学术英语 社科
Academic English for
Social Sciences
7
Change in Journalism
In the era when technology is changing
every aspect of our lives, the ways of
reporting and viewing news are inevitably
affected. How digital technology-driven
products like iPad, Kindle are impacting
traditional journalism is the focus of this
unit.
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Unit Contents
Lead-in
Text A
Text B
Text C
Listening
Writing
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
• Lead-in
– Lead-in task
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Lead-in
Task Watch the video clip and complete the
sentences according to what you have heard.
1 The topic of the video clip is _______.
e-books
2 The benefits of e-books include: They can ____________________;
store hundreds of titles
they are ________
portable and allow readers to _______________;
download books they enable people to
____________________.
read
the story out loud
e-book titles
3 The number of e-book titles stocked by Amazon.com is 300,000
__________________.
on the costs of producing a book
4 The reason to choose digital releases is to save
________________________________.
not as engaging as traditional paper books
5 The critics think e-books are _____________________________________.
6 The legal settlement dictates _____________________________________
Google has got the rights to millions of
________________________________
copyrighted titles instead of Amazon which is opposed by
___________________.
Microsoft and Yahoo
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
• Text A
– Critical reading and thinking
– Difficult sentences
– English language for
academic purpose
• Specialized vocabulary
• Collocations
• Signpost language
• Formal English
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Text A
Critical reading and thinking of Text A
Text Analysis
Read Para. 1 and find out the qualities of the
new form of journalism
ubiquitous news, global information access,
instantaneous reporting, interactivity, multimedia
content, and extreme content customization
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Text A
Critical reading and thinking of Text A
Text Analysis
Advantages: a potentially better form of journalism
Disadvantage: It presents many threats to the most
cherished values and standards of journalism
(authenticity of content, source verification, accuracy,
and truth)
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Text A
Critical reading and thinking of Text A
Text Analysis
Argument:
A set of economic, regulatory, and cultural
forces, driven by technological change, are
converging to bring about a massive shift in the
nature of journalism at the millennium. (causes)
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Text A
Critical reading and thinking of Text A
Text Analysis
Supporting details: (Paras. 3-4)
1) The growth of a global economic system has
rewritten the financial basis for journalism and
the media in general.
2) deregulation
3) The end of Cold War has unleashed a variety of
cultural and political forces
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Text A
Critical reading and thinking of Text A
Text Analysis
4) convergence of technology and media
→The new media system embraces all forms of
human communication in a digital format
→ Convergence is also occurring in the realm of
media ownership
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Text A
Critical reading and thinking of Text A
Text Analysis
Two different assumptions about convergence:
→ Convergence is a good thing and inevitable.
Reasons: It holds the promise of a better, more efficient,
more democratic medium for journalism and the public in
the 21st century.
→ Convergence is neither inevitable nor necessarily good.
Reasons: enormous threats to privacy, increasing
concentration of ownership, a shrinking diversity of voices,
an ever-escalating race to report the new more rapidly,
inequitable access o information technology and digital
journalism.
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Text A
Difficult sentences
• Authenticity of content, source verification,
accuracy, and truth are all suspect in a
medium where anyone with a computer and
a modem can become a global publisher.
(Para.1)
→ Nowadays the new medium means anyone can
publish something she/he wants to say as long as
she/he has a computer and a modem. In this case ,
it is difficult to check the authenticity of content, to
verify the source, to guarantee accuracy, and to
stick to the truth.
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
•
Text A
Difficult sentences
Paramount is the frequently held, techno-utopian
assumption that convergence is a good thing and
inevitable. (Para. 8)
→ The most dominant assumption describes an
ideal world in which convergence is a good thing
and will happen at any rate.
Do the tasks on pages 142-143.
Unit 7
Text A
Change in
Journalism
English language for academic purpose
Collocations
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
the penny press
in the twilight of
multinational corporate behemoths
mergers and acquisitions
an ever-escalating race
in the realm of
There is no denying that
Paramount is…
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Text A
English language for academic purpose
Signpost language
giving examples (page 144)
•
•
•
•
The first example is. . .
For instance. . .
Here’s an example of what I mean. . .
Let me give you an example. . .
Do Task 2 on page 144.
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Text A
English language for academic purpose
2
Formal English
Do Task 3 on page 145.
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Text A
Suggested answers
Critical reading and thinking
Task 1 Text A discusses how journalism is impacted by new
media and all kinds of forces in the digital era. Complete the
following diagram about the causes and effects of the
changes according to the text.
_______forces
cultural
Economic forces
Causes
Regulatory forces
impacting
Convergence of technology
___________________
and media
Journalism
Text A
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Suggested answers
Critical reading and thinking
Task 1 Text A discusses how journalism is impacted by new
media and all kinds of forces in the digital era. Complete the
following diagram about the causes and effects of the
changes according to the text.
Benefits: ______________________________________________________
1. reengage an increasingly distrusting and alienated audience
______________________________________________________________________
2. a better, more efficient, more democratic medium for journalism and the public
Journalism
Effects
1. threats to privacy
Problems: __________________
2.
___________________________________
increasing concentration of ownership
____________________________
3.
a shrinking diversity of voices
__________________________________________________
4.
an ever-escalating race to report the news more rapidly
__________________________________________________
5.
inequitable access to information technology and
digital journalism
__________________
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Text A
Suggested answers
Critical reading and thinking
Task 2 Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or
false (F) according to the text.
F 1 Today’s audience are becoming more and more trusting.
T 2 The Internet presents many threats to the most cherished values and
standards of journalism.
T 3 The financial situation for journalism and the media is changed because
of globalization.
T 4 Other countries followed the U.S. to carry out deregulation.
F 5 The end of the Cold War has stabilized many cultural and political forces.
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Text A
Suggested answers
Critical reading and thinking
Task 2 Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or
false (F) according to the text.
T 6 All kinds of technology are fusing into one.
T 7 We need to seriously consider the issue of convergence of ownership.
F 8 The popular belief about convergence is that it is an unavoidable curse.
F 9 Convergence is sure to render a better, more efficient, more democratic
medium for journalism and the public in the near future.
F 10 The digital age poses a great threat to ancient civilization due to
problems caused by technology.
Unit 7
Text A
Change in
Journalism
Suggested answers
Critical reading and thinking
Task 3 Do you see the impact of new media on journalism in
your daily life? Work in pairs and think of examples to
illustrate the following impacts mentioned in the text.
1 ubiquitous news
2 global information access
3 instantaneous reporting
4 interactivity
5 multimedia content
6 content customization
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Text A
Suggested answers
Critical reading and thinking
Task 4 At the end of the article, the writer quotes some
sociologists who lament the problems brought about by
technology. Work in pairs and decide whether the following
problems are true or not and give your reasons.
1 threats to privacy
2 a shrinking diversity of voices
3 inequitable access to information technology and digital journalism
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Text A
Suggested answers
Language building-up
Task 1 Collocation
1 Match the words in Column A with those in Column B.
Column A
Column B
1. undergo
f
a. reporting
2. present
e
b. force
3. apply
c
c. rules
4. instantaneous a
d. access
5. inequitable
d
e. threat
6. unleash
b
f. transformation
Unit 7
Text A
Change in
Journalism
Suggested answers
Language building-up
Task 1Collocation
2 Complete the sentences with the correct form of the words in
the box.
apply inequitable instantaneous present undergo unleash
1 The museum ______________
has undergone a series of changes and will be reopened in two
weeks.
2 The trial judge __________
had applied an incorrect principle of law.
present no difficulty for someone with her experience.
3 The task should _______
have unleashed a storm of criticism.
4 The new tax laws ______________
5 Recently developed medical tests can give _____________
instantaneous results.
inequitable and unjust, with big gap between
6 The current health care system is __________
rich and poor.
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Text A
Suggested answers
Language building-up
Task 2 Signpost language
2
Complete
the following sentences with the correct form of
the expressions given in the above box. There may be
more than one correct answer.
1 The style of the American Southwest ____________
is exemplified by jeans and
a cowboy hat.
2 There are many sources of air pollution, exhaust fumes,
for example / instance .
____________________
3 Some groups, namely
_______ homeowners and landlords, will benefit
from the new tax.
Unit 7
Text A
Change in
Journalism
Suggested answers
Language building-up
Task 2 Signpost language
2Complete the following sentences with the correct form of
the expressions given in the above box. There may be
more than one correct answer.
4 That sum of money is to cover costs _______
such as travel and
accommodation.
5 __________
To illustrate our approach to customer service, I’ll give you
the following examples.
a case in point he follows the introduction with
6 As _____________,
development of the railroad in the period between 1820 and
1861.
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Text A
Suggested answers
Language building-up
Task 3 Formal English
Replace
the underlined words and expressions in the
2
following sentences with the more formal ones from Text A.
1 Journalism is undergoing a fundamental change.
key: transformation
2 The distinguishing qualities include ubiquitous news, global information
access, reporting the minute the news happens, interactivity …
key: instantaneous reporting
3 In fact what is really true is that a set of economic, regulatory, and
cultural forces, driven by technological change, are converging to bring
about a massive shift in the nature of journalism at the millennium.
key: Rather
4 Let’s witness the unsteadiness of the world’s financial markets in August
1998.
key: volatility
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Text A
Suggested answers
Language building-up
Task 3 Formal English
Replace
the underlined words and expressions in the
2
following sentences with the more formal ones from Text A.
5 That system was “perfected” in the following innovations through
television in the network era.
key: subsequent
6 … and only now is beginning to crystallize: the coming together of
telecommunications, computing, and traditional media.
key: convergence
7 What is of chief concern is the frequently held, techno-utopian
assumption that convergence is a good thing and inevitable.
key: Paramount
8 … unequal access to information technology and digital journalism.
key: inequitable
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
• Text B
– Critical reading and thinking
– Difficult sentences
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Text B
Critical reading and thinking
Text Analysis
•What did the author attend last week?
•What did he do there?
•What problems have arisen from the tragic
events at Ford Hood army base?
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Text B
Critical reading and thinking
Text Analysis
Group discussion
•
What social rules are challenged by digital
technology? And in what ways?
•
What are the author’s suggestions to deal with
the ethical issue? What do you think of them?
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
•
Text B
Difficult sentences
None of us revealed the substance of the debate,
and the online activity was in some ways just a good
way of making the point that the world has changed,
but we could easily have crossed the line with an illconsidered tweet. (Para. 1)
→ None of us leaked the content of the debate, and
what we did online to some extent helped to
demonstrate that the world of journalism has
changed. However it is easy for online activities
to breach rules, for example, a tweet that is
posted without much thinking.
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
•
Text B
Difficult sentences
During the show I was… in a manner that would
have got me kicked out of the National Theatre but
seemed entirely appropriate for an event that began
with geek Simon Singh showing us a real enigma
machine. (Para. 6)
→ During the show what I did would be
considered ill-mannered and I would even be
driven out of the National Theatre but in this
case it seemed quite appropriate because the
show was about technology.
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Text B
Difficult sentences
•
Wendy Hall, Michele Neylon and I all loudly
protested that we hadn’t been reading e-mails but
engaging in debate with the audience, although I’m
not convinced we persuaded her that we weren’t just
being impolite. (Para. 8)
→ We all argued that we were not doing our own
personal stuff but were communicating with the
audience. Our arguments however did not seem
to convince Sarah Montague who probably still
believed that we were impolite.
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Text B
Difficult sentences
•
The shift in the boundaries was in the news this
week for much more serious and somber
reasons. (Para. 10)
→ This week a piece of news reports a serious
and somber incident that shows how the
boundaries (the line between one’s private life
and public life) is shifting.
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Text B
Difficult sentences
•
“her behavior had nothing to do with getting the
word out; it wasn’t about preventing harm to others,
but rather a simple case of “look at me looking at
this”. (Para. 13)
→ “She did such things not to spread the news or to
prevent harm to others, but simply to show that
she was at the scene”.
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
•
Text B
Difficult sentences
“For all the sound and fury…” (Para. 14)
→ "Sound and Fury" is an expression referring to great uproar and
passionate exclaims that ultimately mean nothing. It comes from
a line in Shakespeare's play Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 5) when the
character of Macbeth is informed of the death of his wife and he
exclaims:
"Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Text B
Difficult sentences
•
“we need to get back to a point as a society where –
without thinking – we put our humanity before our
ego”. (Para. 15)
→ “we need to go back to the stage when the whole
society would automatically consider others before
considering oneself.”
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Text B
Difficult sentences
•
“gossip and news has always travelled quickly.
What’s different is the reach and speed now possible
and the wider and deeper impact”. (Para. 18)
→ “gossip and news has always spread quickly.
What’s different now is how quick and how deep
such news can reach.
Unit 7
Text B
Change in
Journalism
Suggested answers
Critical reading and thinking
Researching
Task Have you ever carried out “social reporting” using your
digital tools? If not, do you know anyone who did it? Work in
groups of 2-3 and carry out a survey in the class about Chinese
university students’ involvement in “citizen journalism”.
Examine:
•How many students know the term “citizen journalism”.
•Whether they have ever made or read “social reporting” online.
•Where they find such reports (e.g. on blogs, BBS).
•What the story was and whether it turned out to be true.
•What the advantages of this kind of reporting are.
•What the disadvantages are (e.g. the reliability).
Analyze your findings and report back to the class.
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
• Text C
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Text C
Suggested answers
Task List three features of NowPublic.
1. Anyone can write a story.
2. Whatever gets the most votes becomes the lead story.
3. Nobody on staff makes actual editing changes to the
content.
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
• Listening
– Recognizing digressions
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Listening
Academic activities
A speaker might say something that departs from
the central topic in a speech in order to liven up the
talk, to attract the audience’s attention or for other
reasons. This is called a digression.
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Listening
Academic activities
•Recognizing the start:
I remember once…
That reminds me…
By the way…
•Recognizing the end:
So, as I was saying…
Anyway, where was I?
Back to the point…
Do the tasks on page 152.
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Listening
Listening tasks
Task 1 Listen to the interview and complete the paragraph
according to what you have heard.
There are several big problems when it comes to Internet access. One of
the big ones is that a lot of the material on the Internet is in English, and that
puts a barrier up to a lot of people in the world because they
instantly (1) _______________
have to speak at least some English to understand the information there.
the connection To connect to the Internet,
The other thing is (2) just
___________________.
you need to connect either through cables or you can do it through radio
waves. But in many parts of the developing world, what you have is a very
slow connection over a telephone line. Telephone lines in a lot of these parts
quite unreliable they’re a bit crackly, they might have
of the world are (3) _______________,
some interference on the line. So what you then have is an Internet
connection that, not only is slow, but (4) ________________________.
could break at any moment That
is a huge problem for the developing countries.
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Listening
Listening tasks
Task 2 Listen to the interview again and decide whether the
following statements are true (T) or false (F).
F
1 The Internet is more important than mobile phones in gaining
information.
F
2 Without access to information, the farmer in Senegal cannot sell
his mangos.
T
3 Having access to information makes a difference in business.
F
4 “Have-nots” in this talk refer to people who don’t have money.
T
5 One of the advantages of mobile phone over landline is that it’s
more affordable.
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
• Writing
– Writing discussion
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Writing
Writing: discussion
Explain the strategies and do the
tasks on page 154.
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Writing
Signpost language for writing discussion
An examination of the results in relation to
existing research
•The data is broadly consistent with the major trends
in the literature as to…
•These results concur with other studies that show…
•Our observations that… are not new.
•In contrast to some reports in the literature, there
were few differences between…
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Writing
Signpost language for writing discussion
An indication of the importance of the findings
•This is the first study, to our knowledge, to examine…
•These results describe for the first time…
•Only one other study, to our knowledge, has examined…
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Writing
Signpost language for writing discussion
Implications or practical applications of the study
•This study reinforces the recommendation for…
•These findings can contribute considerably to…
•The results are of direct practical relevance.
•An implication of these findings is that…
•The above discussion raises some interesting
questions.
Unit 7
Change in
Journalism
Get ready for Unit 8
Do the following tasks:
1. Find out main points of Text A;
2. Define the key terms with examples;
3. Mark the specialized vocabulary and explain them;
4. Underline the collocations you think important.