Section 4: Discussions

1. Develop the following statements orally using the information and the vocabulary of the main text:

1. Dissemination of information is the most important function of the mass media.
2. American newspapers not only inform their readers, they also entertain them.
3. There are quite a few requirements of the broad public that the media have to meet.
4. Sometimes the mass media face serious responsibility for libel.
5. TV is considered by many people to be the major source of information.

Topics for discussion:

6. What is the influence of the mass media on a person?

7. Modern means of mass communication, their effects and methods of regulation.

8. What’s on TV?

9. In what way is television a powerful and influential means of the mass media?

10. Violence on the screen.

6. Television is a tool for political influence (propaganda), an arena for political struggle during the election campaigns and a means for getting huge advertising revenue.

7. What makes a good journalist?

8. Advantages and disadvantages of journalism as a profession.

9. Why do people read newspapers?

10. What is your notion of “free press”?

11. The Internet is a modern means of mass communication.

12. Bright and dark sides of the world-wide network.

The Talk Show

1. The Chairman: Your task is to prepare the opening address and the final summary with conclusions. You are to introduce the guests, to give their background, to ask them additional questions and to appeal to the audience asking to comment on this or that issue.

2. A former newsman/newswoman speaks about the recent scandal. The channel he/she used to work on had to confront redress for libel because of some inaccuracies in his/her news coverage. A celebrity claimed an injury to his/her reputation and appealed to the court. The reporter was fired. Now he/she is free to say that the policy of the channel with its deadline pressures and overblown necessity for speedy coverage with regard to the essentially fleeting character of the news leaves no other alternative but to use unverified information resulting in the “impaired” and biased coverage.

3. The celebrity with “injured reputation” claims that the first and foremost reason for inaccurate and distorted information in the media is the lack of people proficient in presenting news objectively and unambiguously. He/she pinpoints the overall fall in literacy rate, the absence of special education of people involved in news industry and their personal qualities. (Some useful items of vocabulary: to have a nose for the news, a highly developed sense of news values, a wide acquaintance with men and affairs, to have a sound educational background and a very considerable stock of general knowledge.)

4. An expert in mass communication surveys the differences in furnishing news in Russia and the USA. He/she expounds on the notion of the freedom of speech and its realization in both countries. In his/her view, the circumscribed freedom, which the Mass Media are allowed to exercise by the relatively few people who are entrusted the controlling function, accounts for inaccuracies in news bulletins as well as in TV and radio outputs better than any personal qualities or qualifications of a journalist.

5. A politician reveals the truth about his recent electoral campaign. He truly believes that without employing extant communication technologies, whether they are legal or illegal (like the 25^th frame he used), you will never make an adequate rival in the dirty undertaking called the “election”.

6. A youngster who is keen on surfing the net expresses his view of the phenomenon of bias in news coverage. He/she gives some examples and appears rather knowledgeable about the on-going events and the underlying causes. He/she thinks that at present only Internet proves capable of disseminating a balanced picture of domestic and foreign affairs. And due to the impossibility of overall control of this medium he/she sees prospects in its development.

7. A media magnate is rather skeptical about the possibility of objective reporting. His/her experience shows that a program enjoying popularity is something that volens-nolens distorts our view of the reality as it should satisfy people’s desire for escapism. To be highly rated a program must help us to relax and divert us from our everyday routine thus bringing colour to otherwise vapid existence. Therefore, it is a fundamentally wrong premise to speak about objectivity or ethics in the media in our money-oriented society.

8. A psychologist speaks about the effects of mass communication on our psyche and on formation of our attitudes and opinions. He/she propagates the necessity to impose strict governmental regulations on the media. If we want to shape the culture through the media, we ought to adhere to the highest ethical norms.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14