Letter Writing. Write a letter to the editor in which you express your personal opinion about physical exercise, and point out concrete examples which either support or

Write a letter to the editor in which you express your personal opinion about physical exercise, and point out concrete examples which either support or refute the findings of the Harvard study.

260 AMERICA IN CLOSE-UP

6. Preparing an Interview

Lousy at Sports

Imagine that this revelation of a prominent TV producer in The New York Times magazine has aroused the interest of a popular talk show host, who now uses the magazine article as the basis for his interview.

Put yourself into the position of the interviewer and prepare an introduction, in which you

• point out the importance of being a
sportsman/sportswoman or at least a sports
fan, if you want to be accepted in American
society

• remind the audience of the large number of
well-known athletes who have been invited
to the show

• introduce your guest and explain why he has
been invited.

Then prepare questions concerning

• Mark Goodson's reasons for publicly
confessing his absolute dislike of sports

• the attitude of many Americans toward men
who are uninterested in sports

• Mark Goodson's anxieties as the father of a
boy

• his job as a moderator of a sports quiz

• the offer to become a baseball reporter

• his experience of being eventually found out
at a dinner party.

15 The Media

part A Background Information

U.S.A.-A MEDIA STATE?

COMMERCIAL CONTROL OF THE MEDIA

NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES

NEW PRESS DEVELOPMENTS

Mass communication has revolutionized the modern world. In the United States, it has given rise to what social observers sometimes call a media state, a society in which access to power is through the media. The term media, understood broadly, includes any channel of information through which infor­mation can pass. Since a democracy largely depends on public opinion, all those involved in communicating information inevitably have an important role to play. The print and broadcasting media not only convey information to the public, but also influence public opinion. Television, with access to virtually every American household, which typically tunes in about six hours a day, is a powerful influence. The broadcast media, capable of mass-producing messages and images instantaneously, have been largely responsible for homogenizing cultural and regional diversities across the country. Beyond this cultural signi­ficance, the power of the media is important to politicians, who use the media to influence voters; and to businessmen and women, who use the media to encourage consumption of their products.

The relationship works in the other direction as well. The audience's opinions influence the media industry. Most newspapers, magazines, radio and television networks in the United States are private commercial enterprises and must be responsive to their audience's demands, especially for entertainment, if they are to stay in business.

Newspapers and magazines have long been major lines of communication and have always reached large audiences. Today, more than 11,000 different periodicals are published as either weekly, monthly, bimonthly, quarterly, or semiannual editions. In 1986, a total of 9,144 newspapers were published in the United States. More than 62 million copies of daily newspapers are printed every day and over 58 million copies of Sunday papers are published every week.

Readership levels, however, are not as high as they once were. Newspapers have had to cope with competition from radio and television. They have suffered a decline in circulation from the peak years around the turn of the century largely because of the trend of urban populations moving to the suburbs. Studies show that most suburban readers prefer to get "serious" news from television and tend to read newspapers primarily for comics, sports, fashions, crime reports, and local news. Nowadays, Americans consider television their most important source of news, and a majority ranks television as the most believable news source. Accordingly, newspapers have made changes to increase their readership levels. Some established metropolitan newspapers are now published in "zoned" editions for different regional

262 AMERICA IN CLOSE-UP

audiences. In some cases, they have lost their readership to new weekly suburban newspapers that resemble magazines in format. To meet the public demand for more feature material, some publishers have started adding "life­style" and "home living" sections to their papers to make them more like magazines.

Circulation of Leading U.S. Magazines

General magazines, exclusive of groups and comics. Based on total average paid circulation during the 6 months prior to Dec. 31. 1986.

CONGLOMERATION

LARGE NATIONAL PAPERS AND NEWS SERVICES

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