The Freedom of Press. The Press and People’s Private Life

Writing in 1741, the philosopher David Hume praised press freedom in Britain with the words: “Nothing is more suprising for a foreigner, than the extreme liberty of public communicating which we enjoyin this country”. Is such a boast still justified? The relationship between government and the media is not usually simple in any democracy.

For over 50 years government has had an arrangement protection of national security in the Defence. Press and Broadcasting Committee agreed that in some circumstances the publication of certain information might endanger national security. In such cases “D (Defence) Notice” is issued. A D Notice does not quite have the force of law, but no newspaper editor would ignore a D Notice without incurring major penalties. Over the past 25 years there has been increasing criticism of the apparent abuse of the D Notice system in order to conceal not matters of national security but embarrassing facts.

Concerning this problem another question appears: “How free should the press be?”. During the 1980s there was growing popular disgust at the way in which some newspapers, most notably “The Sun”, attempted to investigate the private lives of well-known people. Many had their careers ruined or damaged when their sexual activities were made public. The prime targets have been, of course, members of the Royal Family who found it increasingly difficult to escape from voyeurism of the popular press. The dramatic death of Princess Diana while being chased by paparazzi is unlikely to bring press intrusion to an end. Admittedly Diana was a unique phenomenon. As she said of herself “You see yourself as a good product that sits on a shelf and sells well, and people make a lot of money out of you.” Only a few days before their death, the blurred pictures of Diana and her friend Dodi a Fayed, sold an extra 175 000 copies of “The Sun”.

Diana may have been unique, but other public figures will also fascinate the public. The tabloids will do whatever is necessary to maintain or increase their share of the market.

Diana was a highly public figure who often defended the press. Many people, however, feel that the press has no right to publicise personal matters when they have no relevance to the life of the society, and that the victims of inaccurate reporting are entitled to a right of reply. As a result of public anger at the end of the 1980s, most newspapers had to deal with individual complaints.

Beyond each newspaper is a final court of appeal for outraged members of the public. This is the Press Complaints Commission established at the beginning of 1991. The Commission was created to convince the public that the press self-regulation can be made to work and to control the worst excesses of the press.

2. Translate the following words; make up 15 sentences using them:

boast, to justify, to concern, security, circumstances, to endanger, issued, embarrassing, disgust, to investigate, target, to escape, intrusion, to fascinate, to maintain, to increase, to publicise, relevance, victim, outraged, to convince.

3. Answer the following questions:

1) What did the philosopher David Hume say about press freedom in Britain in 1741?

2) Is such a boast still justified?

3) Do you agree that the publication of certain information might endanger national security?

4) Must people know the truth whatever it is?

5) Why do some newspapers attempt to investigate the private lives of well-known people?

6) How can intrusion in private matters influence people’s life?

7) What was Diana’s attitude to the press?

8) Why was the Press Complaints Commission established?

4. Define the part of speech of the underlined words.

ІІ ВАРІАНТ

1. Read and translate the text:

The Press in Great Britain

Britain’s first newspapers appeared over 300 years ago. Now, as then, newspapers receive no government subsidy, unlike in some other European countries today. Advertising has always been a vital source of income. As long ago as 1669, King Charles II advertised in a newspaper for his lost dog. Today, income from advertising is as crucial as income from sales. In 1995, for example, £6 million was spent on press advertising, making the press by far the largest advertising medium in Britain.

There are approximately 130 daily and Sunday papers, 1 400 weekly papers and over 6 500 periodical publications. More newspapers, proportionately, are sold in Britain than in almost any other country. On average, two out of three people over the age of 15 read a national morning newspaper. National newspapers have the circulation of about 13 million on weekdays and 17 million on Sundays, but the readership is twice this figure. At first glance, therefore, the British press seems in good health.

During the 1980s practically every paper was affected by new printing technology. New technology increased the profitability of the press, and this, in turn, allowed the creation of new newspapers. The most important new paper was “The Independent”. Established in 1986, it rapidly seized the centre ground vacated by “The Times”, and “The Guardian”. However the sustained price war by “The Times” from 1993 seriously damaged “The Independent’s” sales and by the mid-1990s its future looked uncertain.

In spite of this fact, we could not but speak about the variety of newspapers

and magazines. There are over 800 free newspapers, popularly known as “freebies”, almost all of them are weekly and financed entirely by advertising. They achieve a weekly circulation of over 40 million. They function as local noticeboards, where local events are advertised, and anyone can advertise in the “for sale” or “wanted” columns.

The best-selling weeklies are those giving detailes of the forthcoming week’s television and radio programmes: “What’s On TV”, “The Radio Times” and “The TV Times”, with circulation in 1996 of 1.6 million, 1.4 million and 1 million, respectively. Second to them in popularity are women’s magazines, of which easily the best-selling is “Take a Break”, with a weekly sale of almost 1.5 million, and “Woman’s Weekly”, “Woman’s Own”, “Woman”, “Woman’s Realm”, which sell between 300 000 and 800 000 copies each week. During the early 1990s some recently established men’s magazines, “Loaded”, “GQ” and “Esquire”, became popular with circulation of 100 000 to 240 000. The leading opinion journals are “The Economist”, a political and economic weekly, the “New Statesman and Society”, a political and social weekly, the “Spectato”, a political weekly, and “Private Eye”, a satirical fortnightly famous for attacks on leading personalities.

2. Translate the following words; make up 15 sentences using them:

to appear, government subsidy, income, advertising, crucial, aproximately, periodical publication, to be affected (by), to increase the profitability, creation, free newspapers, to achieve, circulation, noticeboard, weekly, fortnightly, realm.

3. Answer the following questions:

1) When did Britain’s first newspapers appear?

2) What has always been a vital source of income?

3) How many people over the age of 15 read a national morning newspaper?

4) What circulation do national newspapers have?

5) Why were newspapers affected by new printing technology?

6) How are free newspapers popularly known? What are they financed by?

7) What is the main function of “freebies”?

8) What are the best-selling magazines and journals?

4. Define the part of speech of the underlined words.

ІІІ ВАРІАНТ

1. Read and translate the text:

What Are the Mass Media?

A message can be communicated to a mass audience by many means: hardly an American lives through a day without feeling the impact of at least one of the mass media. The oldest media are those of the printed word and picture which carry their message through the sense of sight: the weekly and daily newspapers, magazines, books, pamphlets, direct mail circulars, and billboards. Radio is the mass communications medium aimed at the sense of sound, whereas television and motion pictures appeal both to the visual and auditory senses.

The reader turns to his newspaper for news and opinion, entertainment, and the advertising it publishes. In the weekly the focus is upon the reader’s own community; in the daily the focus is upon the nation and the world as well. Magazines give him background information, entertainment, opinion, and the advertising; books offer longer range and more detailed examination of subjects, as well as entertainment; pamphlets, direct mail pieces, and billboards bring the views of commercial and civic organizations. Films may inform and persuade as well as entertain. Television and radio offer entertainment, news and opinion, and advertising messages and can bring direct coverage of public events into the listener’s home.

There are important agencies of communication which are adjuncts of the mass media. These are:

1) the press associations, which collect and distribute news and pictures to the newspapers, television and radio stations, and news magazines;

2) the syndicates, which offer background news and pictures, commentary, and entertainment features to newspapers, television and radio, and magazines;

3) the advertising agencies, which serve their business clients, on the one hand, and the mass media, on the other;

4) the advertising departments of companies and instituitions, which serve in merchandising roles; and the public relations departments, which serve in information roles;

5) the public relations counciling firms and publicity organizations, which offer information in behalf of their clients;

6) research individuals and groups, who help gauge the impact of the messageand guide mass communicators to more effective paths.

Who are the communicators who work for and with these mass media? We think of the core as being the reporters, writers, editors, announcers, and commentators for newspapers, news magazines, television and radio, press associations, and syndicates. But there are many others: news photographers; book and publication editors and creative personnel in the graphic arts industry; advertising personnel of all types; public relations practitioners and information writers; business management personnel for the mass media; radio-television script and continuity writers; film producers and writers; magazine writers and editors; trade and business paper publication writers and editors; industrial publication editors; technical writers in such fields as science, agriculture, and home economics; specialists in mass communications research; and teachers of journalism. Actors in television and motion pictures also are communicators in a special sense, adding emotional impact to the written script.

2. Translate the following words; make up 15 sentences using them:

impact, to carry message through, direct mail circular, billboard, to aim at, to appeal to, focus, range, coverage, adjunct, to collect, to distribute, to serve, merchandising, in behalf of, to gauge, personnel, motion pictures.

3. Answer the following questions:

1) By what means can a message be communicated to a mass audience?

2) Upon what is the focus in different types of publications?

3) What do television and radio offer to the audience?

4) How many agencies of communication do you know? Name them.

5) What do advertising departments serve for?

6) What is the role of research individuals?

7) Who are the core communicators who work for and with mass media?

8) What other communicators can you name?

9) Are actors in television and motion pictures also communicators?

4. Define the part of speech of the underlined words.

ІV ВАРІАНТ

1. Read and translate the text:

What Is Journalism?

A somewhat narrower definition is traditionally applied to the use of the mass media in order to identify the role of the journalist. In journalism there is an element of timeliness not usually present in the more leisurely types of writing of books. Journalism is a report of things as they appear at the moment of writing, not a definite study of a situation. Historically the journalist has been identified by society as carrying out two main functions: reporting the news and offering interpretation and opinion based on news. A journalist may write an account that is entertaining as well as newsworthy; but a person who writes for sheer entertainment only, such as some television script writers, is not a journalist.

Periodical journalism constitutes the oldest and most widely identified area. Periodicals are printed at regular and stated intervals. To be considered newspapers, periodicals must appear at least weekly in recognized newspaper format and have general public interest and appeal. Commonly identified as “journalists” are the reporters, writers, editors, and columnists who work for newspapers, press associations and syndicates, news magazines, and other magazines devoted largely to public affairs.

News reporting and commentaries delivered by television and radio are equally a form of journalism, as are public affairs documentaries, direct broadcasts of news events, motion picture newsreels, and filmed documentaries. The reporters, writers, editors, and photographers in the television-radio-film area point out that the general descriptive term “the press” applies to them as well as to print media men when they are dealing with news and opinion. But they tend more often to identify themselves with the name of their medium that with the collective word “journalist”.

The ephemeral nature of journalistic writing does not mean careless writing, as it is sometimes assumed. Journalistic writing is a contemporary report of the changing scene, intended to inform readers of what is happening around them. The impact of journalism can and often does influence the course of events being reported, because it brings the public opinion into focus and sometimes creates it.

The journalist deals in immediacy; he enjoys the stimulation of being close to events and the knowledge that his efforts can shape the future. The sum total of articles printed in the continuing issues of a periodical constitutes a big slice of history as it is being made. Many of the facts reported in any issue soon are outdated by later developments; yet they are true at the moment of writing.

The television and radio journalist communicates news of contemporary events by means of electronic devices rather than with paper and ink. Although this makes the transitory nature of air-wave journalism even more pronounced than that of the written word. Events with strong elements of sound or sight, such as a forest fire, a football game, or a political convention are especially well communicated by television and radio.

Dramatic evidence of how electronic and newspaper reporting can dominate the life of the world during a great crisis is found in the reporting of the assassination of President Kennedy. The four days after the fatal shots were fired at Mr. Kennedy, including the subsequent murder of the alleged assassin, Lee Harwey Oswald, as millions watched in horror on television, and finally the somber grandeur of the Presidential funeral, were all splendidly reported by television, radio, and newspapers. They provided a massive portrayal of events and held the world tightly in the grip of intense emotion.

2. Translate the following words; make up 15 sentences using them:

to identify, timeliness, interpretation, account, newsworthy, sheer, appeal, magazine, newsreel, to point out, to assume, to intend, impact, immediacy, to shape smth., to outdate, contemporary, device, convention

3. Answer the following questions:

1) What is there in journalism that not usually present in the more leisurely types of writing?

2) How was journalism historically identified by society?

3) What a periodical must do to be considered a newspaper?

4) Who can be identified as “journalists”?

5) Can news reporting and commentaries delivered by television and radio be considered a form of journalism?

6) What is journalistic writing?

7) why can we say that journalism deals in immediacy?

8) what are the advantages and disadvantages of communicating news by means of electronic devices?

9) What evidence proves us that electronic and newspaper reporting can dominate the life of the world?

4. Define the part of speech of the underlined words.

V ВАРІАНТ

1.  Read and translate the text:

Sunday Papers – World’s Largest

By far the bulkiest newspapers published anywhere are the Sunday editions of American metropolitan newspapers. These mammoth publications wrapped in sections of coloured comics often contain more than 300 pages, nearly 4 pounds of reading matter covering everything from the current world crisis to interior decorating advice, theatrical notices, baseball scores, and weekly television logs.

There are two dozen such Sunday newspapers in the United States with 500000 or more circulation, and five with more than a million. Even these mammoth figures, however, are greatly exceeded by the circulation of several English Sunday papers, printed in London and distributed throughout the British Isles.

The Sunday paper is designed for family reading and is distinguished fron the daily editions by two elements: a huge feature “package” and bulk retail advertising. As a medium for late spot news, the Sunday paper is less important than the daily editions because relatively less news occurs on Saturday (which it is covering) than on weekdays. Much of the material in the news sections is of a feature and background nature, stories for which there is no space in the smaller daily editions. Many newspapers print part of their Sunday editions well in advance because of the difficulties of printing such huge issues on the available press equipment on publication date. Stripped-down, predate versions of the New York tabloid, containing the coloured comics and magazine features, are distributed to rural areas across the United States several days before publication day.

The Sunday editions of most newspapers have substantially larger circulation than the daily editions and sell for a higher price, sometimes more than double. Publishing a Sunday paper is a very expensive operation because of the heavy costs involved in buying the coloured comics and nationally syndicated magazine inserts and in preparing the abundance of locally created feature material, such as the weekly television log and the staff-edited local magazine feature section. Newsprint costs on bulky paper are very high. Many smaller newspapers find such a publishing effort unprofitable, especially since they must compete against the metropolitan editions which are distributed over very wide circulation zones. As a result the Sunday field is dominated by the big-city newspapers which can afford to enter it; for most of them it is very lucrative, providing a substantial share or their annual profits.

Department stores have found Sunday editions to be one of their most effective selling tools. The paper is read at home in leisurely surroundings, and almost every member of the family pursue at least one part of edition as it is scattered around the living-room floor. So the stores put a heavy share of their advertising budget into thr Sunday edition, often taking multiple pages or even entire eight-page sections to publicize their wares.

2. Translate the following words; make up 15 sentences using them:

bulky, to wrap, to contain, to cover, circulation, to distribute, to distinguish, advertising, daily edition, in advance, rural areas, abundance, feature material, unprofitable, to compete against, a share of something, to pursue.

3. Answer the following questions:

1) What editions are the bulkiest news papers published anywhere?

2) What information do such editions include?

3) What circulation do Sunday newspapers have?

4) Why is such papers distinguished from the daily editions?

5) What type of material takes the most part of such editions?

6) Is it very expensive to publish such a newspaper? Why?

7) Why do many smaller newspapers find such a publishing effort unprofitable?

8) Why do department stores find Sunday editions to be one of their most effective selling tools?

4. Define the part of speech of the underlined words.

КОНТРОЛЬНА РОБОТА № 6

I ВАРІАНТ