Welcome to March’s News Biz Quiz which, like the month itself, comes in like a lion and goes out like…well…name another thing with big, sharp teeth and you’ve pretty much got the idea. But in between we’ll ask about coverage of Tiger Woods, the U.S. government alleging a foreign power sanctioned the killing of a journalist and the life of a respected critic for whom the final curtain has, sadly, come down.
To play, simply answer the following questions dealing with the last few weeks of news about the news.
Total your score and compare that to either your journalistic colleagues or the scoring key right there in the blue box.
1. What country has passed what it calls the News Media Bargaining Cod, which would require Google and Facebook to pay for the news content that winds up on their sites?
a) Finland
b) Australia
c) Canada
d) France
2. Presidential candidate and media mogul Nabil Karoui has been arrested on counts of money laundering and tax evasion, after running on a platform promising to help the poor in what African country, where he owns broadcaster Nessma TV?
Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, photo by Mazen AlDarrab via Wikimedia Commons
3. A U.S. intelligence report claims that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman personally approved the killing of what Washington Post journalist in October 2018?
4. States Newsroom, a nonprofit syndication service, is starting a service to reinvigorate reporting from what specific type of building in 20 states, which surveys show saw a 25% drop in staffing between 2008 and 2018?
5. The National Labor Relations Board says four McClatchy newsrooms in what state — including the Olympian and the Tri-City Herald — are allowed to create a single union representing workers at all the papers?
a) Washington
b) South Carolina
c) Florida
d) California
6. What popular podcast from Gimlet Media has been put on hiatus after its allegations of a toxic culture at food magazine Bon Appetit helped to reveal a similarly toxic culture at Gimlet?
7. “The True Story of a Made-Up Thing” is the subtitle of a new book by Jacob Goldstein of NPR’s “Planet Money.” The book takes a historical look at what human construct?
8. (ARCHIVE) Match the plaintiffs and defendants in these media-related court cases:
- Saturday Press publisher Jay Near • Montgomery, Alabama police commissioner L. B. Sullivan
- The New York Times • Des Moines Independent Community School District
- Missouri’s Hazelwood School District • John Peter Zenger
- 13-year-old Mary Beth Tinker • State of Minnesota
- Colony of New York • Cathy Kuhlmeier, Leslie Smart and Leanne Tippett
9. “Journalism Against the Odds” was the theme, on Feb. 26, of the 2021 edition of what day pushing for greater scholastic journalism access?
10. What elected official’s name goes in the red box in this redacted Twitter screenshot posted by Punchbowl News’s Jake Sherman on February 18?
Credit: Jake Sherman [@JakeSherman], Twitter
12. Richard Tofel, the first employee of what nonprofit investigative news organization, has announced he’ll retire once a replacement is named? The organization in question shared the 2020 Public Service Pulitzer Prize with the Anchorage Daily News for a report on how indigenous Alaskans are often denied service by public safety agencies.
Graphic from One Free Press Coalition
13. The One Free Press Coalition’s 24th monthly “10 Most Urgent” list of the journalists most in danger lists Mohamad Mosaed atop this year’s list. Mosead fled to Turkey after being targeted by the Iranian government for his reporting on the country’s botched handling of what (note: two answers possible)?
14. New York Times and New York Magazine critic Peter Davis has died at the age of 84. What subject was Davis’ area of critical expertise?
15. What host of the Slate podcast “The Gist” has been suspended from his job after a debate on Slack with colleagues about whether people who are not Black should be allowed to use a particular racial slur in some contexts? He’d earlier done stories about a Black security guard fired for using the same term, even though in the final edit of the story, the word was edited out.
Scroll down for answers…
Answers:
1. Australia (Facebook initially removed news content, then struck a deal to put it back)
2. Tunisia
3. Jamal Khashoggi
4. Statehouses (state capital buildings)
5. Washington
6. “Reply All”
7. Money
8. Near v. Minnesota
NY Times v. Sullivan
Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier
Tinker v. Des Moines
New York (Rex) v. Zenger
10. Ted Cruz
11. Bob Costas
12. ProPublica
13. COVID-19 or parliamentary elections (Here’s February’s “10 Most Urgent” list)
14. Classical music (especially opera)
15. Mike Pesca
Stan Jastrzebski has competed in trivia competitions in 14 states (and Washington, D.C.), including appearances on “Jeopardy!” and “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?.” He’s won more than 40 state, regional and national journalism awards and has spent more than a dozen years leading NPR member station newsrooms. He lives in Lafayette, Indiana, with his wife and daughter.
