首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Our public debates often fly off into the wild blue yonder of fantasy. So it’s been with the Federal Communications Commission’s
Our public debates often fly off into the wild blue yonder of fantasy. So it’s been with the Federal Communications Commission’s
admin
2014-04-28
21
问题
Our public debates often fly off into the wild blue yonder of fantasy. So it’s been with the Federal Communications Commission’s new media-ownership rules. We’re told that, unless the FCC’s decision is reversed, it will worsen the menacing concentration of media power and that this will--to exaggerate only slightly--imperil free speech, the diversity of opinion and perhaps democracy itself. All this is more than overwrought; it completely misrepresents reality.
In the past 30 years, media power has splintered dramatically; people have more choices than ever. Travel back to 1970. There were only three major TV networks (ABC, CBS, NBC); now, there’s a fourth (Fox). Then, there was virtually no cable TV; now, 68 percent of households have it. Then, FM radio was a backwater; now there are 5,892 FM stations, up from 2,196 in 1970. Then, there was only one national newspaper (The Wall Street Journal); now, there are two more (USA Today and The New York Times ).
The idea that "big media" has dangerously increased its control over our choices is absurd. Yet much of the public, including journalists and politicians, believe religiously in this myth. They confuse size with power. It’s true that some gigantic media companies are getting even bigger at the expense of other media companies. But it’s not true that their power is increasing at the public’s expense.
Popular hostility toward big media stems partly from the growing competition, which creates winners and losers and losers complain. Liberals don’t like the conservative talk shows, but younger viewers do. A June poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that viewers from the ages of 18 to 29 approved of "hosts with strong opinions" by a 58 percent to 32 percent margin. Social conservatives despise what one recently called "the raw sewage, ultra violence, graphic sex and raunchy language" of TV. But many viewers love it. Journalists detest the cost and profit pressures that result from stiff com petition with other news and entertainment outlets.
It’s the tyranny of the market: a triumph of popular tastes. Big media companies try to anticipate, shape and profit from these tastes. But media diversity frustrates any one company from imposing its views and values on an unwilling audience. People just click to another channel or cancel their subscription. The paradox is this: the explosion of choices means that almost everyone may be offended by something. A lot of this free-floating hostility has attached itself to the FCC ownership rules.
The backlash is easily exaggerated. In the Pew poll, 51 percent of respondents knew "nothing" of the rules; an additional 36 percent knew only "a little". The rules would permit any company to own television stations in areas with 45 percent of U. S. households, up from 35 percent now. The networks could buy more of their affiliate stations a step that, critics say, would jeopardize "local’ control and content.
At best, that’s questionable. Network programs already fill most of affiliates’ hours. To keep local audiences, any owner must satisfy local demands, especially for news and weather programming. But the symbolic backlash against the FCC and big media does pose one hidden danger. For some U.S. house holds, over-the-air broadcasting is the only TV available, and its long-term survival is hardly ensured. Both cable and the Internet are eroding its audience. In 2002 cable programming had more primetime viewers than broadcast programming for 1he first time (48 percent vs. 46 percent). Streaming video, now primitive, will improve; sooner or later certainly in the next 10 or 15 years--many Web sites will be TV channels. If over-the-air broadcasting declines or disappears, the big losers will be the poor.
Broadcast TV will survive and flourish only if the networks remain profitable enough to bid for and provide competitive entertainment, sports and news programming. The industry’s structure must give them a long-term stake in over-the-air broadcasting. Owning more TV stations is one possibility. If Congress prevents that, it may perversely hurt the very diversity and the people that it’s trying to protect.
The word "raunchy" in the fourth paragraph probably means ______.
选项
A、audacious.
B、emotive.
C、refined.
D、obscene.
答案
D
解析
语义理解题。由题干定位至第四段。第四句提到保守人士对电视的看法:the raw sewage,ultra-violence,graphic sex and raunchy language,句中的despise(鄙视)和“垃圾”、“超暴力”等都是对电视的负面评价,显然raunchy language应与它们处于同一语义场,排除[B]“使感动的”和[C]“精致的”。[A]意为“大胆的”,也有正面含义,排除。只有[D]“下流的”符合本处语境,故为答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/kxpO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
______isthecapitalofCanada.
______referstothelearninganddevelopmentofalanguage.
A、dentaltreatmentB、casualtytreatmentC、emergencytreatmentD、allthetreatmentatapublichospitalA
A、respectpolicepersons.B、havealittlemorerespectforpolicewomanthanpoliceman.C、arelikelytosmackpolicewomanbecause
A、intendstomeantwopolicemen.B、meanstwopolicemen.C、referstoapolicemanandapolicewoman.D、doesn’tputstressongende
TheNationalHealthServiceinBritainoffersafullpackageofmedicalserviceto______.
Accordingtothenews,whyhastheseniorpoliceofficerresigned?
现在,我国的《红楼梦》研究,可以说是百花烂漫,盛况空前。“中国艺术研究院”设立了“红楼梦研究所”,从事这部伟大小说及其作者的专门研究。目前,已经完成了《红楼梦》新校本的校注和其他若干研究项目。此外,全国各研究机关和大专院校,也都拥有不少从事“红学”研究的专
YoucanfindtheGrandCanyonintheStateof______.
随机试题
《打击跨国犯罪公约》和《反腐败公约》对许多问题的规定是一致的,涉及刑事诉讼有关具体制度的主要包括以下哪些方面?()
月经后期常见证型不包括
关于乙酰唑胺下列介绍哪项正确
依据《建设工程监理规范》,项目监理机构在审查工程延期时,应依据影响工期事件()确定批准工程延期的时间。
基金业绩评价体系不包括()。
IfLinda______hermother’sadvice,shewouldnothavemadesuchamistake.
琴棋书画是中国古代文人所推崇的四门艺术。下列诗词与这四门艺术对应不正确的是()。
如下虚拟段页式存储管理方案的特性为: 地址空间 空间浪费 存储共享 存储保护 动态保护 动态连接
半导体存储器DRAM与SRAM不同的是需要______。
InZurich,aleadingCantonintheSwissConfederation,ithasbeenproposedtoteachoneforeignlanguage—English—inprimarysc
最新回复
(
0
)