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  3. A big piece of clap-trap about the press is that it has enormous power. It is taken for granted by the public-at-large, who are

A big piece of clap-trap about the press is that it has enormous power. It is taken for granted by the public-at-large, who are

admin2010-01-15  59
问题      A big piece of clap-trap about the press is that it has enormous power. It is taken for granted by the public-at-large, who are apt to be impressed by anything that is said three times; it is continually advertised by the press itself, and it is cherished by press lords, some of whom, at least, should know better.
     In what way is the press supposed to be so powerful? The general notion is that the press can form, control or at least strongly influence public opinion. Can it really do any of these things? Hugh Cudlipp, editorial director of The London Daily Mirror, and a man who should know something about the effect of newspapers on public opinion, doesn’t share this general notion about their power. He thinks newspapers can echo and stimulate a wave of popular feeling, but that’s all. "A newspaper may successfully accelerate but never reverse the popular attitude that common sense has commended to the public."
     Like other habit-forming pills, the press can stimulate or depress, but it cannot cure. It can fan fear and hatred of another nation (when the fear and hatred are there, waiting to be fanned) but it cannot make peace. As more and more people have painful reason to know, the press has a nasty kind of power--the same kind of power a bully has, of hurting somebody smaller and weaker than himself. An individual’s only defense against the press is the law of libel, but considerable harm and much pain can be caused without going as far as to commit an actionable libel.
     Everyone has heard of the "power of the press"; no one has seen it. The greatest believers in this exaggerated "power" and the loudest promoters of it are, naturally, the press lords themselves. One of the most deluded of these, was Robert McCormick, publisher of The Chicago Tribune, "The world’s greatest newspaper". McCormick, and of course his paper, were al- ways in bitter opposition to the Roosevelt Democrats, as well as to the liberal element in his own Republican Party. A story used to be told about the Tribune--no doubt apocryphal but in essence true--that one of the janitors in the Tribune building always bet against any political candidate the paper supported; and that he found this sideline so profitable that he was able to buy two sizable blocks of fiats.
     The people in Chicago who bought the Tribune didn’t buy it to find out how to cast their votes; they bought it in spite of its advice and its bias, because on the whole they liked its personality and found it entertaining. Does this seem to argue a too shrewd, calm and sensible attitude on the part of the ordinary newspaper reader? The press is generally appreciated by the public for what it is rather than for what it pretends to be. They don’t feel it as a power in their lives, but as working-day prerequisite.
Hugh Cudlipp will agree with the view that ______.
选项 A、newspapers can change popular attitudes
B、a newspaper may reflect popular feeling
C、popular attitudes are shaped by the press
D、the press can control public opinion
答案B
解析 第二段提到Hugh Cudlipp对报界社会作用的看法，他认为报纸可以反映并刺激公众的感情，但仅此而已，因此选B。
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