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  3. A big piece of clap-trap about the press is that it has enormous power. It is taken for granted by the public-at-large, who are

A big piece of clap-trap about the press is that it has enormous power. It is taken for granted by the public-at-large, who are

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问题      A big piece of clap-trap about the press is that it has enormous power. It is taken for granted by the public-at-large, who are apt to be impressed by anything that is said three times; it is continually advertised by the press itself, and it is cherished by press lords, some of whom, at least, should know better.
     In what way is the press supposed to be so powerful? The general notion is that the press can form, control or at least strongly influence public opinion. Can it really do any of these things? Hugh Cudlipp, editorial director of The London Daily Mirror, and a man who should know something about the effect of newspapers on public opinion, doesn’t share this general notion about their power. He thinks newspapers can echo and stimulate a wave of popular feeling, but that’s all. "A newspaper may successfully accelerate but never reverse the popular attitude that common sense has commended to the public."
     Like other habit-forming pills, the press can stimulate or depress, but it cannot cure. It can fan fear and hatred of another nation (when the fear and hatred are there, waiting to be fanned) but it cannot make peace. As more and more people have painful reason to know, the press has a nasty kind of power--the same kind of power a bully has, of hurting somebody smaller and weaker than himself. An individual’s only defense against the press is the law of libel, but considerable harm and much pain can be caused without going as far as to commit an actionable libel.
     Everyone has heard of the "power of the press"; no one has seen it. The greatest believers in this exaggerated "power" and the loudest promoters of it are, naturally, the press lords themselves. One of the most deluded of these, was Robert McCormick, publisher of The Chicago Tribune, "The world’s greatest newspaper". McCormick, and of course his paper, were al- ways in bitter opposition to the Roosevelt Democrats, as well as to the liberal element in his own Republican Party. A story used to be told about the Tribune--no doubt apocryphal but in essence true--that one of the janitors in the Tribune building always bet against any political candidate the paper supported; and that he found this sideline so profitable that he was able to buy two sizable blocks of fiats.
     The people in Chicago who bought the Tribune didn’t buy it to find out how to cast their votes; they bought it in spite of its advice and its bias, because on the whole they liked its personality and found it entertaining. Does this seem to argue a too shrewd, calm and sensible attitude on the part of the ordinary newspaper reader? The press is generally appreciated by the public for what it is rather than for what it pretends to be. They don’t feel it as a power in their lives, but as working-day prerequisite.
The writer thinks that the law of libel ______.
选项 A、is biased against the press
B、causes much harm and pain to individuals
C、is of limited help to individuals
D、is unfair to individuals
答案C
解析 第三段谈到报界有一种丑陋的力量，即伤害弱小者的力量，个人对抗报界的唯一手段就是诽谤法，但是实际上报界可以对个人造成相当大的伤害和痛苦却不会构成能够提起诉讼的诽谤案，因此此题应选C。
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