Task 9. Reduce the text selecting the main ideas.

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 449.

Task 7. Read the text “Violence on TV” and translate it.

Task 8. Find answers to the following questions in the text and write them down:

1. What is Tidusville's perception of the level of violence on KTDS?

2. Does one's perception of violence on TV vary with gender, age, marital status, income or education?

3. Do parents with children at home have a different tolerance for violence than those without children at home?

4. Do viewers who spend a lot of time watching TV become desensitised to violence?

VIOLENCE ON TV

As the general manager of KTDS, the NBC affiliate in Tidusville, Oklahoma, Chris has a range of responsibilities that include programming, personnel, advertising and public relations. His least favourite activity is responding to customers' complaints. Unfortunately, there have been an unusually large number of complaints in the past few months from viewers and advertisers alike.

Most of the recent comments are objections to the level of violence on KTDS programs. Chris is sensitive to this issue because he has observed a gradual increase in violence on TV over the past 20 years. Chris really prefers the old-time movies in which dirty needs were neatly sanitised and violent crimes occurred behind the scenes. He is sympathetic to the recent callers.

Nonetheless, he's a tight spot. Chris knows that small, vocal groups do not necessarily represent the population at large. People who feel strongly about an issue are likely to speak out, while those who are content tend to remain silent. While the recent callers have denounced the level of violence on KTDS shows, Chris knows he must understand and serve all of the KTDS viewers.

Chris has a suspicion about the source of the recent calls. Four month ago, a flamboyant politician announced his candidacy for a mayor. This candidate has received a great deal of air time on the local news due, in part, to his impassioned outbursts. Some people love him, others despise him, but almost everyone tunes in to the evening news in hopes of catching the latest controversy. One continuing theme of his platform is violence on TV in America in general and violence on KTDS in particular. Over the past four months, the candidate has suggested that those opposed to violence in the media “let their voices be heard.” Chris suspects that this fellow has inspired a large portion of the recent complaints to KTDS.

Chris needs to sort all of this out. A survey has been designed and 94 telephone survey responses have been compiled. The survey design and data set compilation were undertaken by Ann Lee Bailey, an MBA student at the University of Colorado at Denver.

The survey was done over a three-week period in October. Two hundred phone calls were made and 106 people declined an invitation to participate in the survey. Of the 94 participating respondents, two people were offended by the question of income and refused to answer that particular question. No responses are indicated in the data set by asterisk. A random selection of phone numbers from the Tidusville phone book was used to select the sample. Chris needs a report as soon as possible.