1. Read the text and answer the questions:
Who are the BBC and the IBA governed by?
Where are the BBC and the IBA financed from?
How do BBC1 programmes differ from BBC2 programmes?
What do they show on ITV?
What programmes do radio channels provide?
2. Name the principal British newspapers. Say what kind of information they offer their readers.
3. Read the following extract and explain why Fleet Street is often called the home of the British Press.
One of the most famous highways of London, Fleet Street is often called the centre of the newspaper industry. It was known in the early 13th century as Fleet Bridge Street; its west side was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. Many famous lanes and streets ran into Fleet Street. The street was noted for its coffeehouses and taverns and for the famous literary men living and working in it. Outstanding among these were Samuel Johnson, Ben Jonson, John Milton, Charles Lamb, and Oliver Goldsmith. Among the publications associated with Fleet Street are Punch, the Daily News, the Daily Telegraph and the Evening Standard. During the 18th and 19th centuries it became the headquarters of publishers and is still the journalistic street of London. The street and the immediate area are dominated by the offices of daily and provincial newspapers and all their related associations.
4. There are a lot of magazines and other periodicals available in Russia. Which of these magazines would you like to read? Why?
As far as |
I'm keen on ... I'm interested in… I enjoy reading … |
I'd like to read “...”. |
It is ... There is/are ... It is packed with… It contains ... It approaches... Besides, ... |
6. Read the text once more. Use the information given in it while speaking about the Russian Press.
TEXT 3 The American Press, Television and Radio.
The newspapers in the United States can be divided roughly into four categories: weeklies and semiweeklies, small dailies, larger dailies, and the gigantic metropolitan dailies. The size and frequency of a newspaper's edition depend upon the amount of advertising and circulation revenue it commands. No matter what their size, all newspapers have a fundamental organization in common. Each has five major departments:
editorial, which gathers and prepares the news, entertainment, and opinion materials, both written and illustrated;
advertising, which solicits and prepares the commercial messages addressed to the readers;
circulation, which has the task of selling and delivering the newspaper to the readers of a community;
production, which turns the editorial materials and advertisements into type and prints the newspapers;
business, which oversees the newspaper's entire operation.
In 1990, about 9 thousand newspapers appeared in the United States. Most daily newspapers are of the "quality" rather than the "popular" variety. The paper with the largest circulation, The Wall Street Journal is a very serious newspaper indeed. It can be found throughout the country. Some of the largest newspapers are at the same time news-gathering businesses. They not only print newspapers, they also collect and sell news, news features, and photographs to hundreds of other papers in the U.S. and abroad. Three of the better-known of these are The New York Times', The Washington Post's, and the Los Angeles Times' news services.
American newspapers get much of their news from the two U.S. news agencies AP (Associated Press) and UPI (United Press International). These two international news agencies are the world's largest.
There
are over 11,000 magazines and periodicals in the
United
States. More than 4,000 of them appear monthly, and over 1,300
are published each week. They cover all topics and interests, from
art and architecture to tennis, from aviation and gardening to
computers
and literary criticism. Quite a few have international editions, are
translated into other languages, or have "daughter"
editions
in other countries. Among the many internationals are National
Geographic, Reader's Digest, Cosmopolitan, Vogue, Time, Newsweek,
Scientific American and Psychology Today.
The problem of describing American radio and television is simply this: there's so much of it, so many different types, and so much variety. In 1995, there were over 9,000 individual radio stations operating in the United States. Of this number, over 1,000 were non-commercial, that is, no advertising or commercials of any type are permitted. These public and educational radio stations are owned and operated primarily by colleges , universities and boards of education. At the same time, there were about 1,200 individual television stations. Of these TV stations, just under 300 were non-commercial, that is non-profit and educational in nature and allowing no commercials and advertising. The non-commercial radio and television stations are supported by individual donations and funds from state sources.
All radio and television stations in the United States, public or private, must be licensed to broadcast by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), an independent federal agency.
The National Public Radio network (NPR) is an association of public radio stations, that is, of non-commercial and educational broadcasters. NPR is known for its quality news and discussion programs. The largest television networks are PBS (Public Broadcasting System) with its over 280 non-commercial stations, CNN (Cable News Network), which carries only news and news stories, ESPN, the all-sports cable network, MTV, which is famous for its music videos, etc.
EXERCISES
1. Read the text to find answers to the following questions.
1. How many individual radio and TV stations operate in the USA?
2. How does the Federal Communications Commission regulate their broadcasts?
3. What kind of body is the National Public Radio network?
4. What is the largest television network?
2. Try to guess what programmes are these extracts taken from?
A: Look at this oak tree, for example. The leaves should be green, but they are turning yellow.
B: The Prime Minister of Canada has just arrived in London.
C: OK, blue eyes, you’re under arrest for the murder of Mrs. Kelly.
D: Tomorrow it will be cloudy in the South with rain spreading from the west later.
3. Roleplay.
a) You are an American journalist. Ask your colleague living in Moscow about the most popular newspapers and magazines in his country and their characteristics.
b) You are a journalist living in Moscow. Answer your American colleague's questions about the most popular newspapers and magazines in your country and their characteristics.
4. Get ready with the questions for the contestants in a TV quiz show. The questions will all deal with The American Press Television and Radio.
5. Summarize the information of two previous texts to be ready to speak on the topic “The press”.
TEXT 4 Defamation.
Defamation consists of publication of a falsehood that defames an identifiable person or corporation. Persons are identifiable if they are named or pictured, and also if they are recognizable to their acquaintances.
Publication includes broadcasting. The ancient distinction between slander and libel has been abandoned in most broadcasting cases. Now, broadcasters generally are governed by the same libel law as newspapers. Publication also includes republication, which is another way of saying that a broadcaster is responsible not only for his own defamatory comments (the news anchor's commentary, for example) but also for those of third persons whose words are circulated by the station in its news broadcasts.
As a legal matter, a falsehood is anything the broadcaster can't prove is true.
The only truth that matters is the one that can be proven in a court of law. A statement is defamatory if it tends to damage a person's reputation. Obviously it is defamatory to accuse a person of committing a crime or of engaging in immoral activity. But it can also be defamatory to say that he or she threw a temper tantrum, is a bigot, or a coward.