BROADCAST 319 FALL 1998

SAMPLE TEST ONE QUESTIONS

Fritz Messere Associate Professor@ SUNY Oswego

Here are a few samples of questions similar to ones I am likely to ask on the test.

Remember that TEST ONE is scheduled for October 15.

1. The determination that an article is defamatory:

a. can be based on the presence of innuendo even if there is no specific defamatory phrase that stands alone.

b. can be based on an isolated phrase taken without the context of the rest of the article

c. can be based on a headline that suggests more than the story itself legitimately discloses

d. all of the above are correct

e. both a and c are correct

2. Congress is to Parliament as:

a. father is to son

b. mother is to daughter

c. child is to parent

d. aristocracy is to democracy

e. can't make heads or tails out of this

3. Gitlow v. New York is important because

a. Gitlow's conviction was overturned because there was no reason to believe there was a clear and present danger

b. The Smith Act didn't apply to citizens

c. the Supreme Court acknowledged that fundamental personal rights and liberties, guaranteed under the Constitution, are protected under the 14th Amendment

d. Gitlow overturned Barron v. Baltimore

4. The last important attempt to reconcile the First Amendment and the law of sedition by the Supreme Court was in

a. Whitney v. California

b. Brandenburg v. Ohio

c. Yates v. U.S.

d. Schenck v. U.S.

5. In Lovell v. Griffin, the Supreme Court established that the First Amendment

a. protects the publication of ideas, news and opinions

b. protects the distribution of ideas, news, and opinions

c. protects the reporter's confidential sources for news

d. all of the above

e. both A and B, but not C.

 

6. In Near v. Minnesota, the Supreme Court ruled that
a. prior restraint was unconstitutional in any circumstance.
b. prior restraint was unconstitutional in this case, but might be permissible in some instances.
c. prior restraint may be used to block the publication of anti-Semitic newspapers.
d. none of the above are true.

 

7. Courts have identified three kinds of public forums:
a. traditional, not traditional, and absolute
b. designated, traditional, and not traditional
c. absolute, designated, and partial
d. complete, partial, and temporary

 

8. According to your book, the four most common kinds of damages in a libel action are
a. actual, special, presumed, and punitive
b. actual, extraordinary, presumed, and punitive
c. special, marginal, extraordinary, and actual
d. punitive, special, presumed, and marginal

 

9. In Pico v. Tree Island, the Court
a. ruled that a school board may not remove books from a school library
b. ruled that the school board could exercise censorship at its own discretion
c. wrote a confusing split decision that leaves room for ambiguity in its interpretation
d. ruled that the Constitution requires a school board to justify why it removes a particular book from the library.

 

10. A request for a summary judgment is
a. a request for a jury trial
b. a request for a decision in a case based solely on the law
c. a request for a reduction in damages
d. inapplicable in libel cases

 

 

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