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МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ И НАУКИ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОЕ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЕ БЮДЖЕТНОЕ ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОЕ УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ ВЫСШЕГО ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ «САНКТ-ПЕТЕРБУРГСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ ЭКОНОМИКИ И ФИНАНСОВ» КАФЕДРА АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА И ПЕРЕВОДА И.П. ТАРАТОНКИНА MASS MEDIA, EDUCATION AND YOUTH PROBLEMS Сборник текстов и упражнений ИЗДАТЕЛЬСТВО САНКТ-ПЕТЕРБУРГСКОГО ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОГО УНИВЕРСИТЕТА ЭКОНОМИКИ И ФИНАНСОВ 2012 ББК 81.2Англ-923 Т 19 Таратонкина И.П. 2 Т 19 Mass Media, Education and Youth Problems: Сборник текстов и упражнений / И.П. Таратонкина. – СПб. : Изд-во СПбГУЭФ, 2012. – 52 с. Предлагаемая публикация представляет собой сборник текстов и упражнений к «Практикуму по культуре речевого общения 1 ИЯ (английский язык)». Предназначена для студентов 1-3 курсов факультета лингвистики. ББК 81.2Англ-923 Рецензенты: доцент кафедры теории языка и переводоведения СПбГУЭФ, канд. филол. наук С.Е. Полякова доцент кафедры теории языка и переводоведения СПбИГО, канд. филол. наук О.В. Романова © СПбГУЭФ, 2012 3 UNIT 1. BRITISH TELEVISION AND RADIO C.P.Scott, editor of The Manchester Guardian (predecessor of The Guardian) from 1872 to 1929 made a much-quoted comment: “Television? The word is half Latin and half Greek – no good can possibly come of it.” Whatever its classical derivation, television was a Scottish invention – it was a Scot, John Logie Baird, who gave the first succesful demostration of the medium in 1926 – which was artistically developed by the British and Americans. At the end of the twentieth century, however, television is essentially and increasingly an American product, even in Britain. In summer 1997, there were five national terrestrial channels in Britain. (“Terrestrial” is the term used for services beamed from a transmitter on British soil to an aerial on the rooftop of the house – this was the original method by which television was broadcast.) Those five terrestrial channels are BBC 1 (founded in 1930); BBC 2 (which began in 1964); ITV (founded 1955); Channel 4 (started in 1982); and Channel 5 (created in 1997). The two BBC channels – run by the British Broadcasting Corporation, which had been set up in 1922 as a radio network – are funded by the public through a licence fee collected by the government. The other three channels are all paid for by advertising, although Channel 4 is owned by the government as a non-profit-making station. The government also issues seven- year operating licences to the ITV companies in return for an annual payment from profits. To the outsider, the aspect of the British television industry hardest to understand is the way in which the government owns broadcasting but has no editorial control over it. The BBC, for example, though state-owned, is in no way a state-broadcaster in the way that the term is understood elsewhere in the world. The government, having collected the licence fees, hands them over to the BBC to spend much as it wishes. This so-called “arms lenth” arrangement has considerably irritated many prime ministers – particularly Harold Wilson and Margaret Thatcher in the examples given in section one – who have furiously tried to influence the Corporation over particular programmes. The BBC‟s difficulties with politicians are complicated by the fact that it is required by the law to treat all political parties equally. The Royal Charter – the piece of legislation which establishes how the BBC will be run – states that it must be “impartial” in all political matters. In an election campaign, for example, producers will use a stopwatch to make certain that the two main parties have received exactly equal coverage during news bulletins. But, despite such measures, the government and the opposition both tend to believe that the BBC is biased against them. 4 And – despite the “arm length” arrangements and the “impartiality” clause it should be clear the the BBC‟s freedom is by no means total. The government – because it sets the level of the licence fee and decides whether this form of funding should continue – is in practice able to exercise leverage over the programme-makers, who will be wary of offending the landlords of the airwaves. The government also appoints a chairman and board of governors (usually party supporters) who have some advisory and disciplinary powers over the programme-makers. The licence fee was invented in order to leave the BBC free from commercial pressure on programme content and therefore produce what was known as “public service broadcasting”: a phrase which designated programmes of serious and often educational intention. Ironically, “public service broadcasting ” often means refusing to give the public what it wants. Until 1980s, this meant that the BBC was not required to worry about “ratings” (as the measure of audience-size in television is known). Even the commercial companies are not entirely free to follow the market in the way that their American equivalents (such as NBC or CBS) would be. The advertising-funded television stations are policed by the ITC, a body which makes sure that they provide designated quantities of news and documentary programmes, serious drama and programmes for children and minority groups. So, until relatively recently,it is important to realise that all British terrestrial networks were versions of public service broadcasting, with ITV allowed to be a little, but not much, downmarket of the BBC. Only with the recent rapid increase in the number of available television stationshas the ITC been forced to allow ITV companies to run themselves more and more audience- and advertiser-pleasers in the American style. It will be seen from the dates in the list of terrestrial stations above that television in Britain developed comparatively slowly, with the addition of a new channel only approximately every ten years. By the time that the British viewer had a choice of four channels in the 1980s, the American viewer could select from several hundred. There were two reasons for this contrast. The first was cultural: the British character had been conditioned by war-time rationings, the American by post-war plenty. The same disparity of choice applied as much to ice-cream as to TV channels. The second factor was a deep-seated feeling in British politics that television was a potentially dangerous and cheapening medium; that its “public service” ambitions were best ensured by restriction of outlets. Like many British institutional viewers, this one was swept away by the government of Margaret Thatcher. In support of the beliefs and ambitions of her influential newspaper champion Rupert Murdoch, she “de-regulated” television, allowing satellite and cable services to flourish. These programmes 5 were not available from the traditional aerial and required the purchase of a satellite dish or other receiver. (Generally far more expensive than the licence fee). Thatcher also encouraged greater commercial awareness in ITV by awarding the licences to the highest bidder rather than, as before, the one which promised the most impressive programming. Some years after this broadcasting revolution, the BBC remains surprisingly strong and Murdoch has been forced to popularise his satellite services by a form of programming blackmail, buying up the exclusive rights to a series of sporting events (football, cricket, rugby) and thus forcing fans of those games to buy a satellite dish. Murdoch – and most of the other satellite and cable operators – have also concentrated on American and Australian imports rather than original British programming. This means that the effect of de-regulation at the moment has been to increase the amount of money viewers pay for a service which includes relatively few choices and makes it harder for them to see some of those they already had. Despite widespread predictions that it could not survive the rivalry from television, radio in Britain still floureshes. This is in part because of the failure of national transport policy: Stuck for hours in traffic jams or on faulty trains, Britons aredesperate for music or speech shows. In this area, the BBC remains the major provider - with five national networks covering pop music (Radio 1 and 2); classical music (Radio 3); drama, speech and news (Radio 4); and sport and news (Radio 5). There is also a vast network of (BBC and commercial) local radio stations. Long-running national favourities include “Desert Island Discs” (Radio 4), in whichcelebrities choose their eight favourite pieces of music and “The Archers” (Radio 4), a soap opera set among a rural community in the fictional country of Borsetshire. (by Mark Lawson) Ex. 1. Answer the following questions: 1. What is the origin and meaning of the word “television”? 2. How many channels are there in Great Britain? Please name them. 3. What does mean the word “terrestrial”? 4. Who is the owner of television in Britain? Who can control it? 5. What are the BBC difficulties? Are they complicated? In what way? 6. What is the role of the government in the BBC management? 7. What is the licence fee? 8. What is specific for British commercial television companies? 9. Is there any difference between American and British television? What are the reasons? 6 10. What is meant by “de-regulated” television? 11. Why is British radio still flourishing? Ex. 2. Please say whether the statement is true or false without consulting the text and then check yourself. 1. Television was an American invention. 2. “Terrestrial” is the term used for exchanging services. 3. The government issues eight-year operating licences to the ITV companies. 4. “Arms-length” arrangement means that government having collected the licence fees hands them to the Parliament. 5. The BBC‟s freedom is restricted. 6. The licence fee was invented in order to leave the BBC free from governmental pressure on programme content. 7. The BBC was not required to worry about “ratings”. 8. The commercial companies are entirely free to follow the market in the way their American equivalents could do. 9. Satellite and cable programmes are available from the traditional aerial. 10. Most of the satellite and cable operators have concentrated on American and Australian imports. 11. The American viewer could select from four channels. 12. It is widespread prediction that radio could survive the rivalry from television. 13. There is a vast network of local radio stations. Ex. 3. Read given to you text and find synonyms for the following words and expressions in it: Exciting/ thrilling book Necessities Satisfaction To break out Famous person To be bound to Suited Broadly speaking To be bewildered 7 Ex. 4. Give free translation of the passage below “Beyond political policies – the electronic and the printed media in Britain also each face a central moral issue as they approach 21st century. For television, that question is the depiction of violence, both in fiction and in factual programming. Does aggressive or homicidal behaviour on screen result in violence and murder on the streets? After two decades of heated but inconclusive debate on this subject, an incident in 1996 – in which a man armed with two handguns burst into a school in Scotland and shot a teacher and her class of small children – forcused public and government attention on this issue. Although there was no evidence that the killer in this case was influenced in any way by television, the general horror at Britain‟s most shocking peace-time incident led to consensus in favour of a gentler cultural climate. How long this will last – and whether it is deep-felt or merely a case of giving the decent and proper response to opinion pollsters – remains to be seen”. Read the text TV violence is harmful and speak on the problems raised in it. TV Violence Is Harmful Every day some 40 million American children aged two through eleven tune into their family television sets for an average viewing time of 3 ½ hours. By the age of 12, they have an average viewing time of 13, 500 hours each – far more than double the time they spend in the schoolroom. In the process, they will have watched 101,000 violent episodes, including 13,400 deaths. What is the effect of all this television violence on young people? Consider these things: At the University of North Carolina Child Development Center, researches divided ten preschoolers who had similar television and play habits into pairs. Then, other an 11-day period, one child was shown a violent Saturday morning television program while his partner watched a non-aggressive show. The five shown violent programming became remarkably more aggressive, some even tripling their violent acts (kicking, hitting, and pushing), while the behavior of other five remained largely unchanged. Survey teams studied 2900 junior – and senior – high schoolers and 1500 graduates from almost 100 schools throughout the nation. In each group the researches found a correlation between television- violence viewing and troublemaking behavior. The studies showed that programs contained incidents of physical force intended to hurt or kill at a rate of eight per hour. And cartoons – the main part of children‟s programming – averaged 22 such incidents hourly. 8 Why? To find out, a professor of an American University interviewed 24 Los Angeles producers and scriptwriters – a group responsible for nearly all the cartoons and live-action programs for the Saturday-morning children‟s audience. None had any specific academic background for preparing children‟s programs. Over half had been in entertainment, advertising or publicity. Most displayed a complete indifference to possible harmful effects of their programs on children. “As long as we are on air,” said one producer, “I don‟t care.” The sad truth is that programming for children grew up within the television industry almost accidentally, without any thought to their welfare. And so today we have put control over children‟s mind into the hands of broadcasters, toy and food manufacturers, and other commercial interests whose dominant concern is what‟s good for profits and sales. “We are the only nation whose broadcasting treats children as a mean of advancing profits and not as a national treasure,” says one researcher. (From “Readers Digest”) Ex. 1. Make your own sentences with the following words and expressions: To tune into TV set; to be on air; troublemaking behavior; producer, scriptwriter; cartoon; live-action program; entertainment; advertising; publicity; broadcaster; broadcasting. Ex. 2. Translate from Russian into English Интересно проанализировать, как менялось положение журналиста на протяжении последнего времени. Современной британской прессе все меньше свойственна традиционная анонимность. Можно говорить о возникновении своеобразного культа журналиста, наделенного яркой и узнаваемой индивидуальностью. Таких журналистов, ведущих свои разделы или колонки, уже стало больше, чем репортеров. Другим знаком времени можно назвать сокращение специальных расследований и кампаний, инициированных средствами печати. Тенденциям в развитии прессы можно найти несколько объяснений, а завершает автор эту часть главы мыслью, которая перекликается с настроениями, буквально всколыхнувшими британское общество после гибели принцессы Дианы, мыслью о все возрастающей агрессивности, которая сопровождает сбор и подачу новостей. 9 Ex. 3. Fill in the table Verb Noun Adjective to advertise compromising to report commercial to inform effective selection viewer to criticize discussing sponsor entertaining to assign political interpretive Read the text. British Newspapers In summer 1997 there were 10 British national daily newspapers (publishing from Monday – Saturday) and 9 national daily titles. Traditionally, the press in Britain has been devided between “broadsheet” and “tabloid” papers. This began as a purely technical measurement of the size of paper on which a newspaper is printed. A “broadsheet” page is approximately 60 cm in depth and 37 cm in width; a “tabloid” page 37 cm in depth and 29 cm in width. This quantitative assessment soon, though, became qualitative. “Broadsheet” is generally used to mean serious and in-depth: articles on politics, finance, overseas news; “tabloid” is usually intended to denote trivial and showbiz: pieces on the sexual and domestic lives of pop stars and public figures. Another regular distinction is between “up-market” (broadsheet) and “down-market” (tabloid) titles. And a tabloid editor once sarcastically suggested that – given the vastly greater sales of the papers with the lesser dimentions – the proper contrast should be between the “popular” and the “unpopular” press. 10 The differences in editorial priorities are in many cases visible to the naked and untrained eye. For example, in the week when this section of the chapter is being written, we find – on the front of the broadsheet Guardian – a picture and report from the African nation of Sierra Leone on the recent military coup there. Thr tabloid Sun – which chose not to trouble its readers at all with the politicalshift in Africa – meanwhile devoted the whole of its front page to a row between Diana, Princess of Wales and a nanny employed by her former husband to assist with the Royal princess. These two story choices can be taken as broadly typical of broadsheet and tabloid press, although the barriers are not as constant as they once were. As will be explained later, increased commercial competition in the press means that – while it is unlikely that The Sun would in any circumstances devote much space to the politics of Sierra Leone – it is perfectly possible the The Guardian would give at least some coverage to the child-care arrangements of the Royal Family: a story which, twenty years ago, it would have totally ignored. However, the distinction between the two styles of journalism remains a useful one. In 1997, the market divided as follows: Daily Broadsheet: The Times. The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent, The Financial Times. Daily Tabloid: Daily Mail, Daily Express, The Sun, The Mirror, The Star. Sunday Broadsheet: Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph, The Independent On Sunday, The Observer. Sunday Tabloid: Mail on Sunday, Sunday Express, News of The World, Sunday Mirror, Sunday People. But – as the reader may deduce from the appiarance of such titles as Mail, Telegraph, and Independent with both Daily and Sunday prefixes – these 19 British newspapers are owned by only seven publishing companies.in terms of management, the titles divided thus, with the overall owner of the group identified in cases where he is a particularly prominent figure: News International (Rupert Murdoch): The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun, News Of The World. Associated Newspapers (Viscount Rothermere): Daily Mail, Mail on Sun. Telegraph Group (Conrad Black): Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph. Mirror Group Newspapers: Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, Sunday People, The Independent, The Independent On Sunday. Guardian Media Group: The Guardian, The Observer. Express Newspapers: The Daily Express, The Sunday Express, The Star. Pearson Group: The Financial Times. These simple statistics are in some ways misleading. Though numerically the biggest owner of titles, The Mirror Group is some distance from being