Why do so many Americans distrust what they read in their newspapers? The American Society of Newspaper Editors is trying to ans

admin2010-07-06  41

问题      Why do so many Americans distrust what they read in their newspapers? The American Society of Newspaper Editors is trying to answer this painful question. The organization is deep into a long self-analysis known as the journalism credibility project.
     Sad to say, this project has turned out to be mostly low-level findings about factual errors and spelling and grammar mistakes, combined with lots of head-scratching puzzlement about what in the world those readers really want.
     But the sources of distrust go way deeper. Most journalists learn to see the world through a set of standard templates (patterns) into which they plug each day’s events. In other words, there is a conventional story line in the newsroom culture that provides a backbone and already-made narrative structure for otherwise confusing news.
     There exists a social and cultural disconnect between journalists and their readers, which helps explain why the "standard templates" of the newsroom seem alien to many readers. In a recent survey, questionnaires were sent to reporters in five middle-size cities around the country, plus one large metropolitan area. Then residents in these communities were phoned at random and asked the same questions.
      Replies show that compared with other Americans, journalists are more likely to live in upscale neighborhoods, have maids, own Mercedeses, and trade stocks, and they’re less likely to go to church, do volunteer work, or put down roots in a community.     Reporters tend to be part of a broadly defined social and cultural elite, so their work tends to reflect the conventional values of this elite. The astonishing distrust of the news media isn’t rooted in inaccuracy or poor reportorial skills but in the daily clash of world views between reporters and their readers.
     This is an explosive situation for any industry, particularly a declining one.  Here is a troubled business that keeps hiring employees whose attitudes vastly annoy the customers. Then it sponsors lots of symposiums and a credibility project dedicated to wondering why customers are annoyed and fleeing in large numbers. But it never seems to get around to noticing the cultural and class biases that so many former buyers are complaining about. If it did, it would open up its diversity program, now focused narrowly on race and gender, and look for reporters who differ broadly by outlook, values, education, and class.
What is the passage mainly about?

选项 A、Needs of the readers all over the world.
B、Causes of the public disappointment about newspapers.
C、Origins of the declining newspaper industry.
D、Aims of a journalism credibility project.

答案B

解析 文章开头就以问答的方式点明了文章的主题,即美国社会对新闻报道的不信任,整篇文章都围绕这一主题进行阐述。因此,B项“公众对报纸失望的原因”为正确答案。A项“全世界读者的需求”;C项“报纸行业衰退的根源”;D项“记者信任度计划的目的”,均与文章大意不符。
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