Rewrite these sentences so that they mean the same thing, using the word in brackets.

Activity 1. Vocabulary expansion. Familiarize yourself with the words and word-combinations and compose sentences of your own.

The news: gathering and delivering

Gathering the news

Journalists gather news in a number of different ways. They may get stories from pressure groups, which want to air their views in public. They seek publicity for their opinions and may hold press conferences or may issue a statement/press release. A person who especially wishes to attract news attention will try to include a sound bite in what they say. It is particularly hard for journalists to get material in the silly season.

Journalists also get stories by tapping useful sources and by monitoring international news agencies like Reuters. The more important a story is, the more column inches it will be given in the newspaper. Journalists of different political persuasions often put their own gloss/spin on a storyand some journalists gather stories by muck-racking.

Delivering the news

A rag is an informal word for a newspaper and it suggests that it is not of very high quality. The gutter press is a disapproving term used about the kind of newspapers and magazines that are more interested in crime and sex than serious news. A glossy is an expensive magazine printed on good quality paper.

Journalists produce copy, which has to be ready for a deadline. When everything is ready the newspaper goes to press. A very important story that comes in after going to press may find its way into a stop press column. A very new newspaper or story can be said to be hot off the press.

A story that is only to be found in one newspaper is an exclusive. A scoop is a story discovered and published by one newspaper before all the others. A major story can be said to hit the headlines on the day it is published. At that time the story breaks or becomes public knowledge. If it is an important story it will receive a lot of coverage or space in the press. A newspaper may be taken to court for libel or defamation of character if it publishes an untrue story that harms a person’s reputation. If you are doing research into a news event, you may want to get hold of some previous issues of newspapers, or back copies, and you may wish to make a folder of cuttings from the papers about the event.

Explain the meaning of the words and word combinations in italics and compose sentences of your own.

Rewrite these sentences so that they mean the same thing, using the word in brackets.

1. Every newspaper inevitably gives its own particular view of events. (SPIN)
2. I have to find some articles from some previous editions of The Times. (BACK)
3. Read all about the royal divorce! Only just published (HOT)
4. The floods took up more space in the papers than any other story this week. (COLUMN)
5. Politicians are always ready and willing to give their opinions to the press. (AIR)
6. The story about the scandal surrounding her uncle broke on her wedding day. (HIT)
7. Any newspaper does all it can to prevent being sued for libel. (CHARACTER)
8. Muck-racking is a characteristic activity of an inferior kind of newspaper. (PRESS)

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 1810