News Spreading 1 With the
arrival of the age of "information economy", intellectual work is becoming a
more important source of wealth than manufacturing. Organizations in all walks
of life are doing more to spread their information. So people of the Public
Relations are hired to speak for them. A lot of our news is actually collected
from press releases and reports of events intentionally staged for journalists.
In the information age, journalists spend their time, not investigating, but
passing on the words of a spokesperson. 2 There is a joke in
the novel Scoop about the newspaper’s owner, Lord Copper. The editors can never
disagree with him. When he’s right about something they answer "definitely", and
when he’s wrong they say "to some extent, Lord Copper." It seems reasonable to
suppose that, in the real world, the opinions of such powerful people still
influence the journalists and editors who work for them. 3 In
countries where the news is not officially controlled, it may be provided by
commercial organizations that depend on advertising. The news has to attract
viewers and maintain its audience ratings. I sus pect that some stories get
air-time just because there happen to be exciting pictures to show. In Britain,
we have the tabloid newspapers which millions of people read simply for
entertainment. There is progressively less room for historical background, Or
statistics, which are harder to present as a sensational story.
4 There is an argument that with spreading access to the internet and cheap
technology for recording sound and images we will all be able to find exactly
the information we want. People around the world will be able to publish their
own eye witness accounts and compete with the widely-accepted news-gatherers on
equal terms. But what it will mean also is that we’ll be subjected to a still
greater amount of nonsense and lies. Any web log may contain the latest
information of the year, or equally, a made-up story that you will never be able
to check. 5 Maybe the time has come to do something about it,
and I don’t just mean changing your choice of TV channel or newspaper. In a
world where everyone wants you to listen to their version, you only have two
choices., switch off altogether or start looking for sources you can trust. The
investigative journalist of the future is everyone who wants to know the
truth. A. Manufacturing industry in information
economy B. News in the age of information C.
Argument about individual accounts and their reliability D. Be
your own investigative journalist E. Don’t believe everything
you read in the newspapers F. Information presented in an
entertaining way Paragraph 5______