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Дела учебные СМИ США. Английский язык |
Дела учебные |
"I
find television very educating. When it comes to American newspapers, a lot of people outside the United States think of that slender, serious paper, the International Herald Tribune, said to be on the daily reading list of many world leaders. The Herald Tribune, however, is not really an American paper. It is published in Paris (and printed simultaneously in Paris, London, Zurich, Hongkong, Singapore, The Hague, Marseille, and Miami) as an international digest of news, most of it taken from its much larger parents, The New York Times and The Washington Post. Many people in America have never heard of it. And few Americans would read it when they can get the real thing, that is, the full-sized daily newspapers. In 1986, a total of 9,144 newspapers (daily, Sunday, weekly, etc.) appeared in 6, 516 towns in the United States. Most of the daily newspapers are published rain or shine, on Christmas, Thanksgiving, or the Fourth of July (Independence Day). Including the 85 foreign-language newspapers published in 34 different languages, the daily newspapers in the United States sell over 63 million copies a day. The 762 Sunday papers are usually much larger than the regular editions. The record for a Sunday paper is held by The New York Times. One issue on a Sunday in 1965 contained 946 pages, weighed 36 pounds, and cost 50 cents. Reading the Sunday paper is an American tradition, for some people an alternative to going to church. Getting through all of the sections can take most of the day, leaving just enough time for the leisurely Sunday dinner. The Sunday newspapers have an average circulation of 57 million copies. There are also more than 7,000 newspapers which are published weekly, semi-weekly or monthly. Most daily newspapers are of the "quality" rather than the "popular" (that is, non-quality) variety. Among the twenty newspapers with the largest circulation only two or three regularly feature crime, sex, and scandal. The paper with the largest circulation, The Wall Street Journal, is a very serious newspaper indeed. It is often said that there is no "national press" in the United States as there is in Great Britain, for instance, where five popular followed by three quality newspapers dominate the circulation figures and are read nationwide. In one sense this is true. Most daily newspapers are distributed locally, or regionally, people buying one of the big city newspapers in addition to the smaller local ones. A few of the best-known newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal can be found throughout the country. Yet, one wouldn't expect The Milwaukee Journal to be read in Boston, or The Boston Globe in Houston. There has been one attempt to publish a truly national newspaper, USA Today. But it still has only a circulation of 1.2 million and, in its popular form, can only offer news of general interest. This is not enough in a country where state, city, and local news and political developments most deeply affect readers and are therefore especially interesting to them. In another sense, however, there is a national press, one that comes from influence and the sharing of news. 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. In one famous example, an expose' of the CIA published in The New York Times also appeared in 400 other American papers and was picked up or used in some way by hundreds more overseas. "Picked up" is not quite right. Such stones are copyrighted and other newspapers must pay for their use. Often newspapers try to avoid paying for this news by using the original newspaper's story and quoting the story indirectly ("The Washington Post reported today that..."). Because so many other newspapers print (or "borrow") news stories from the major American newspapers and magazines, they have great national and international influence. This influence spreads far beyond their own readers. In addition, these newspapers and others such as The Christian Science Monitor, The (Baltimore) Sun, the St. Louis Dispatch or The Milwaukee Journal are frequently mentioned among papers of international excellence. In a large international survey of newspaper editors, The New York Times was ranked by most as "the world's top daily." Syndicated columnists, journalists whose articles are sold by an agency for simultaneous publication in a number of newspapers, have much the same effect. Serious editorial columnists and news commentators from the major newspapers appear daily in hundreds of smaller papers throughout the nation. This allows the readers of a small town daily to hear the opinions of some of the best national and international news analysts. Many newspapers also use syndicated columnists as a way of balancing political opinion. On the so called op-ed pages (opposite the editorial page) of newspapers, columns from leading liberal and conservative commentators are often printed side by side. Political and editorial cartoons are also widely syndicated. Well-known political cartoonists such as Oliphant or MacNelly are known to most American and many foreign newspaper readers. Comic strips from Jules Feiffer, Garry Trudeau, or the creator of "Garfield" are similarly distributed. Satire and humor columns often have international reputations as well. The humor of Art Buchwald or Erma Bombeck is enjoyed from New Mexico to New Delhi, although the first writer is at home in Washington, D. C., the latter in Arizona.
Even on a normal Sunday a copy of The New York Times is a bulky affair Newspaper vending machines on busy street comers are a common sight in American cities News Agencies American newspapers get much of their news from the same sources which serve about half of the people in the world, that is, the two U.S. news agencies AP (Associated Press) and UPI (United Press International). These two international news agencies are the world's largest. Unlike some others - the French news agency AFP or the Russian TASS, for example - neither is owned, controlled, or operated by the government. AP is the oldest agency internationally (founded in 1848) and the largest. It maintains reporters and cameramen at 122 domestic and 65 foreign news bureaus. It has some 10, 000 subscribers - newspapers, radio and television stations and other agencies which pay to receive and use AP news and photographs - in 115 countries. UPI is the second largest, with 92 domestic and 81 foreign bureaus in over 90 countries. It is estimated that altogether, around 2 billion people get most of their news directly or indirectly through AP and UPI. It is also said that one reason why there seems to be so much "American" news internationally is that both agencies have their headquarters in the U. S. A basic characteristic of the American press is that almost all editors and journalists agree that as much as possible news should be very clearly separated from opinion about the news. Following tradition and journalistic ethics, young newspaper editors and reporters are taught that opinion and political viewpoints belong on the editorial and opinion pages. They are aware that the selection of what news is to be printed can cause a bias, of course. But an attempt must be made to keep the two separate. Therefore, when a news story appears with a reporter's name, it means that the editors consider it to be a mixture of fact and opinion. There is also a very good economic reason for this policy of separating news and opinion. It was discovered in the late 19th century that greater numbers of readers trusted, and bought, newspapers when the news wasn't slanted in one direction or another. Today, it is often difficult to decide if a paper is Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative. Most newspapers, for example, are careful to give equal and balanced news coverage to opposing candidates in elections. They might support one candidate or the other on their editorial pages, but one year this might be a Republican, and the next a Democrat. AP and UPI owe their international reputation and success to this policy. Only by carefully limiting themselves to the news - who said what and what actually happened how, when, and where - are they trusted and consequently widely used. To protect their reputations for objectivity, both AP and UPI have strict rules. These prevent newspapers from changing the original AP and UPI news stories too much and still claiming these agencies as their source. In addition to selling news, AP and UPI make available a dozen or so photographs and political cartoons for any major story each day. These give different views and show anything from praise to ridicule. Subscribers are free to choose and print those which suit them best. Just as there is no official or government-owned news agency in the U. S., there are no official or government-owned newspapers. There is no state censorship, no "official secrets act," nor any law that says, for example, that government records must be kept secret until so many years have passed. The Freedom of Information Act allows anyone, including newspaper reporters, to get information that elsewhere is simply "not available." Courts and judges cannot stop a story or newspaper from being printed, or published. Someone can go to court later, but then, of course, the story has already appeared. Government attempts to keep former intelligence agents from publishing secrets they once promised to keep - from "telling it all," as the newspapers say - have been notoriously unsuccessful. One of the best-known recent examples was when The New York Times and The Washington Post published the so-called "Pentagon Papers." These were "secret documents" concerning U. S. military policy during the war in Vietnam. The newspapers won the Supreme Court case that followed. The Court wrote (1971): "The government's power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the government." The tradition of "muckraking" - digging out the dirt and exposing it for all to see - is still extremely strong, and investigative reporting is still a large part of a journalist's work. This is one reason why so many younger Americans are attracted to careers in journalism as a way of effecting change in society. Even small-town newspapers employ reporters who are kept busy searching for examples of political corruption, business malpractice, or industrial pollution. They are assisted by court decisions which make it harder for "public figures" to sue for libel or slander. Almost anyone who is well known is a public figure, whether they be politicians, judges, policemen, generals, business leaders, sports figures, or TV and movie personalities. Needless to say, some Americans are not happy with this strong tradition of investigative reporting. They say that it has gone too far, that it gives a false impression of the country, that it makes it almost impossible to keep one's private life private. The press, they say, is not and should not be part of government. The American press responds by quoting their constitutional rights and proudly repeating Thomas Jefferson's noble words: "Our liberty depends on freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." They perform a public service that is necessary for a healthy democracy, they claim. Less nobly, they also know, of course, that when something which has been hidden behind closed doors is moved to the front pages, it can sell a lot of newspapers One of the Associated Press offices in Frankfurt, West Germany. Magazines 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 weekly newsmagazines - the best known are Time, Newsweek, and U. S. News & World Report - serve as a type of national press. They also have considerable international impact, above all Time. This newsmagazine appears each week in several international editions. There are some for various parts of the United States, for the Far East, for Australia, for Europe, and so on. Time claims that although the advertising changes in each edition, the content remains the same internationally. This is not quite true: in the U. S. editions, for instance, there is no section called "European Notes." In any case, no other single news publication is read so widely by so many people internation ally as is Time. There are two other reasons why Time has such international influence. First, several other newsmagazines were modeled on Time. Among these are the leading newsmagazines in France, Germany, and Italy. Secondly, Time also sells news, news features, interviews, photographs, graphics, and charts to other publication s throughout the world. Feature stories that first appear in Time are therefore echoed in many other publication s in many other countries. The newsmagazin es are all aimed at the average, educated reader. There are also many periodicals which treat serious educational, political, and cultural topics at length. The best known of these include The Atlantic Monthly, Harvard Educational Review, Saturday Review, The New Republic, National Review, Foreign Affairs, Smithsonian, and, of course, The New Yorker. Such widely read periodicals, along with the hundreds of professional journals, provide a broad and substantial forum for serious discussion. Again, a lot of what first appears in these publication s is often reprinted internationally or in book form. Many of the long The New Yorker essays, for example, have later appeared in shortened form in publications such as England's The Observer Magazine or Germany's Die Zeit. There is a strong market for such serious publications. National Geographic has an average circulation of over 10 million. Consumer Reports some 3 million, Smithsonian (published by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D. C.) over 2 million copies, Scientific American (U. S. edition) over 700, 000, and Saturday Review and The New Yorker over half a million each. More popular and less demanding publications, such as Family Circle, Woman's Day, or National Enquire, of course, have a huge readership and sell over 4. 5 million copies of each issue. Altogether, there are about 60 magazines in the United States that sell over 1 million copies per issue each, and roughly the same number with more than 500, 000 copies per issue. Books Despite fears that the so-called electronic media - especially radio, television, and videos might damage book publishing, the opposite seems to be true. Book sales since the introduction of television have increased considerably, well beyond the increase in population. In fact, the U. S. leads in the number of books read per capita. These books range from the most recent best seller or biography to histories, gardening and cookbooks, or technical volumes and encyclopedias. Several reasons have been offered to account for this fact. First, American schools have traditionally stressed and tried to develop a "love of reading," to make it a habit. This general educational emphasis has been successful. One notes how many people are reading books - not only newspapers or magazines - in city buses, airports, during lunch breaks, or on the beach. Secondly, public libraries have always been very active in communities throughout the country. Here, too, the general policy has been to get books to people rather than to protect the books from people. A favorite way of raising money for libraries is to have thousands of used books donated by the community and then to have a book sale ("Any five for $1!"). The money made in this fashion goes to buy new books for the library. Such popular community fund-raising activities also increase the feeling among people that the library is theirs. The third and probably most important reason is that there are no laws which protect book sellers or fix prices. Anyone can sell new and used books at discount and sale prices, and Just about everyone does. Very early, books were sold everywhere, in drug stores and supermarkets, department stores and 24-hour shops, through book clubs and by colleges as well as in regular book stores. Many university book stores are student-owned and run. They operate on a nonprofit basis, that is, all profits go towards keeping the prices of books down, for paying the student employees, and often to support student scholarships and other financial aid. Then, there are the large "paperback supermarkets" located in most shopping centers, which sell mainly paperback books on a variety of subjects. These, too, have done a great deal to keep the book trade healthy and growing. Nationwide radio and television shows, new movies, and filmed versions of books have often helped to create spectacular book sales. Bookstores everywhere are dedicated to "the fine art of browsing" Radio and Television 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 1985, 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 and universities, by local schools and boards of education, and by various religious groups. At the same time, there were close to 1, 200 individual television stations, not just transmitters that pass on programs. Of these TV stations, just under 300 were non-commercial, that is non-profit and educational in nature and allowing no commercials and advertising. Like the non-commercial radio stations, the noncommercial television stations are supported by individual donations, grants from foundations and private organizations, and funds from city, state, and federal sources. In short, if someone wanted to describe what can be heard and seen on American radio and television, he or she would have to listen to or watch close to 10,000 individual stations. There are similar types of stations, but no one station is exactly the same as another. All radio and television stations in the United States, public or private, educational or commercial, large and small, must be licensed to broadcast by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), an independent federal agency. Each license is given for a few years only. If stations do not conform to FCC regulations, their licenses can be taken away. There are several regulations which should be noted. Although the FCC regulates radio and television transmissions, it has no control over reception. As a result, there are no fees, charges, taxes, or licenses in the United States for owning radio and television receivers or for receiving anything that is broadcast through the air. This also means that, for example, anyone who wishes to build his or her own satellite receiving antenna - that metal dish now seen in many gardens or on rooftops of houses - may simply do so. No permission is needed and no fees are paid. Laws prohibit any state or the federal government from owning or operating radio and television stations (stations such as Voice of America may only broadcast overseas). There is also no governmental censorship or "reviewing" of programs and content. There are no governmental boards or appointed groups which control any radio or television broadcasting. Rather, the FCC ensures that no monopolies exist and that each area has a variety of types of programming and stations. It also regulates media ownership: no newspaper, for example, may also own a radio or TV station in its own area, nor may a radio station also have a television station in the same area. No single company or group may own more than a total of 12 stations nationwide. These and other FCC policies work to prevent any single group from having too much influence in any area and to guarantee a wide range of choices in each. Another FCC regulation, the so-called Fairness Doctrine, requires stations to give equal time to opposing views at no charge. Likewise, all commercial stations are required to devote a certain percentage of their broadcasting time to "public service" announcements and advertising. These range from advertisements for Red Cross blood drives and for dental care to programs on Alcoholics Anonymous and car safety. This broadcasting time given to public service messages is free of charge. With this "something-for-everyone" policy, even communities with only 10,000 or so people often have two local radio stations. They may broadcast local stories and farming reports, weather and road conditions in the area, city council meetings, church activities, sports events and other things of interest to the community. They also carry national and international news taken from the larger stations or networks and emphasize whatever might be the "big story" in the small town. The big cities, by contrast, are served by a large number of local radio stations, often by more than 25. People who live in cities such as New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles, for instance, have a choice of up to 100 AM and FM stations and many different "formats." There is also a great variety among television stations, although there are fewer overall. Smaller cities and areas have one or two local stations, and the larger cities ten or more. In Los Angeles, for example, there are 18 different local television stations. Ninety percent of all American homes can receive at least six different television stations, and more than 50 percent can get 10 or more without cable, without paying a fee, or any charges of any type. In Louisville, Kentucky, for example, there are 16 local radio stations and seven local television stations for a population of about 300,000 people. Three of the TV stations are affiliated with one each of the three major commercial networks, ABC (American Broadcasting Company), CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System), and NBC (National Broadcasting Company). These networks are not television stations or channels or programs: they are not licensed to broadcast. Rather, they sell programs and news to individual television stations which choose those they want to broadcast. These affiliated stations, of course, also create some of their own programming, produce their own state and local news programs, purchase films from other sources, and so on. Two of the TV stations in Louisville are "independents." As their name suggests, these are commercial stations which take their programs from a wide variety of sources, but also produce their own programs. The other two local television stations are educational. They stress cultural programs and features, including local, state, and national as well as international news and current affairs. There are also two cable systems serving the city. Allowing just about everyone "a piece of the air" has resulted in a tremendous variety. It has meant, for example, hundreds of foreign-language radio stations including those broadcasting in Chinese, French, Japanese, Polish, and Portuguese. About 160 radio stations throughout the U. S. broadcast only in Spanish. About half a dozen or so radio stations are owned by American Indian tribes and groups. There are some 400 radio stations operated by university students. Many of these stations are members of a nationwide university broadcasting network which enables them to share news and views. 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. Another public radio network, American Public Radio (APR), created The Prairie Home Companion. This commentary and entertainment program quickly became a national cult program, and a book growing out of this series, Lake Wobegone Days, was an enormous best seller in 1985. The largest television network is not CBS, NBC, or ABC. Nor is it one of the cable networks such as CNN (Cable News Network), which carries only news and news stories, ESPN, the all-sports cable network, or even MTV, which is famous for its music videos. Rather, it is PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) with its over 280 nonprofit, non-commercial stations sharing programs. The growth of public television in the past two decades has been dramatic. This is especially noteworthy when one considers that these stations must often survive on very limited budgets, on viewers' donations, and on private foundations. Their level of quality, whether in national and international news, entertainment, or education, is excellent. Children and parents in many parts of the world are familiar with Sesame Street, a series that was a breakthrough in children's programming, The Muppet Show, or Reading Rainbow. The majority of commercial television stations receive most of their programming, roughly 70 percent, from the three commercial networks. The networks with their financial and professional resources have several advantages. They are able to purchase the distribution rights, for example, to the most recent films and series. They can attract the best artists and performers. Above all, they are able to maintain large news-gathering organizations throughout the nation and throughout the world. They also have a considerable income from selling news and video material to other international television systems. All of the networks have nationwide news programs which also stress feature stories in the mornings, throughout the week. All have regularly scheduled news series. Among the most popular are CBS's Sixty Minutes and PBS's The MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour. The world's most durable TV show is NBC's Meet the Press which has been aired weekly since 1948. This show, in which important political figures or leaders are interviewed by Journalists, now has imitators in virtually every other country. Local television stations also have their own news teams, reporters and film crews. Usually, local television stations will offer between half an hour to two hours of local, city, and state news, weather and business information in addition to the national network news programs. In a city where there are three stations, for example, viewers will also have a choice of three local, city, and state news reporting programs and series. The local stations are also in competition with one another for getting the most recent news. If their programs are watched by many people, they are more likely to attract more money from advertisers. Numerous books, studies, and popular articles have been written about American commercial television and its programs, their quality or lack of it, their effects, real and imagined, their symbols, myths, and power. There are enough pressure groups in the U. S., however, - religious, educational, and those representing advertisers - so that what does appear on commercial television programs probably represents what the majority of people want to see. Most of the commercial series and programs which have been successful in the United States have also been successful internationally. They have been regularly purchased and shown even in nations that only have government-financed or controlled television systems. No commercial network in the U.S. thinks that Dallas, for example, is fine drama. But they've watched foreign television companies such as the BBC and ITV fight over the broadcast rights, and others hurry to make their own imitations. They conclude, therefore, that such popular entertainment series are in fact popular. There is less concern today than there once was about how much influence advertisers might have on television programming. The U. S. liquor industry did not stop the commercial stations from voluntarily banning all liquor advertising and commercials from TV in the early 1950s. And the strong tobacco lobby could not stop cigarette ads being banned either. All three commercial net-works gave extensive, and strongly critical coverage to the war in Vietnam. The Three Mile Island nuclear accident was widely reported in depth, as were and are airplane crashes or industrial pollution stories. The commercial networks have discovered what the newspapers did earlier: good critical investigative reporting on important issues will attract viewers. If one advertiser is offended, another will not be. Commercials take up about ten minutes of every 60 minutes during "prime-time" viewing. This is the period in the early evening when most viewers are watching television. Commercials range from those that are witty, well-made, and clever to those that are dull, boring, and dumb. Advertisers have learned that unless their commercials are at least amusing, viewers will either switch to another channel or use commercial "breaks" to get up and do something else. With the rising popularity of public television and commercial-free cable TV, viewers can, if they wish, turn to stations that do not have commercials. Experience in those countries which lead in the amount of television programs available - Canada, the United States, and Japan, in that order - seems to indicate that even with other choices available, commercially-produced programs are still popular with many people. Here it is interesting to note that Britain's commercial ITV channel now attracts more viewers than does the BBC. Many Americans, who pay no fee for either commercial or public TV, simply accept commercials as the price they have to pay if they choose to watch certain programs. At present, no one seems quite sure what will come out of the cable television, video, and satellite or pay television "revolutions." There is no nationwide system or policy on cable television. Local communities are free to decide whether or not they will have cable television. There are many different types of schemes, systems, and programs. Some offer top-rate recent movies on a pay-as-you-watch system, some offer opera and symphonic music. All are willing to provide "public access" channels where individuals and groups of citizens produce their own programming. It does not appear, however, that the hopes once voiced for cable television will be realized. Cable firms must be able to offer something special to get many people to pay for what they can normally see free of charge through regular public and commercial stations. It will also be difficult to get people receiving satellite programs with the help of dish antennas to pay for all the programs they simply grab out of the air. A few remarks on how much television that "typical American" watches should be added. Obviously, there is a lot to watch and a great variety of it. Live sports events are televised at full length and attract a lot of viewers. Recent full-length movies are popular and there is always at least one station that has the "Late Late Movies," often old Westerns or Japanese horror films that start after midnight and go on until 3 or 4 a.m. And quite a few viewers in the United States and elsewhere enjoy the many television series and made-for-television specials which seemingly never end. Statistics show that the number of hours spent watching television are highest for women over 55 years of age, and lowest for young men between 18 and 24 years. The popular press is often not very careful when reporting statistics of television-viewing times. The U. S. statistics published each year tell how long a television set in a typical American household is, on the average, turned on each day (and night), not how long an American is actually watching television. Such differences are important. The household might include parents who watch the local and national news programs each evening. The older children might watch a program, say the Bill Cosby Show, the most popular show in 1986. The teenager might then switch to the cable MTV, the famous channel featuring rock and modern music videos. What is counted, then, is the total time the TV set is turned on (now just over 6 hours a day). In fact, the number of hours of television the so-called average American watches has been stable for the past three years at around 4.5 hours a week. Furthermore, a Galiup poll found that while 46 percent of Americans chose television as "their favorite way of spending an evening" in 1974, only 33 percent did in 1986. Television sets in America are turned on in much the same way and for the same reasons that radios are, as background music and noise. Life does not stop in either case. Many morning and daytime programs are only viewed intermittently, while other things are going on and demand one's attention. The television set is only watched, in other words, when something interesting is heard. If our typical American were actually "glued to the tube" an average of six or seven hours a day, seven days of the week, very few would be going to school, earning university degrees, raising families, working, running businesses, or even getting much sleep. And few would have time to read all those newspapers, magazines, and books.
"Good evening Nothing happened today Here with that story is Jim Fulton in Moscow, Ginny Cooper in Washington and Fred Weidner in London"
The helicopter of TV station WHIO over downtown Day- ton, Ohio Helicopters are used by local television sta- tions all over the U. S. "May I suggest, bartender, that instead of watching this silly sporting event we switch over to a rather important documentary now on Channel 13?" | ||||||||||||||||||||
