Topic 6: News

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 273.

The main vocabulary

Look up the translation and the transcription of the following words and word combinations in the dictionary.

to give smb a black eye

to charge smb with assault

to go out of one's way to do smth

to leave smb alone

to invade smb's privacy

to make smb angry

to get smb in an unflattering and compromising pose

tabloid press

to harass

to chase

to spy on

to provoke

to pursue

paparazzi

to acquit

to get smb's revenge

obvious

The additional vocabulary

A) Gathering the news.

Journalists gather news in a number of different ways. They may get stories from pressure groups(people trying to influence what other people think about a particular issue), which want to air their views(express their opinions) in public. They seek publicity(want to reach a wider audience) for their opinions and may hold press conferences(meetings to give information to and answer questions from the press) or may issue a statement/press release.(Give a formal announcement to the press). A person who especially wishes to attract news attention will try to include a sound bite(short memorable sentence or phrase that will repeated in news bulletins and articles) in what they say. It's particularly hard for journalists to get material in the silly season. (time of year, summer in the UK, when there is not much happening and trivial stories end up on the front page).

Journalists also get stories by tapping useful sources (making use of people or organisations which regularly provide news) and by monitoring(regularly checking) international news agencies like Reuters. The more important a story is, the more column inches (space) it will be given in the newspaper. Journalists of different political persuasions often put their own gloss/spin on a story(present a story in a particular way) and some journalists gather stories by muck-raking(collecting scandal (informal and disapproving)).