Vocabulary
articles
editorial
news flashes
citizen journalism
front page
human interest
tabloids
breaking news
headlines
censorship
plea
axe
vows
riddle
quit
logged out
checked in
sort
called off
dragging on
Use of English
1 if, whether / on
2 of / up
3 would / on
4 on / having
5 not / off
LISTENING
Tapescript
I: Interviewer
O: Olivia
I: Today in the studio we have Olivia Holden, a reporter who runs a citizen journalist website. Olivia, tell us what made you decide to set up training for ordinary citizens to become journalists?
O: Well, being a columnist for the largest national broadsheet meant that I used to get a lot of letters from readers expressing how powerless they felt about what is happening in politics, and how frustrated they felt about not being able to influence the political process. So, about three years ago, I came up with the idea of training ordinary people to become journalists and opinion writers. I started an experiment on Facebook®, where I wanted to get real-time Twitter reports, but also train people to become journalists. The idea caught on faster than I had anticipated and the citizen journalist community has over fifty thousand new members from all over the world joining every week.
I: Wow, that is a lot. Could you tell us a little more about how these members contribute to the media?
O: Sure. First of all, each new member is trained in the basics of reporting. Of course they can look all of these up on the overview on our website, but we find that one-to-one communication is more effective. The key to becoming a reporter is to be able to use eyewitness accounts and original documentation. We also make sure that new members are familiar with the concept of what I call ‘double sourcing’. Then they are ready to start their research and article writing.
I: Sorry, what exactly do you mean by ‘double sourcing’?
O: It simply means that you shouldn't trust just one source of information, because if you base your article on a single source, you won't give the reader enough context and might even spread misinformation.
I: I see. So how reliable do you think citizen journalism is?
O: Actually, it is exciting to see the quality of the information provided by ordinary citizens. The problem today is the decrease in the number of local newspapers, which means less coverage of local news and issues relevant to the people in their region. Citizen reporting on a local level is truly excellent. Citizen journalists are not pushed for time, as they have no deadlines, so they can stay on a case or carry on doing research around the article for as long as they need. We've had citizens putting up original documentation of court rulings, even some government officials writing about exactly where public money was being invested. Basically, citizen journalists don't get paid. They are journalists because they care about what is going on in their country and in the world. They want to make sure that all the information they find is made public, without any censorship.
I: It seems like you're saying that we should trust citizen journalists more than professional journalists?
O: You know, there is probably some truth in that. They certainly help strengthen democracy.
C
D
B
C
A
READING
8
C
F
A
D
G
UNIT 8 PROGRESS TEST B
GRAMMAR
Did you manage to
couldn't
Were they able to
Can we
haven't been able to
can
managed to
were able to
were able to
can
, which was freshly squeezed,
that surprised me most
, which I hadn't noticed/didn't notice at first,
that won the match
I had broken
not obeying the lights
not required on the journey
sold in the shop
copying from others
any items left unattended