Give a written translation of the text.

Practical exercises:

Work in groups of 3 or 4. Discuss the following cases, applying moral reasoning and using ethical guidelines given above. Then report the results of your discussion:

a. In October, 2010 Novaya Gazeta published an investigative article about neo-Nazi groups. There the newspaper also published the links, quotes and the photos from the Nazi web site. The article, on the other hand, caused charges of “propaganda of extremism” from state authorities. Should the newspaper or other media source openly publish links to extremist web-sites?

b. You have heard rumors that your local nursing home is abusing its clients. However, no complaints have been filed with state regulatory agencies or with the police. You have contacted some of the clients’ family members, who say they are concerned but have no proof. Will you go undercover as a volunteer aide at the nursing home (no special training required) to investigate? Would it be ethical?

c. The son / daughter of a famous person in your country has been recently kidnapped. Your task is to write an online article about the case. What information will you use/ not use in your story, when you know that the family of the kidnapped child think any press coverage of the case might be harmful, they avoid interviews and don’t give any information about the ransom.

d. A candidate for city council in your community had a nervous breakdown 10 years ago. The candidate’s opponent has slipped you a hospital document confirming this fact. Should you print the story? Why or why not? If you do, does the candidate have any grounds to sue you for invasion of privacy?

e. You are a photographer who went on assignment to the city festival. You snapped a picture of man who was drunk, but he was posing for you. Your editor decided that this picture captured the fun mood of the festival and used it. The man turned out to be a city official. He is now furious and is suing the paper for invasion to privacy – disclosure of a private fact. Discuss whether he has grounds for a lawsuit and whether you should have taken the picture.

Lesson 11

Part 1. General Reading

Text A

Mass Media Audience: Stages of Audience Evolution

Pre-reading task.

What do you think mass media audience is?

What are its main types?

Guess the meaning of the following words:

audience [ ]

elite [ ]

exemplify [ ]

fragmented [ ]

indication [ ]

interactive [ ]

transmitter [ , ]

Study the following words and expressions:

affluence [ ] - достаток, богатство, изобилие

affluent [ ] - богатый, состоятельный; зажиточный; изобильный

cater (for / to) [ ] - удовлетворять (требования); угождать, потворствовать (чьим-л. прихотям)

denominator n [ ] - общий знаменатель, сходные характеристики, мерило, мера

evolve v [ ] - выявлять, обнаруживать, эволюционировать, развивать(ся)

gear v [ ] - направлять на достижение определенной цели

insert n [ ] - вклейка (в книге, газете, журнале), рекламный вкладыш в журнале

occur v[ ] - происходить, случаться, совершаться

penny press [ ] - дешевые печатные издания таблоидного типа, популярные в США в 19 в.

sermon n [ ] - проповедь, поучение, нотация

subtle adj [ ] - неуловимый, тонкий; едва различимый

supplement n [ ] - приложение (дополнительная часть газеты, расширяющая ее содержание)

Read and translate the text using a dictionary if necessary:

As communication media develop and evolve, audiences evolve with them. The notion of media and audience evolution has been suggested by several mass communication scholars. The discussion below incorporates and expands upon ideas put forth by John Merrill and Ralph Lowenstein in their book Media, Messages and Men and by Richard Maisel in his article "The Decline of the Mass Media," in a 1973 edition of public Opinion Quarterly.

In general terms, we can identify at least four stages in audience evolution:

I. the elite stage

2. the mass stage

3. the specialized stage

4. the interactive stage

In the elite audience stage, the audience for the medium is relatively small and represents the more educated and refined segments of society. In this stage, the audience does not represent the "average man" or "average woman." Media content is geared to elite tastes. In the mass audience stage, the potential audience consists of the entire population, with all segments of society likely to be represented. Media content is designed to appeal to what has been called the "least common denominator" in the audience. The specialized audience stage is typified by fragmented, special-interest audience groups. Media content is carefully designed to appeal to distinct and particular audience segments. In the interactive audience stage, the individual audience member has some selective control over what he or she chooses to see or hear. In effect, the audience member joins in the process as an editor or, in some cases, even as a transmitter of information.

Transitions from one stage to the next are subtle and usually occur over long periods of time. Factors that influence the evolution from stage to stage are social (more education, more leisure time), technological (availability of electricity, printing presses, etc.), and economic (more affluence, presence of commercially based media system). In addition, certain media audiences within a single country may be at different levels of evolution, and audiences within different countries may be at different stages. Lastly, as is the case with most generalizations, these evolutionary stages are better exemplified by some media than others, especially when only a single country (the United States) is examined. Nonetheless, this framework is helpful in analyzing mass media audiences and allows us to gain some indication as to the future trends in audience evolution.