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MODEL. TV DEBATES OF POLITICIANS
Task 1. “I became a journalist because I did not want to rely on newspapers for information.” (Christopher Hitchens).The statement presupposes that newspapers are not a reliable source of information. Read the extract below, fill in the blanks with the words in the box and discuss the issue of reliability of the media as a source of information.
There never was a time when news _______ were perfect. Journalists have always worked with too little time and too little certainty; with ______from owners and governments; with laws that_________ the search for truth. But the evidence I found in researching my new book, Flat Earth News, suggests our _______ to recycle ignorance is far worse than it was. I commissioned research from specialists at Cardiff University, who _______ more than 2,000 UK news stories from the four ______ dailies (Times, Telegraph, Guardian, Independent) and the Daily Mail. They found two striking things. First, when they tried to trace the_____ of their "facts", they______ that only 12% of the stories were wholly composed of material researched by reporters. With 8% of the stories, they just couldn't be sure. The remaining 80%, they found, were wholly, mainly or partially constructed from _____ material, provided by news agencies and by the public relations industry. Second, when they looked for __________ that these "facts" had been thoroughly checked, they found this was happening in only 12% of the stories. The ______ of those two findings is truly alarming. Where once journalists were active gatherers of news, now they have generally become mere passive ________ of unchecked, second-hand material, much of it ________ by PR to serve some political or commercial interest. Not journalists, but churnalists. An industry whose primary task is to filter out _____ has become so vulnerable to _________ that it is now involved in the mass production of falsehood, ________ and propaganda. Task 2. Read the text “Offensive Information Warfare” and give examples of your own which illustrate this category of Information warfare. Date: 2016-04-22; view: 1029
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