Vocabulary

downshifting – понижение уровня жизни

luxuries – предметы роскоши

petroleum – нефтепродукты

rubbish – мусор

to deprive – лишать

QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

1. Divide the text into logical parts.

2. Make up a plan of the article.

3. What is the main idea of the author?

4. What are your priorities in shopping?

5. What choice do you prefer – to work less and buy less or to work more and

spend more?

23. What makes a good journalist?

Nowadays the world around us is shaped by information. That is why people working with it must be high professionals. Being a journalist means to have a number of professional qualities, knowledge and skills.

Every day we read newspapers, watch TV or read blogs. What for? To know what’s going on in the world and in our country, to get information, and to entertain ourselves. Who prepares and presents all this news for us? Journalists. Like in any other profession, some necessary components form a real professional. What are these components? What makes a good journalist?

“Journalism is literature in a hurry” (Matthew Arnold). Indeed, if you can’t write correctly and interestingly nobody will read you. Every article should be like a short novel and the reader should want to read it to the end. Journalists should not express their personal opinions. There should be only facts, laconic and not boring. Furthermore, after reading an interesting article the reader can advise friends and relatives to read it and then discuss it. This is success for a journalist.

“You can crush a man with journalism” (William Randolph Hearst). There is a belief that mass media is the fourth power. If you report that some businessman has lost his business, all his shareholders will panic and start selling shares for the cheapest prices. This man could be ruined. Besides, where did you get this information? Did it come from a reliable source? Have you checked it? May be somebody paid you for this article? The main rule of a good journalist is to check facts and never lie to your readers.

“In journalism, there has always been a tension between getting it first and getting it right” (Ellen Goodman). Certainly, all people need the most relevant information. We buy a newspaper if we see an interesting headline. A journalist should be everywhere at the same time. If you want to be the first who finds out a sensation, you will find a way to make the impossible possible.

But unfortunately, in many cases, journalists present us their own version of events, trying to make us believe it. They are looking for sensation, not for the truth. It is unfair. The aim of any article is to tell interesting facts about an uninteresting topic, but not to create these facts. Have you ever asked a question: “Why do people hate reporters?” Here is the answer. So what are the components of a good journalist? These include an interesting way to present ideas, facts and the truth. Put yourself in your readers’ shoes. We all live in the same world and in the same conditions. Let us help each other make our life truthful.