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
36
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
Englishhasundergonedramaticperiods.The______periodisroughlyfrom449to1100.
A、Tomakeborrowingcheap.B、Torestoreconsumptionlevel.C、Tocurbpeople’senthusiasmforstocks.D、Tohelpliquidityreturn
AboutWetlandsintheU.S.A.Peopleenjoyafamoussoup(SHE-CRABSOUP)inNorthCarolinabecausethedaysoftheregionalso
Beguninthelate1960sbyPentagonweaponsresearchersasasystemforeasingcommunicationbetweencomputersindisparateelec
ThestylethatUrreahasadoptedtotellTeresita’s--andMexico’s---storyinhisbook"TheHummingbird’sDaughter"partakeso
Afunnythinghappenedonthewaytothecommunicationsrevolution:westoppedtalkingtooneanother.Iwaswalkinginthepa
Afunnythinghappenedonthewaytothecommunicationsrevolution:westoppedtalkingtooneanother.Iwaswalkinginthepa
TheUnitedStatesbelievesthattheefforttoreducetensionsisservedbyimprovingcommunicationbetweencountriesthathaved
交换机是目前国内拥有自主知识产权、可与国外相媲美的少数几种高新技术产品之一,但是由于外国公司的倾销导致的恶性竞争,使得中国的厂商们被逼得“喘不上气来”。之所以造成上述的状况,除了宏观的调控不力以外,不难发现中国通信企业普遍缺乏资金投入。中国电子工业部已制定
随机试题
什么是热处理工艺参数?
求方程的通解.
奶麻出疹时间是在发热后
承包经营耕地的单位或者个人连续()年弃耕抛荒的,原发包单位应当终止承包合同,收回发包的耕地。
业务操作中,监护人以未成年人名义申请贷款,并代其偿还的方式已成为个人住房按揭贷款潜在业务市场之一,银行对此类业务应大力推广。()
根据个人所得税法律制度的规定,下列各项中,以每次收入减除费用800元后的余额为应纳税所得额的有()。
()是一种社会现象,它是随着社会的产生而产生的,随着社会的发展而发展的。
法律概念的功能主要体现在()。
原型化是常用的一种软件开发方法,下述是应用原型化方法的前提的是 Ⅰ.严格定义软件需求是困难的 Ⅱ.有快速开发工具的支持 Ⅲ.可提供实际且可供用户参与的系统模型
A—lightgrayB—deepyellowC—darkbrownD—rustE—orangeF—ChineseredG—p
最新回复
(
0
)