Answer to Question 1
An ideal response will:
1. Define campaign events as scheduled events, such as press conferences and interviews, that reinforce a candidate's messages and public image.
2. Explain that candidates stage these events hoping to reach voters through favorable media coverage.
3. Note that the media do not necessarily consider these events newsworthy, or they believe they are too staged, and sometimes choose not to cover them.
Answer to Question 2
An ideal response will:
1. Define audience fragmentation as the scattering of audiences across multiple press outlets due to the growth of cable television and the Internet and the subsequent specialization of the media content for those venues.
2. Make a clear argument for why fragmentation is or is not beneficial by illustrating the benefits of fragmentation (diffuses the influence of the media, works against the effects of conglomeration) versus the costs (fragmentation and separation of audiences who cannot understand the issues of others).