Unit III print media

“A newspaper should be the maximum of

Information and the minimum of comment”

Richard Cobden (1804 - 1865),

An English politician and pamphleteer

You know that mass communication has revolutionized the modern world. The print and broadcast media not only convey information to public, but also influence public opinion. Newspapers and magazines have long been major lines of communication and have always reached large audience.

In this unit you will know

• the history of newspaper;

• the classification of newspaper;

• career prospects for journalists involved in print media;

• the basics of the article analysis;

• some specific issues of professional ethics

you will be able

• to build a vocabulary map on the topic;

• to build a cognitive map on the topic;

• to speak about the history of the print media;

• to speak about the classification of the newspapers in different countries using the format of the presentation or poster-making;

• to explain what professional careers a journalist may have if he / she is involved in print media

STARTER

Do you know how people had learnt news before printing was invented? Share you ideas with your group mates.

Can you guess who these people are, what countries they came from, what they are famous for?

1

2

3

4

Vocabulary file

Task 1a

Here you are given an example of a word family of the word edit (v). Pay attention to the word-building suffixes and parts of speech they form.

editor

editorship

edit (v)

editorial

edited

edition

Make your own word-family charts of the words publish (v), advertise (v), print (v), circle (n), read (v).

Task 1b

Try to practice your knowledge and use these words and their derivatives in the sentences below.

1	Competition for … and profit of newspapers was very serious at the end of the 19th beginning of the 20th centuries.	circle
2	The introduction of the term “yellow journalism” is associated with the … William Hearst.	publish
3	Joseph Pulitzer was the first publisher who introduced in the newspaper a series of … stunts.	advertise
4	One of the canons of American journalism is that the press must be free of any bonds except public interest, i.e. it must not print … that knowingly subvert the truth.	edit
5	… levels in the USA are not as high as they once used to be.	read
6	Most of the … fall into two basic categories: display and classified.	advertise
7	The main …’s task is to set the newspaper’s basic … and commercial policies.	publish, edit
8	In some small newspapers the publisher in also the … .	edit
9	Popular newspapers are designed first of all for undemanding … .	read
10	Until the invention of … in the 15th century, the public had to get news mainly from hearsay and rumour.	print
11	During the Middle Ages manuscript letters were … among the people who could read.	circle
12	Francysk Skaryna is considered to be one of the first … in the East Slavonic countries.	print

Task 2a

To make your speech varied you should be able to use different synonyms while speaking. Here you are offered to match the synonymous pairs.

1	section (in a newspaper)	a)	partisan
2	issue (v)	b)	copy, edition
3	issue (n)	c)	manuscript
4	biased	d)	lay out, design
5	unbiased	e)	rubric
6	a handwritten document	f)	impartial, objective
7	make up (v) makeup (n)	g)	publish

Task 2b

Try to practice your knowledge and substitute the underlined words in italics by a proper synonym using the words above.

1. Until 1829 the two outside pages of the weekend Guardian were finally made up and printed by the Friday midnight.

2. After the Constitution of the USA was adopted and political parties were in the process of formation, American newspapers became very partisan.

3. Each copy of Pulitzer’s St. Luis Dispatch contained extensive sport coverage and comic strips.

4. The Sunday papers are designed for family reading and include more rubrics that the daily ones.

5. The chief editor is primarily responsible for the final newspapers layout.

6. The New York Times claims to be objective in news reports boasting of separation fact from opinion.

7. The Financial Times, one of the oldest British dailies, was first published in 1888.

8. Before the invention of printing people learned information from the handwritten news letters which were placed in the town squares or markets.

Task 3a

You know there are some words which are close in the meaning and usage, but still they are different words and are used in different situations. Understanding the peculiarities will help you to feel more confident while speaking English. Study the difference in meaning of some commonly confused words.

magazine a periodical paperback publication containing articles, fiction, photographs, etc.		journal a newspaper or periodical with the specific inclination
edit to prepare (text) for publication by checking and improving its accuracy, clarity, etc.		publish to produce and issue (printed matter) for distribution and sale
print to reproduce (text, pictures, etc.) esp. in large numbers, by applying ink to paper or other material	type to write (copy) on a typewriter or a computer typeface the style or design of the character on the type		publish to produce and issue (printed matter) for distribution and sale

Task 3b

Translate the words in italics from Russian into English. Mind the information above and possible word building suffixes.

1. The international издание of the Financial Times is issued in Frankfurt, New York and Paris.

2. Most of the national newspapers публикуются in the capital city and distributed all over the country.

3. Scientific American, the respected American monthly журнал, has the aim of explaining new development in science to non-specific readers.

4. Tabloid newspapers use bold шрифт more often than the serious ones.

5. Ivan Fyodorov is famous for печатание books in the Church Slavonic language.

6. The Sunday papers are usually larger than the regular экземпляры.

7. New Woman is an American glossy журнал, designed for not only housewives, but also for professional working women between 25 and 45.

8. The Times печатается in Wapping press centre, which used to be a warehouse, alongside with the other British newspapers bought by Rupert Murdoch.

9. She uses the computer only as a word processor, she just печатает her articles, that’s all.

10. Редакторский department is in charge of gathering stories and photos, editing the copy and designing the page.

11. Издание a Sunday newspaper is a very expensive operation because of heavy costs involved in buying the coloured comics, and magazine material and creating feature sections, etc.

12. The заместитель редактора usually checks stories and analyses and rewrites headlines, while the picture редактор chooses the photographs.

13. The New Yorker, founded in 1925, is one of the America’s leading weekly журнал which presents an entertaining mix of stories, poems, humorous writing, essays, biographies and foreign reports.

14. The Wilson Quarterly, published since 1976, is an American quarterly журнал written by academic specialists to appeal to the academically-educated non-specialists.

Task 4

Fill in the gaps with the appropriate preposition.

A The first news service …(1) England was supplied …(2) the great and wealthy people …(3) Elizabethian England (15581603). They had to spend part …(4) the year …(5) Parliament or …(6) the Law Courts, where they got news …(7) important events. They also exchanged daily gossip …(8) the crowds …(9) the streets …(10) London. But ….(11) the summer the rich went ….(12) their country houses. To keep …(13) touch …(14) the news they often employed private news-writers called Intelligencers (осведомляющий, доносящий), to send them regular bulletins …(15) the gossip …(16) the town. These reports were not printed, they were private letters …(17) a particular client.

B One …(1) the most popular categories …(2) youth-oriented magazines is the teenzines. These magazines play an important role …(3) shaping and reflecting the popular culture …(4) teenagers. Most teenzines are fan magazines dedicated …(5) 11 to 13-year-old girls. Teenzines got their start …(6) the 1950s, when popular music and motion-picture industry first started targeting young people …(7) a potential audience. The popularity …(8) these magazines grew in the 1960’s … (9)Beatlamania caused monthly circulation figures to skyrocket. Since then, rock music has dominated …(10) the content …(11) the magazines. Today these magazines print interviews with sexy superstars, discuss rock stars’ attitudes …(12) romance, drugs and love. Some …(13) the more popular teenzines are Tiger Beat, Teen Beat, 16, all …(14) girls. Male-oriented teenage fan magazines include Circus, Hit Parade, Metal, Cream.

Task 5

Fill in the gaps with the words from the box.

distinctive pink, world affairs, influential, provides, founded, editorship, circulation, slogan, renamed, coverage, press.