Answer Location: Media Users Today

True/False

1. Readers have an innate sense of when something they read is true.

Ans: F
Learning Objective: 1.3: Understand what makes media users different today than in
previous generations and how to use that knowledge to best serve your readers.
Answer Location: Media Users today

2. Editors should cater, NOT pander to readers.

Ans: T
Learning Objective: 1.1: Understand why media professionals need to value the
audience now more than ever.
Answer Location: Editing for an Audience

3. A story should be written at the appropriate level for an audience.

Ans: T
Learning Objective: 1.2: Know the key questions editors must ask of themselves to
better understand and serve their audience.
Answer Location: Introduction

4. An editor should be able to read a story and complete the sentence “This matters
because …”
 Instructor Resource
Filak, Dynamics of Media Editing, 1e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
Ans: T
Learning Objective: 1.2: Know the key questions editors must ask of themselves to
better understand and serve their audience.
Answer Location: Introduction

5. Pyrographics help you assess an audience based on personality traits, personal

values and strength of attitudes on given topics.
Ans: F
Learning Objective: 1.4: Define an audience through demographic, geographic and
psychographic elements.
Answer Location: How to Define Your Audience

Short Answer

1. Name a few audience-centric questions an editor should ask as he reads through any
written piece.
Ans: Who cares about this story? Why should they care? Can I complete the sentence
“This matters because…” as it relates to this story? Do the readers have everything they
need to know about this story? Has the story kept the attention of the readers? Has the
story been written at the appropriate level for this audience? Does the story tell the
readers something new and/or different?
Learning Objective: 1.2: Know the key questions editors must ask of themselves to
better understand and serve their audience.
Answer Location: Introduction

2. What are some of the ways news consumers get their information?
Ans: They get them from printed media, online and mobile, and on social media.
Learning Objective: 1.3: Understand what makes media users different today than in
previous generations and how to use that knowledge to best serve your readers.
Answer Location: Editing for an Audience

3. What are two advantages Brody Karmenzind carried with him from going through a
journalism program?
Ans: The ability to concisely deliver a high-impact message to an audience and the
ability to move fast.
Learning Objective: 1.3: Understand what makes media users different today than in
previous generations and how to use that knowledge to best serve your readers.
Answer Location: View from a Pro: Brody Karmenzind, Facebook

4. What is meant by the term gatekeeping?

Ans: The process by which editors would select or reject content for publication.
Learning Objective: 1.3: Understand what makes media users different today than in
previous generations and how to use that knowledge to best serve your readers.
Answer Location: Media Users Today
 Instructor Resource
Filak, Dynamics of Media Editing, 1e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
5. What are the components of the mnemonic FOCII?
Ans: Fame, oddity, conflict, immediacy and impact
Learning Objective: 1.5: Apply the five elements of interest that attract readers: Fame,
oddity, conflict, immediacy and impact.
Answer Location: What Attracts an Audience?

Essay

1. Explain how the advancement of “fake news” in our society has made the job of an
editor more challenging. Provide examples.
Ans: Answers will vary.
Learning Objective: 1.3: Understand what makes media users different today than in
previous generations and how to use that knowledge to best serve your readers.
Answer Location: Media Users Today

2. You’re the editor of a newspaper. Explain how you would go about trying to
understand who is in your audience and what they want from you.
Ans: Answers will vary.
Learning Objective: 1.3: Understand what makes media users different today than in
previous generations and how to use that knowledge to best serve your readers.
Answer Location: How to Define Your Audience

3. Which of the five interest elements – also known as FOCII – helps you as a reader to
connect with the material you read? Provide an example.
Ans: Answers will vary.
Learning Objective: 1.5: Apply the five elements of interest that attract readers: Fame,
oddity, conflict, immediacy and impact.
Answer Location: What Attracts an Audience?

4. A surprise indictment is handed down by a grand jury against several members of the
city council in your town. In the old days, newspaper reporters would be working on a
story for the next day’s paper. But today’s readers demand more immediate information.
How does a modern reporting staff meet this demand?
Ans: Answers will vary.
Learning Objective: 1.3: Understand what makes media users different today than in
previous generations and how to use that knowledge to best serve your readers.
Answer Location: Editing for an Audience

5. A school principal in Kansas City is accused of inappropriate conduct with students in

his school. Why is this bigger news in Kansas City than across the state in St. Louis?
Ans: Answers will vary.
Learning Objective: 1.5: Apply the five elements of interest that attract readers: Fame,
oddity, conflict, immediacy and impact.
Answer Location: What Attracts an Audience?