BBC Learning English Talk about English Live webcast – August 31st News and the media
About this script Please note that this is not a word for word transcript of the programme as broadcast. In the recording process changes may have been made which will not be reflected here.
Jackie: Hello I'm Jackie Dalton. You're listening to Talk About English – live from our offices in London.
Callum: I'm Callum Robertson. Today in the programme
News clips
Jackie: Media and the language of news.
Callum: Your views on the media in your country.
Jackie: And how to win an mp3 player by sending us your own reports.
Callum: That's all coming up in Talk About English.
And our special guest today, who'll be helping us understand the media and the language of news is a very experienced journalist, now Assistant Editor of BBC World Service Business programmes Alex Ritson. Hello.
Alex: (responds)
Jackie: Well, news really is a big topic, with lots of different areas to look at. But let's start simply by looking at what news is. What do we mean by the word 'news'? Obviously it's something that's happened that's reported in newspapers or on television reports. But let's get the perspective of a journalist – Alex for you, what is 'news'?
Alex: (responds)
Jackie: Let's look at some of the language surrounding how news is delivered through the media. I think broadly speaking, nowadays, we can divide it into three main sections. Broadcast news, print news and more recently online.
Callum: Yes, so broadcast journalism means any news that goes out through television or radio – it's broadcast. We've got quite a recent form of journalism now – online journalism, which refers to news published on the internet. Then there's an older form of journalism - print journalism - refers to newspapers, we sometimes talk about 'the printed media', or 'the press', which includes things like magazines as well.
Jackie: And here in the UK we have two main different types of newspaper don't we?
Callum: Yes, they are what we called broadsheet newspapers, which traditionally – although that's changing – were the bigger kinds of newspaper. They're generally seen as taking a more serious look at important stories.
Jackie: So that's broadsheets, the more serious papers, then we also have tabloids.
Callum: (explain tabloids)
Jackie: Alex, so we've got broadsheets and tabloids – traditionally the two types of newspaper, but recently we've seen some changes and the arrival of the 'qualoid'…
Alex: (responds)
Jackie: Do you think the media has a lot of power in the UK?
Alex: (responds)
Jackie: Now let’s have a recap of some of the words we just heard.
Recap Broadcast news –"Television and radio both provide broadcast news." print journalism – "Some people think print journalism is losing popularity." online news –"I use the internet everyday to catch up with the latest news online." broadsheets – "I find broadsheets really boring, they're so intellectual." tabloids – "As for the tabloids, they're just full of gossip."
Jackie: Now let's look more closely at some of the more recent changes in news, and some of the language that's come with it. One of these is the arrival of 24 Hour News. Alex, can you tell us what this is?
Alex: (explains)
Jackie: What about some of the language that's come about from this or at least phrases that have become more popular because of the rise of 24 hour news?
All: rolling news breaking news – not new, a term we hear nearly all the time now news flash 'we bring you the news as it happens' up to the minute news news just in 'bringing you live coverage of…'
Jackie: Let's here more examples of this language in use.
Recap Breaking news…tune in for our 24 hour news coverage…your rolling news channel…news just in…we bring you the news as it happens…bringing you live coverage of
Jackie: We're going to look at another of the more recently developed areas of journalism and news now, which is online journalism – news on the internet. Some people think it's going to lead to the death of the newspaper – people will stop buying newspapers because they'll read the news online instead. Tamsen Booth is the Media Editor of the international weekly newspaper, The Economist. She's going to tell us what she thinks about the future of the newspaper - a word she'll use which it might help you to understand is 'giveaways'.
Callum: A 'giveaway' is something that you give people for free.
Jackie: For example, if you buy a women's magazine you might get a free lipstick with it. The idea being that you're more likely to buy the magazine if you get a free gift with it.
Callum: This was not something that newspapers in the UK, particularly broadsheets, used to do. But that's changed and you often get free CDs or DVDs with newspapers now.
Jackie: Let's listen to Tamsen of the Economist now.
Tamsen
Jackie: Tamsen says more and more people going online means newspapers are dying.
Callum: So couldn't newspapers just survive by putting their material online instead, if that's where more and more people are going for their news?
Jackie: Well Tamsen thinks not. Why does she think newspapers can't survive just by putting all their content online?
Tamsen
Callum: Tamsen said online is not as 'profitable' as print. Which means it doesn't make as much money through advertising. 'Advertising revenue' – the money firms make from advertising is after all what keeps most newspapers alive.
Jackie: She says it's difficult for newspapers because even though they do have to move onto online there's no guarantee - it's not certain – they'll be able to make enough money.
Next we'll hear from Alan Rusbridger, the Editor of one of Britain's broadsheet newspapers, The Guardian. He'll share his views on the future of newspapers.
Callum: We'll hear the phrase 'advertising revenue' again, he'll also talk about 'circulation' – which is how many copies of a newspaper are sold each day or each week. For example, the newspaper with the highest circulation here is the tabloid, the Sun, it sells the most copies.
Jackie: Now what does Alan think? Does he think that all newspapers should be able to survive if they put their material on the internet? Listen to find out.
Alan Callum: Alan says times are difficult for newspapers and they will have to put a lot of money into online journalism. But he says he's not convinced everyone will 'make it' – which means he doesn't believe all newspapers will be able to survive.
Jackie: But what about his newspaper? The Guardian has created one of the most popular online news sites alongside its normal printed newspaper. Alan says it is making good money – revenues from online are going up fast. By how much?
Alan
Callum: Alan says online revenues are going up 50% a year.
Jackie Alan says he's ambivalent about how we consume news. We shouldn’t get hung up on print on paper. What does that mean – first of all ambivalent?
Callum: It means you don't really care.
Jackie: To consume news.
Callum: To follow the news, to read it or watch it.
Jackie: We shouldn't get hung up on print on paper.
Callum: 'To be hung up on something' means to be obsessed with it, to think it's important. Alan thinks we shouldn't be hung up on the idea of print on paper – in other words, newspapers. Jackie: Let’s have another recap of some of that new vocabulary.
Recap A giveaway – "Newspapers nowadays include so many giveaways….it's the only way people will want to buy them." Circulation – "The newspaper boosted its circulation by doing more advertising." Advertising revenue – "We must increase our advertising revenue otherwise we won't make it."
END OF PART ONE
Jackie: You're listening to Talk About English with me, Jackie Dalton and Callum Robertson. Our guest today is journalist Alex Sullivan. We've been asking you to send in comments about the media in your country…do you trust it? Is there anything you would change about it? We're going to hear some of your comments now, read by actors. The first is from Brigita in Slovakia. Does she trust the media?
Brigita Media all around the world often brainwashes people. I do not trust them. It is all about how they want the news to sound. They create stories which are often not true or they add or leave out whatever they want to. The media are the same everywhere and unfortunately many people take them as they are.
Jackie: Brigita doesn't trust the media. She thinks the media tends to brainwash people – what do we mean by that Callum?
Callum: (explains brainwash)
Jackie: She also says many people just take the media as they are – what does