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Kurs dla portalu angielski.edu.pl przygotowali: Anglorama i JDJ Bachalski



 
The origins of the newspaper

newspaper The origins of what we now know as the newspaper date back to Renaissance Europe when handwritten newsletters were distributed between those who were able to read. The newsletters were made up of facts on wars and economy. The first printed pamphlet or broadside appeared in Germany at the beginning of the 15th century and its content was very sensational - some of the news concerned Count Dracula and his sadistic predilections.
In the English-speaking countries the forerunners of newspapers were small news pamphlets which appeared only if a piece of noteworthy news occurred. The first true newspaper in English was Oxford Gazette (later changed into London Gazette) published in 1665. The first regular daily newspaper was the Daily Courant which was launched in 1702.
In America - where the whole idea of newspapers was brought from Europe - the first newspaper was Publick Occurrences set up in Boston in 1690. It lasted only one day � it was closed down because of censorship. Fourteen years later, in 1704 Boston News-Letter was published and since then almost every couple of years another title appeared on the market. By 1783 there had been 43 titles in print and the role of the press in the social life increased. The Bill of Rights, which was introduced in 1791, guaranteed freedom of press; at that time the press market thrived. New technologies made it possible to print and sell newspapers cheaper, so what had been a privilege of a well-off minority became available to the masses. newspaper In 1850 there were 2,526 titles available in America. Illustrations and photographs were added, and people were crazy about the latest news, so reporters were perceived as America�s favourites. By the way, the word "journalist" derives from the idea of a newspaper being a journal - a record of current events.
During the Civil War an inverted pyramid style of writing was introduced and it is still used today. At that time news from a battlefield were sent by telegraph and the machine tended to be pretty unreliable, so reporters had to hurry up. When using the pyramid, five basic questions "who, what, when, why and how" are answered in the first sentence of the story and additional information comes later.
Yellow journalism is a pejorative term describing journalism based on scandals, sensationalism or unprofessional practices. The term developed in the early 1900s as the competition between newspapers was getting stiffer. The newspapers, in order to reach the highest level of sales, published a mixture of sex, violence, crime and scandals.
The biggest daily newspapers in the USA in terms of circulation are USA Today, newspaper Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and New York Times. The circulation of America's national daily newspapers decreased sharply in 2006. Some point that the reason for that is the increased use of the Internet and give the example of New York Times which is read by more people via the Internet than on paper. Is this the beginning of the long-predicted fall of newspapers?

Glossary

broadside - (US) ulotka
sensational - sensacyjny
predilection - upodobanie
forerunner - prekursor
noteworthy - godny uwagi
to launch - zapoczątkować, założyć, wypuścić na rynek
to thrive - kwitnąć, dobrze się rozwijać

well-off - zamożny
minority - mniejszość
favourite - ulubieniec
inverted - odwrócony
pejorative - pejoratywny, niepochlebny
stiff - ostra, trudna
circulation - nakład

Vocabulary exercise


Fill the gaps with words from the glossary.

 

1. Publishers of commercial newspapers struggle for as big _________ of their papers as possible.

2. Our company didn't have any difficulties, although the competition in the textile industry was _______

3. A "banana republic" is a ________ term for politically unstable Latin American countries.

4. Our family life has been _______ since we moved to the country. Mom seems to be the happiest person alive, and dad spends his days fishing.

5. I have never had any _________ to alcohol, although there is a substantial number of alcoholics in my family.

6. Britney Spears's marriage was a non-stop nightmare and it ended in a ________ divorce.

7. The elections are only in three months' time and I have already received thousands of ________ from the candidates.


Joke of the week


Joke A photographer working for a magazine was assigned to get photos of a forest fire. There was so much smoke at the scene that he couldn�t get any good shots, so he promptly called the office to hire a plane.
"It will be waiting for you at the airport!" his editor assured him. As soon as he got to the small, local airport, a plane was warming up near the runway. He jumped in with his equipment and yelled, "Let's go! Let's go!" The pilot swung the plane into the wind and soon they were flying in the air. "Fly over the north side of the fire," said the photographer, "and make three or four low level passes." Joke "Why?" asked the pilot.
"Because I need to take pictures! I'm a photographer, and photographers take pictures!" said the irritated photographer.
After a long pause the pilot asked, "You mean you're not the instructor?"

Glossary

to assign - wyznaczać
promptly - pośpiesznie
editor - wydawca
runway - pas startowy
to yell - krzyknąć
to swing - rzucić
low level pass - przelot na niskim pułapie





Answer key
:
1. circulation   2. stiff   3. pejorative   4. thriving   5. predilection   6.  sensational   7. broadsides  

strona klubu | Ten adres pocztowy jest chroniony przed spamowaniem. Aby go zobaczyć, konieczne jest włączenie w przeglądarce obsługi JavaScript. | Anglorama | JDJ Bachalski - oddziały

Lekcję przygotował Wojciech Wojtasiak
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© JDJ Bachalski sp. z o.o. i Anglorama sp. z o.o. 2006

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