Journalism

One of the new sources recently added to the Credo Reference database is "Key Concepts in Journalism Studies". This is not only about journalism but also about TV, radio, computers and other forms of communicating news and information. All the answers to this brainteaser can be found in this title.

1. What name was given to the scandal exposed in 1972 by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein concerning improper practices by Republican aides of President Richard Nixon?
   Watergate.
2. What is an "advertorial"?
   A hybrid of advertising and editorial; a paid advertisement which risks misleading readers into the belief that they are reading a straight news story or feature rather than an advertisement.
3. In journalism, which month of the year is traditionally viewed as the "silly season"?
   August.
4. What is the world's largest and most-used search engine?
   Google.
5. Which phrase, defined by Chambers 21st Century Dictionary as "someone, especially in politics, who tries to influence public opinion by putting a favourable bias on information presented to the public or to the media", entered British political vocabulary during the late 1980s?
   Spin doctor.
6. Which television network was formed in 1990 by the merger of Rupert Murdoch's Sky Television and its rival British Satellite Broadcasting?
   BSkyB.
7. In using computers and the internet, what does "HTML" stand for?
   Hypertext Markup Language.
8. In 1957, the BBC news programme "Panorama" ran an April fool spoof about which food growing on trees?
   Spaghetti.
9. According to John Reith, the first Director General of the BBC, what are the three fundamental purposes of broadcasting?
   To educate, inform and entertain.
10. What was the surname of the agony aunt whose "Dear Ann" column was appearing in 1,200 newspapers around the world by 1993?
    Landers.

Questions set by Tony Augarde, author of "The Oxford Guide to Word Games"

How did you do?

0 - 1    Mmmm, not exactly brilliant.
2 - 5    A reasonable stab.
6 - 8    A good showing. But there's still room for improvement!
9 - 10  You really know your stuff. Well done!