Why do so many Americans distrust what they read in their newspapers? The American Society of Newspaper Editors is trying to ans

admin2017-08-15  13

问题     Why do so many Americans distrust what they read in their newspapers? The American Society of Newspaper Editors is trying to answer this painful question. The organization is deep into a long self-analysis known as the journalism credibility project.
    Sad to say, this project has turned out to be mostly low-level findings about factual errors and spelling and grammar mistakes, combined with lots of head-scratching puzzlement about what in the world those readers really want.
    But the sources of distrust go way deeper. Most journalists learn to see the world through a set of standard templates (patterns) into which they plug each day’s events. In other words, there is a conventional story line in the newsroom culture that provides a backbone and a ready-made narrative structure for otherwise confusing news.
    There exists a social and cultural disconnect between journalists and their readers, which helps explain why the "standard templates" of the newsroom seem alien to many readers. In a recent survey, questionnaires were sent to reporters in five middle-size cities around the country, plus one large metropolitan area. Then residents in these communities were phoned at random and asked the same questions.
    Replies show that compared with other Americans, journalists are more likely to live in upscale neighborhoods, have maids, own Mercedes, and trade stocks, and they’re less likely to go to church, do volunteer work, or put down roots in a community.
    Reporters tend to be part of a broadly defined social and cultural elite, so their work tends to reflect the conventional values of this elite. The astonishing distrust of the news media isn’t rooted in inaccuracy or poor reportorial skills but in the daily clash of world views between reporters and their readers.
    This is an explosive situation for any industry, particularly a declining one. Here is a troubled business that keeps hiring employees whose attitudes vastly annoy the customers. Then it sponsors lots of symposiums and a credibility project dedicated to wondering why customers are annoyed and fleeing in large numbers. But it never seems to get around to noticing the cultural and class biases that so many former buyers are complaining about. If it did, it would open up its diversity program, not focused narrowly on race and gender, and look for reporters who differ broadly by outlook, values, education, and class.
What is the passage mainly about?

选项 A、Needs of the readers all over the world.
B、Causes of the public disappointment about newspapers.
C、Origins of the declining newspaper industry.
D、Aims of a journalism credibility project.

答案B

解析 本题实际是在问文章的主旨。从文章第1段的内容可知,为什么如此多的美国人不相信他们从报刊上看到的信息呢?美国报刊编辑协会正在试图解释这个棘手的问题。该组织正在进行长期的自我分析,即人们所知的新闻可信度调查。第2段说明了项目的结果。在随后的几段中,作者分析了出现这种现象的原因——记者和读者之间存在社会和文化的差异,他们的标准模式不符合许多读者的要求。读者对新闻媒体令人惊讶的怀疑并不是由于报道有误或是报道技术的问题,而是因为记者与读者之间世界观的日常冲突。从文章最后一段的内容可知,对于任何产业来说,这都是一种容易引起争论的情形,对于一个日趋衰落的产业来说尤其如此。新闻业是一个麻烦不断的行业,它一直雇用着那些态度让读者讨厌的职员。现在,它又主办座谈会,进行可信度调查,以便了解读者为什么恼怒,为什么大规模地消失。但是新闻界似乎从未注意到过去许多读者们所抱怨的文化与阶层偏见。如果新闻界注意到了这一点,它就应该实施多样化计划,应该雇用那些世界观、价值观、教育背景以及社会阶层完全不同的记者。据此可知,本文主要探讨的是读者不相信报刊的原因。B项与文章的意思相符,因此B项为正确答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/ddFO777K
0

最新回复(0)