01
True or false
1 point
A reporter suspects that a recent schedule change caused delays on a bus route. Should the reporter treat that suspected cause as an established fact and gather evidence only to prove it?
Free Practice Quiz Question List
2 Reporting and Story Development Online Quiz Questions
Use this free practice quiz with 20 questions to review 2 Reporting and Story Development, test your knowledge, and prepare for your next test or exam.
20 questions
02
Choose one
1 point
A reporter wants to develop a story about public transit. Which option is the most focused story angle?
- A
Public transit is important to the city.
- B
Why have delays increased on the eastbound route since the schedule change?
- C
Bus service should be improved as soon as possible.
- D
Transit agencies publish schedules and service alerts.
03
Written response
1 point
What kind of coverage helps a reporter notice incremental changes and build knowledge over time?
04
True or false
1 point
A reporter makes one visit to a public location. That observation alone is enough to establish that a pattern has occurred over time.
- A
True
- B
False
05
Choose one
1 point
A reporter regularly covers a local agency. Which approach best develops that coverage beyond a list of official activities?
- A
Report only what officials say at public meetings.
- B
Focus on institutional announcements and leave out their consequences.
- C
Connect an institution's decisions and policies with how they affect people.
- D
Avoid covering institutions unless they have made a formal announcement.
06
Written response
1 point
What type of reporting can begin either with a question that calls for specific records or with records that reveal a possible story?
07
Fill in the blank
1 point
A brief reporting plan should state its and define the story's .
08
Choose one
1 point
A reporter has identified a specific agency record that could answer a story question. Which is a suitable way to try to locate it?
- A
Assume the records are available without checking where they are held.
- B
Search only personal social-media accounts for the agency's internal records.
- C
Look through the relevant agency, an archive, a database, or a public-records request process.
- D
Ask an observer to estimate what the records would probably say.
09
Choose all
1 point
A reporter is preparing a brief plan for a story. Which elements should the plan include? Select all correct choices.
- A
Explain why the working question matters.
- B
Summarize what is known and what remains uncertain.
- C
Decide the story's conclusion before gathering evidence.
- D
Define the story's boundaries.
- E
List the evidence needed to answer the question.
- F
Leave the scope open so that no limits affect the reporting.
10
Fill in the blank
1 point
When evaluating a record, remember that a document is evidence, not an automatic .
11
Choose all
1 point
A reporter is taking notes at a public event. Which details belong in clear observation notes? Select all correct choices.
- A
The time the observation occurred.
- B
The location where it occurred.
- C
The sequence of events.
- D
A cause inferred without evidence, recorded as though directly witnessed.
- E
Conditions that help explain the scene.
- F
A broad trend concluded from a single visit.
12
Choose one
1 point
A reporter wants a government record, but the agency is in a different jurisdiction from the reporter's usual beat. What is the best next step?
- A
Assume every record is available under identical rules everywhere.
- B
Treat an exemption in one jurisdiction as proof that the record cannot be obtained anywhere.
- C
Check the applicable jurisdiction's access rules and exemptions, and use the relevant records process.
- D
Avoid asking which rules apply because public records are always accessible.
13
Open ended
1 point
Residents say that lighting in neighborhood parks has become inadequate. Propose a focused story question and outline a brief reporting plan. Include why the question matters, manageable boundaries, evidence to gather, and one way to avoid overstating what the evidence shows.
14
Written response
1 point
What is the journalism term for an area of coverage that a reporter follows regularly over time?
15
Written response
1 point
A reporter narrows a broad story by specifying which group of residents it will cover. Which story-scope dimension has the reporter defined?
16
True or false
1 point
Public-records access rules and exemptions are the same in every jurisdiction.
- A
True
- B
False
17
Choose one
1 point
A reporter wants to develop a story from the broad subject of public transit. Which proposed pitch is a focused angle?
- A
A story about public transit in the city
- B
Why have delays increased on the eastbound route since the schedule change?
- C
A collection of interesting facts about buses
- D
An account of everything that happened at the transportation agency
18
Choose one
1 point
Which assignment gives a reporter the strongest starting plan for investigating a possible increase in bus delays?
- A
Ask the reporter to look into transit and write down anything interesting.
- B
Describe the transit system's history without setting a time period or question.
- C
Investigate why delays increased on one defined route during a specified period, using observations and relevant service records.
- D
Collect comments about buses without deciding which route or issue to cover.
19
Choose one
1 point
During one morning visit to a bus stop, a reporter records several late arrivals. What conclusion is best supported by those observations alone?
- A
Report what happened during the observed visit, and seek repeated observations or other evidence before making a claim about a trend.
- B
Conclude that buses are usually late because several buses were late during that visit.
- C
State that the observed delays were caused by the schedule change.
- D
Treat the visit as proof that delays increased on every route.
20
Choose one
1 point
A transit report gives a delay total that seems lower than a reporter's observations. What should the reporter do first to assess the apparent difference?
- A
Assume the report's figures use the same definitions as the reporter's observations.
- B
Use the report's summary as a complete explanation of why the delays occurred.
- C
Ignore the report's time period if its figures appear relevant.
- D
Check how the report defines and counts delays, what period it covers, and what information or exceptions it leaves out.