Can the Study of Politics Be Scientific? 6 страница

Over the years, there were identifiable changes in basic conceptualizations. There has also been an increase in the level of sophistication of methods and techniques used in media research. Generally, these advances paralleled de­velopments in the social sciences, mainly sociology, politi­cal science, and psychology.

QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED:

1. What relationship is there between the changes in
the society and in the mass media?

2. What kind of influence do the mass media exert?

3. How do the mass media change?


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4.What «eternal verities» can describe the effects of all
mass media on all people?

5.Why are governments so much interested in the mass
media?

6.The development of what social sciences do the mass
media influence?

II. COULD YOU DESCRIBE THE ESSENCE OF THE
FOLLOWING NOTIONS?

Mass media; timeless truths; milieu; eternal verities; research milestones.

III.GIVE THE GENERAL IDEA OF THE ARTICLE IN
7 BASIC SENTENCES.

IV.READ THE ARTICLE AND ANSWER THE QUES­
TIONS:

 

1.Why do parents ban their children to watch television?

2.What data does research connected with TV viewing
show?

3.What advice do experts suggest?

THE FORBIDDEN FRUITS

(by Karen Springen)

Some parents ban TV; others strictly limit it. But when is too little of something too much?

More and more parents are listening to research on the long-term benefits of setting strict limits on pastimes that can be bad for kids, such as watching TV or eating junk food. But when do bans on popular activities do more harm than good? Some parents worry that their children will be outcasts if they haven't watched the latest «South Park». Others say that kids who grow up in a candy-free house will just scarf Snickers bars at the neighbors. The answers depend on the age of the child and the community environment.

If rules are too strict - in opposition to everyone else on the block - kids may indeed become pariahs. «When it's a


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norm, they're risking social isolation from their peers,» warns Barbara Howard, a developmental professor. And that increases the risk that they'll grow up defiant, she says. «They're more likely to do things like sneak, steal, lie to you about it.» That can mean anything from putting on makeup in the girls' room at school to spending lunch money on candy bars. Howard's advice: don't ban everything. «Pick one that you think is really important,» she says.

Television is a major battleground. Research shows children glued to the set for more than 10 hours each week are more likely to be overweight, aggressive and slower to learn in school. For that reason, the American Academy of Pediatrics discourages «screen time» for children under 2 and says parents should limit exposure to videogames, com­puters and TV to a maximum of two hours a day for older kids. Interacting with people rather than listening to TV characters helps children learn language and become crea­tive, independent learners. To help kids develop their own internal limits on TV, offer healthy alternatives.

When setting limits on anything, experts say, it's al­ways important to take a positive approach. Otherwise, kids may see bans as punishment.

(from «NEWSWEEK», 2001)

V. TRANSLATE INTO RUSSIAN THE FOLLOWING
WORD-COMBINATIONS AND USE THEM IN THE SEN­
TENCES OF YOUR OWN:

The forbidden fruits; to set strict limits; an outcast; to ban; community environment; social isolation; peers; screen time; exposure to videogames; to offer a healthy alterna­tive; to take a positive approach; punishment.

VI. WHAT DO YOU THINK?

1. What does the author mean by the forbidden fruits?

2. Is it so important to set strict limits for TV viewing
time?


 

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3. Does too intensive viewing TV promote social isola­
tion or not?

4. Must children view political programs or not?

5. What helps a child grow up a politically-minded per­
sonality?

6. What healthy alternatives should parents offer their
children instead of violent TV episodes?

VII. REVIEW THE ARTICLE.

VIII. READ THE TEXT AND RENDER ITS IDEA IN
RUSSIAN:

MEDIA STUDIES

It is necessary to understand that the media present a version of reality that is constructed; the information we receive is only a representation of the actual event. The me­dia can influence our perceptions of gender, race, family, violence, policy, and society itself. By means of media we can recognize the consumerism behind products and identify implications (analyze advertising). Media helps us examine the techniques used to organize and construct images.

Information in our society is gained from many com­munications media, ranging from the obvious, such as tele­vision, radio or newspapers, to the less obvious, such as clothing. Much of this information is transmitted repeat­edly, which can result in our absorbing these messages implicitly. This is how media can easily shape values and behaviours.

It is essential that students be encouraged to explore the messages in media texts by developing a basic under­standing of how media work, and what their limitations, possibilities and power are.

We live in a world rich in information. Most of this information and much of what we know comes to us through the media - television, radio, newspapers, billboards, maga­zines, films, and increasingly, the Internet.


 




 


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The ability of the media to communicate information to us is important and valuable, but there is also a business side to media. As businesses, media organizations need the support of a large audience and sponsors. For instance, when we buy a magazine, some money goes to the publisher. Com­panies also pay the publisher to print the advertisements that we see in the magazine. Similarly, companies pay net­works to play the commercials that we see on television.

To reach as many people as possible, magazines and tele­vision programs (and all forms of media) are carefully planned to be captivating and entertaining. As a result, our attitudes and ideas about events and products can be af­fected by the way the «pictures» are put together.

For good and bad, media is a part of our everyday lives, but most of us do not know the «rules of the game». If we learn the strategies, skills, and the techniques used we can better understand it.

Media literacy means knowing some of the techniques used to make media messages, learning what is behind the media messages and recognizing that the media want to at­tract and influence us, the audience, with their messages.

Media accounts of sports events are carefully put together to create suspense, drama and excitement to keep the viewers' attention. One production technique used to create these ef­fects is camera angles. Through various camera angles, the audience receives different impressions about the events.

Advertisers and sponsors want as many people to see their products as possible. The Olympics attract a lot of attention and draw a large audience. This is why broadcasting the Olym­pics and World Cup can make a lot of money for television networks, sponsors and advertisers. In order to keep the viewers interested, much planning is done to make the Games exciting, suspenseful and dramatic. This may include produc­tion techniques such as replays and slow motion to highlight actions, close ups and music to build drama and tension, sto­ries about athletes, and colourful commentary and statistics.


 

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IX. READ THE TEXT AND ANSWER THE QUESTIONS THAT FOLLOW IT:

MASS MEDIA

Mass Media — radio, television and press are justly con­sidered to be the fourth power in human society. Their role in shaping the public opinion can hardly be overestimated. They also play an important role in keeping people well informed in current events occurring all over the world.

The most popular is television. What makes TV so popu­lar in many countries? — It provides information, educa­tion and entertainment. With the help of TV you can learn about interesting and important events at home and abroad, the latest news, sport news. We can say that radio per­forms this service just as well, but on TV everything is much more living, much more real.

Is TV a blessing or a curse? On the one hand it's a great comfort to many elderly and lonely people. On the other hand it makes people passive — they don't dance, they don't do things, they don't play games. They prefer to watch professional singers, dancers and athletes on TV.

A hundred years ago people knew how to entertain them­selves much better than they do now. Most people could sing a little, or play a musical instrument, so they could entertain each other. Conversation was an art, amusing conversation could keep people happy for hours. As for games, such as football, tennis, people played them more often than they do now.

Nowadays we are entertained by professionals. Why listen to your friends singing when you can hear the greatest singers of the world on the radio? Why play football with players who are not very good at it, when you can just sit comfortably at home and watch the game without having to go outside at all?

Television also displays the cinema and the theatre. Does TV corrupt and instruct our children? TV in itself is neither good nor bad. It all depends on the quality of TV programmes. Many protest against violence and sex on TV.


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Most people prefer watching TV to reading newspapers. Newspapers cover information on home and foreign affairs, they carry serious editorials, arts and literary reviews; they provide up-to-date political and financial information and much professional advertising. Some newspapers have supplements which may be very different from the newspaper itself. They publish stories to be continued, discuss most typical issues, give analysis of important political events. There are also other kinds of newspapers that offer light reading.

They may have brief news reports, sensational informa­tion; much importance is given to politics, sports and en­tertainments. They have a lot of catchy headlines, inter­views given by famous people.

Newspapers may come out every day — they are dailies, once a week — they are weeklies, and once a month — monthlies. People can subscribe to them and they will be delivered home, or they can be bought at a news agent's or a news-stand.

Among the «quality» papers the strongly Conservative «Daily Telegraph» sells more than twice as many copies as any of the others. It costs less to buy and its reporting of events is very thorough. The «Financial Times» has a narrower appeal, but is in general narrowly restricted to business news. «The Guardian» has an old Liberal tradition and is in general a paper of the left. The most famous of all British newspapers is the «Times».

The popular newspapers are now commonly called «tab­loids», a word first used for pharmaceutical substances com­pressed into pills. The tabloid newspapers compress the news, and are printed on small sheets of paper. They use enor­mous headlines for the leading items of each day, which are one day political, one day do with crime, one day sport, one day some odd happening.

The two very popular papers, the «Daily Express» and the «Daily Mail» were both built up by individual tycoons in the early 20th century. In popular journalism the «Daily


 

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Mirror» became a serious rival of the «Express» and «Mail» in the 1940s.

Questions to be answered:

1. What role do mass media play?

2. Which media are the most popular?

3. What does TV provide?

4. Is TV a blessing or a curse? What do you think?

5. Does TV displace the theatre or the cinema?

6. What information do newspapers cover?

7. How often do newspapers come out?

8. What are the most popular newspapers in Britain?

9. What is the origin of the word «tabloid»?

10. What information do tabloids contain?

X. AGREE OR DISAGREE WITH THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS:

1. Mass Media are considered the fourth power in hu­
man society.

2. They are directed at shaping public opinion.

3. The most popular is television.

4. Television is a great comfort for elderly and lonely
people.

5. Television corrupts our children.

6. Newspapers exert a devastating impact on all the
people irrespective of their age.

7. Political events help be in the center of political life
of the state.

8. Newspaper advertisements are of certain value for
the public.

XL CHARACTERIZE THE MASS MEDIA INFLUENCE ON PUBLIC POLITICAL AWARENESS. USE THE FOL­LOWING WORD-COMBINATIONS:

To shape public opinion; to keep people well informed; the representation of urgent events; to construct images; to provide up-to-date information.


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XII. READ AND TRANSLATE THE TEXT: IN PRAISE OF TELEVISION (by George Mikes)

When I first came to England, television was still a kind of entertainment and not a national disease. During the happy war years it was off the air altogether but after­wards it returned with a vengeance.

Television, however, has slowly conquered - in varying degree - all layers of society and, whether we like it or not - it has come to stay.

I have watched innumerable statesmen boarding and leav­ing aeroplanes with heavy, meaningful faces and have always been astonished to find that the same platitudes can be ex­pressed in so many different ways. During our strikes, I have listened to trade union leaders and employers on Mondays and was impressed to learn that no concessions could be made in matters of principle: only to be told on Wednesdays that their relinquishing of these principles was - on their part - victory for common sense and a true service to the community.

I have heard innumerable party politicians explaining that defeat is victory. I like the Brains Trust, too - its poets and interior decorators with the gift of the gab, who are able to utter weighty opinions on every subject under the sun without a moment's reflection. I am fond of watch­ing people in Tanganyika or Madagascar catching rats, snakes and worms for pets.

The basis and main pillar of the art of television is the TELEVISION PERSONALITY. If you want to become a Television Personality, you need a personality of some sort. It may be unattractive or simply repulsive; but a personal­ity is indispensable.

On the whole I like television very much indeed. The reasons for my devotion are these:

1) Television is one of the chief architects of prosperity. Certain television personalities can give away money with great charm on the slightest provocation. It is their habit -


 

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indeed, their second nature - to give you a refrigerator or a motor-scooter if you happen to pass near them. Should you chance to know what the capital of France is called, or who our war-time Prime Minister was with the initials of W.S.C., if you are able to scratch your left ear with your right foot while lying on the floor blindfold and watched by ten million giggling spectators, then you are practically certain to be sent to Majorca for a three week's holiday.

2) Television is also one of the main architects of slumps.
A short while ago Panorama made a report on the stock-
exchange boom, in the course of which one or two people
made some cautious remarks about the boom not lasting
forever, and recalled the Wall Street crash when people
threw themselves out of the windows of skyscrapers. Next
day hordes of people sold their shares, thus causing a fall
unknown since the days of the Suez crisis. The bank rate
had to be raised three days later and if Dotto and a few
other programmes had not rectified the country's economic
balance by giving away even more washing-machines, bub­
ble-cars and tea-sets, we would have faced utter ruin.

3) Television has united the family - by keeping the
family at home, gaping at it round the family hearth.

4) Television causes more friction in family life than
any other single factor by offering unique scope for quarrels
as to which programme to watch.

5) Television is of great educational value. It teaches
you while still really young how to (a) kill, (b) rob, (c)
shoot, (d) poison, and generally speaking, (e) how to grow
up into a Wild West outlaw or gangster by the time you
leave school.

6) Television puts a stop to crime because all the bur­
glars and robbers, instead of going to burgle and rob, sit at
home watching The Lone Ranger, Emergency Ward Ten
and Dotto.

6) Television has undeniably raised the general level of culture throughout the country. Some people allege that it


 




 


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has killed the habit of reading and thinking - but there is no truth in this. I have yet to meet a person who gave up his methodical study of, say, early Etruscan civilization in order to be able to watch more of Sunday Night at the London Palladium or who has stopped reading Proust or Plutarch because he could not tear himself away from What's My Line? or Spot the Tune. NOTES:

1. Brains Trust - television programme in which a group
of prominent people or experts discuss questions of general
interest sent to the programme by the public.

2. W.S.C. -Winston Spencer Churchill

3. bubble -cars - very small cars

XIII. ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

1. Is television a kind of entertainment or a national
disease?

2. Television has conquered all layers of society, hasn't
it?

3. What was the author astonished by watching TV?

4. What were party politicians explaining on TV?

5. What is the basis and main pillar of the art of televi­
sion?

6. Why does the author say that television is one of the
chief architects of prosperity?

7. What is the second nature of a television personality?

8. What makes television to be one of the main archi­
tects of slumps?

9. Does television unite a family or cause more friction
in family life?

 

10. Television is of great educational value, isn't it?

11. What does television teach the younger generation,
according to the author of the text?

12. How does television promote to stop crime?

13. Has television raised the general level of culture or
killed the habit of reading and thinking?


 

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XIV. GIVE RUSSIAN EQUIVALENTS FOR:
Entertainment; in varying degree; platitude; a true service

to the community; to utter weighty opinions; without a mo­ment's reflection; the main pillar; devotion; prosperity; on the slightest provocation; giggling spectators; stock-exchange boom; friction in family life; to give up; to tear oneself away from.

XV. WILL YOU CHARACTERIZE THE AUTHOR'S
PERSONAL ATTITUDE TO TELEVISION?

XVI. ENUMERATE:

 

A) positive aspects of television influence;

B) negative effects of television.

XVII. ANSWER: IN WHAT MANNER DOES GEORGE
MIKES DEPICT APPEARANCE OF POLITICIANS ON TV
SCREENS?

XVIII. GIVE A SUMMARY OF THE TEXT. USE THE
FOLLOWING WORD-COMBINATIONS:

National disease; to be off the air; to return with venge­ance; layers of society; to make concessions; to relinquish one's principles; common sense; to utter weighty opinions; one of the chief architects; to cause friction; outlaw; to kill the habit; to tear oneself away.

XIX. ASK YOUR FRIEND:

— if watching TV in his country is a national disease;

— whether he thinks that all politicians' remarks con­
tain common sense;

— if they always utter weighty opinions;

— if different political views cause friction in his family
life;

— whether television killed his habits of reading and
thinking;

— if he has got any idols among political leaders;


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— if he watches all political reviews;

— if public opinion influences his own outlook;

— if he can tear himself away from TV for the sake of
study;

— what is TV for him;

— if he is hooked by TV;

— if TV broadens his mind.

XX. READ THE ARTICLE AND GIVE ITS MAIN IDEA: TV VIOLENCE CAN CAUSE AGGRESSION

IN CHILDREN (by Christine Russell)

Violence on television can lead to aggressive bahaviour by children and teenagers who watch the programs, according to a review of the last decade of research on this long-debated topic.

«Television and Behaviour», a new report by the De­partment of Health and Human Services, concludes that the 'consensus' among scientists is that there is a 'causal relationship' between televised violence and aggression.

«After 10 years of research, the consensus among most of the research community is that violence does lead to ag­gressive behaviour by children and teenagers who watch the programs,» according to the carefully worded update report.

Calling television a 'violent form of entertainment', the new report found that the percentage of programs contain­ing violence has remained essentially the same over the past decade, and during this period «there also has been more violence on children's weekend programs than on prime-time television.»

The report cautions that «not all children become ag­gressive, of course,» emphasizing that the various studies compare large groups rather than individual cases. But the latest research has expanded to suggest that preschool children as well as adolescents, and girls as well as boys might be influenced by the televised violence.


 

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As a window on a world with which children have little experience television strongly shapes the social attitudes of young viewers. There is fairly good evidence that children accept as authentic the portrayals that they see on tele­vision.

XXI. ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:
l. Is
there direct or indirect connection between TV

violence and children's aggression?

2. What kind of entertainment is television called ac­
cording to a report?

3. What children are more influenced by violent epi­
sodes on TV?

4. What does television strongly shape in children?

5. How do they accept the portrayals on television?

XXII. READ AND TRANSLATE THE TEXT:

TV's «DISASTROUS» IMPACT ON CHILDREN (by Neil Postman, Professor of Communication)

Watching television over a long span seriously damages children's ability to think clearly. Exposure to TV sensa­tionalism robs youngsters of childhood. Television is turn­ing out to be a disastrous influence at least as far as we can determine at present. Television appears to be shortening the attention span of the young as well as eroding, to a considerable extent, their linguistic powers and their abili­ty to handle mathematical symbolism.

It also causes them to be increasingly impatient with deferred gratification. Even more serious is that television is opening up all society's secrets and taboos, thus erasing the dividing line between childhood and adulthood and leav­ing a very homogenized culture in the wake.

I call television the «first curriculum» because of the amount of attention our children give to it. By now, the basic facts are known by almost everyone: between the ages of 6 and 18, the average child spends roughly 15,000 to


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16,000 hours in front of a television set, whereas school probably consumes no more than 13,000 hours.

Moreover, it is becoming obvious that there really is no such thing as «children's» programming. Between midnight and 2 in the morning, there are something like 750,000 children throughout America watching television every day. There is a fantasy people have that after 10 p.m. children are not watching television, that's nonsense.

Many parents as well as educators, also have the mis­taken belief that television is an «entertainment medium» in which little of enduring value is either taught by or learned from it. Television has a transforming power at least equal to that of the printing press and possibly as great as that of the alphabet itself.

Television is essentially a visual medium. It shows pic­tures moving rapidly and in a very dynamic order. The average length of a shot on a network-TV show is about 3 seconds, and on the commercial about 2,5 seconds. Although human speech is heard on television it is the picture that always contains the most important meanings.

Television can never teach what a medium like a book can teach, and yet educators are always trying to pretend that they can use television to promote the cognitive habits and the intellectual discipline that print promotes. In this respect they will always be doomed to failure. Television is not a suitable medium for conveying ideas, because an idea is essentially language — words and sentences.

The code through which television communicates — the visual image — is accessible to everyone. Understanding printed words must be learned, watching pictures does not require any learning. As a result, TV is a medium that becomes intelligible to children beginning at about the age of 36 months. From this very early age on, television con­tinuously exerts influence.

For this reason, I think it's fair to say that TV, as a curriculum, molds the intelligence and character of youth


 

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far more than formal schooling. Beyond that, evidence is accumulating that TV watching hurts academic perform­ance. A recent survey indicated that the more children sit in front of the television, the worse they do on achieve­ment-test scores.

Television doesn't allow a person to accumulate know­ledge based on past experiences. Language itself tends to be sequential and hierarchical and it allows complex ideas to be built up in writing through a logical progression. Most of all, language tends to be more abstract, it encourages the use of imagination.

It is not true, as many insist, that watching TV is a passive experience. Anyone who has observed children watch­ing television will know how foolish that statement is. In watching TV, children have their emotions fully engaged. It is their capacity for abstraction that is quiescent.