INTERVIEW WITH CAROL: Problems with TV News

Here are some words and phrases from the interview with Carol printed in bold and given in the context in which you will hear them. They are followed by definitions.

The news is based on what’s going to keep people tuned in: watching TV

People are interested in plastic surgery or celebrities: medical surgery to improve your physical appearance / famous people

Find out how this woman lost weight: became thinner It’s shallow: without serious meaning

There are these people doing voice-overs: speaking “off-cantera” about what the viewer is watching

It’s equating those types of information: giving equal value to

Like a sitcom: TV series in which the same characters appear week after week (abbreviation for "situation comedy")

It’s like instant gratification: immediate satisfaction

TV news has to be reported by news anchors who are physically attractive: the main news reporters on TV

Do you think newspapers give you better coverage?: reporting I know I’m being sucked in!: tricked into watching

^ ANSWERING MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS

1 Read the questions below before you listen to the interview with Carol.

1

According to Carol, news on TV a is mostly about health issues, b is mostly international.

c is mostly entertainment.

2 In Carol’s opinion, the evening news a is boring to most people.

b tricks people into watching, c is an important source of information.

3 Carol thinks that political problems

a don’t get reported in the way they should be reported, b are not really interesting for most people, c are presented well by TV reporters.

4 Carol believes that most people

a are very interested in war and politics, b want information quickly, c don’t watch the news.

5 Carol says that if TV news anchors are not physically attractive, a people will not watch TV news.

b viewers will complain, c viewers will change channels.

6 According to Carol, newspapers

a have a wider audience than TV. b can be read quickly, c have the same problems as TV.

7 Carol feels that news on the Internet a is worse than the TV.

b is hai’d to find, c is too general.

8 Carol

a ahnost never watches the news on TV. b watches TV news even though she doesn’t think it’s good, c avoids the mass media.

2 Now listen and circle the one correct answer for each question.

3

Work with a partner and discuss your answers. Do you agree with Carol?

INTERVIEW WITH SHARI AND FRANK: Reading the newspapers

Here are some words and phrases from the interview with Shari and Frank printed in bold and given in the context in which you will hear them. They are followed by definitions.

The news is really depressing: unhappy and without hope

It’s a prestige thing to cover the international news: something done to look important The human interest stories can be really uplifting: positive, inspirational It was shocking that the judicial system had failed: legal

I read the main stories, especially the scandals: shocking stories about people who have committed crimes or immoral acts

You have to take it with a grain of salt: not believe all of it

It’s a lot of half-truths: stories that are partly true and partly false

It’s really biased: presented from only one point of view, one-sided, not objective,