The State of Modern British Journalism – answers and notes
1 Reporting – he says it is the central task of the trade.
1) trade – work which needs a special skill and training – eg the tourist/ building / car / trade
2) the trade – the people who work in a particular business or industry or in the same one – eg People who work in the trade can buy their books at a discount. The warehouse only supplies its goods to the (building/catering) trade, not direct to the public.
3) a job, especially one which needs special skill and which involves working with your hands – eg After leaving school, he went to college to learn a trade.He’s a mechanic by trade.
4) trade – adjective – eg a trade journal/magazine a newspaper, etc. i.e. produced for people working in a particular business or industry eg a fashion trade journal.
2 That they report much less than they used to and much less than they should.
3 That readers will find less information about current affairs, and more articles on general issues such as health, fashion, lifestyle or airing various personal opinions about topics. There will be less news in the newspaper!
4 They have switched over to a reliance on columnists and opinions.
switch (over) to – change (over) to
columnist – person who writes a regular piece of writing in a newspaper or magazine, usually on a particular subject eg He writes a weekly health column for the Evening Star.
5 Legwork and getting the information first-hand. He believes in legwork & getting the story first-hand – i.e. reporters should get out and about, picking up stories and gathering information, and should be responsible for establishing the truth and facts about their information.
legwork – the practical, tiring, perhaps boring work that needs to be done and involves moving from place to place.
tenet – noun – principle or belief – plural tenets)( formerly tenents)
first-hand – adv / adj – (of information or experience) from the original source, or from personal experience; direct
6 From Cardiff University’s School of Journalism.
7 It is mentioned separately from ‘the posh papers‘ – i.e nationals such as the Times the Guardian, the Independent, the Telegraph etc .
A tabloid – a type of popular newspaper with small pages which has many pictures and short simple reports – a tabloid newspaper
A broadsheet – a newspaper that is printed on large paper, or an advertisement printed on a large sheet of paper. In Britain, broadsheets used to be the commonest format for the most reputable and serious newspapers, more trustworthy and informative than the tabloids.
8 2207
9 1) the number of stories derived directly from press releases and 2) the number of stories which were taken straight from the main British news agency – the Press Association.
A press release (sometimes shortened to PR release) is a public statement given to the press by an individual, business or organisation for the press to publish if they wish. The material is supplied with whatever slant (bias) or content the organisation chooses – so it is not impartial.
10 a) 12% and b) 12%
11 88% of journalism is ‘churnalism‘. Nick Davies invented this word to describe ‘rewritten wire copy & PR’.
Wire copy is the opposite of original reporting. It is information which has been acquired from some other source. The person responsible for choosing between these newspaper / magazine stories already reported by someone else is the wire editor.
To coin a word or phrase is to invent a new word / phrase or a variation on a familiar word or expression.
to churn sth out is to produce sth mechanically in large quantities, sometimes of inferior quality
12 That it used to be a requirement that a story had to be corroborated / confirmed by 2 sources, so facts were checked by another version of the report. The reporter’s task was to find out and report the truth.
13 Reporters are stretched increasingly thinly.
14 4
15 On average 10 in a single shift
16 It means the reporter cannot be criticised for inaccuracy or misreporting by changing the wording – (s)he can allow the person quoted to be responsible for any mistakes, and so avoid blame himself / herself. Clearly this means the reporter cannot guarantee the truth or accuracy of what is said, whereas in the past this would have been part of his/her responsibility.
17 That they have more space to fill, are 3 times bigger than they used to be but there is no equivalent expansion of resources to supply the material. This means reporters are working harder, but it is harder to do their job well.
18 No – the pressure on resources is ‘just as bad’.
19 That in 1970 CBS had 3 full-time correspondents in Rome alone, and by 2006 they had a total of 141 foreign correspondents to cover the whole world.
20 The pressure on costs to produce more cheaper copy.
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