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  3. The latest gloomy news from journalism’s battered front lines is that the pr

The latest gloomy news from journalism’s battered front lines is that the pr

游客2023-12-23  47
问题     The latest gloomy news from journalism’s battered front lines is that the prestigious New York Times(NYT)is laying off 100 staff. Paper-and-ink newspapers are in deep trouble, there’s no doubt about that. But the NYT, as comprehensive as its news coverage sometimes is, is hardly in a position to offer the real story on its current woes, anymore than a psychoanalyst is able to objectively analyze him or herself.
    What’s bad for the NYT is not necessarily bad for journalism any more than what is good for the NYT is necessarily good for journalism. But with more than 100 newspapers closing down last year, troubles at the NYT can be seen in a general perspective as part of a trend. With advertising revenue plummeting, and real estate losing value by the hour, the NYT is in a free fall accelerated in part by its own greed.
    As newspapers flap about trying to breathe another day, Internet news aggregators soar, circling above like birds of prey for whom the shifting tide is an opportunity waiting to be picked. Internet delivery of news is infinitely faster and more flexible. It saves millions of trees from the paper pulp mill and cuts down on the need for noisy delivery trucks and back-breaking labor, so what’s not to like about it?
    For a brief fleeting moment, consumers can have their cake and eat it too. Newspapers do the heavy lifting, while Internet news sites spread the information around for free, "lite" and easy.
    But who will write the news when the newspapers are gone? Who are the new news gatekeepers? The Internet makes us rather too dependent on terminals and telephone lines produced and controlled by a handful of big corporations. Another problem with the Net is its indiscriminate character. Falsehoods are floated as easily as truths, and although conscientious bloggers may help usi navigate this unknown land, there’s no business model to sustain the most truthful bloggers, either.
    More ominous yet, there’s something called the digital divide which means people who don’t care to use or can’t afford computers are increasingly being left in the dark, reduced to second class citizens in an age awash in information.
    Ironically, readers in countries such as Thailand, though hobbled by lower income, are likely to enjoy their treasured national newspapers a bit longer than Americans, because on one hand, salaries and labor costs are lower, and on the other hand, there is the social imperative to reach the large percentage of the population who can’t afford the fancy new digital viewing devices and terminals.
    Journalism can and must survive even the most calamitous change if society is ever to right itself and get things right. In times of economic and social stress, reliable information is more important than ever, incisive analysis a necessity. With the diminished brightness of the day, more and more watchdogs are called for. Shining light in dark places is more critical than ever.
    A healthy society needs news and information that should be accessible to people from all walks of life at nominal cost, a role newspapers have played rather well for more than a century now. Newspapers will undergo drastic makeovers, but so will the Internet information highway, which will lose some of its luster when the pay-per-view toll booths are installed. [br] What does the passage mainly discuss?
选项 A、The general downward trend of newspaper readership.
B、The comparison between newspaper and Internet news.
C、The important role of paper-and-ink newspapers.
D、The reasons for New York Times laying off its staff.
答案 C
解析
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