2. 外语
  3. "What a difference a word makes." The issue of semantics(语义学) has been an ongoing complaint against the media, which has been ch

"What a difference a word makes." The issue of semantics(语义学) has been an ongoing complaint against the media, which has been ch

admin2009-04-23  49
问题     "What a difference a word makes." The issue of semantics(语义学) has been an ongoing complaint against the media, which has been characterized by an increasing level of sensationalism and irresponsible reporting over the years, fostered by increasingly fierce competition and struggle for wider distributions and readerships.
    A focal(焦点的) point for the criticism is the coverage of high-profile criminal cases. With such headlines as "Mr. X Arrest for First-Degree Murder" prominently displayed across the front page, it has been argued that such provocative language influences public opinion, causing premature assumptions of guilt before the matter can be properly and legally decided in a court of law. The power of the media to influence public opinion and, by extension, legal and political perceptions, has long been established and recognized, spurring outcries when inaccurate or overly embellished stories result in unwarranted destruction of public image or intrusions into privacy of unwilling individuals.
    Reporters and editors take the utmost care in their choice of words for use in their articles, but with constant pressure to create provocative headlines in order to sell their papers, the distinction between respectable periodicals and trashy tabloids is becoming thinner every day. The predicament is exacerbated by the public’s seeming short attention span, putting the papers under pressure to make their stories as attention-grabbing as they are accurate. Further obscuring the situation is the fact that the same phrase can be interpreted in a myriad of different ways depending on who reads it, making it hard for one to judge whether a line is excessive or not.
    Whatever the causes and effects, however, the freedom of press laws in the United States means that any change to the style employed by the media must be self-imposed, In that respect, it appears that nothing will be changing in the near future, since the public’s insatiable hunger for controversy and scandal continues to dominate and set the pace for marketable re- porting. As the Sensationalism and its related effects continue into the longer term, however, there will no doubt be more outcry as the trend continues. This will possibly result in an upheaval of the system, favoring more accurate, unembellished reporting, consisting of hard facts with a minimum of supposition or commentary and devoid(全无的，缺乏的) of rumors and other questionable sources of information. If and when that occurs, we can truly state with pride that our media industry is not only a free one, but a responsible and reliable one.
选项 A、such information is necessary for proper decision-making by public leaders
B、the way that information is presented to the public can influence opinions and outcomes
C、far-fetched exaggerations invariably intrude into the private lives of those being reported on
D、catering to profit-driven sensationalism leads to further inaccuracies and misrepresentations
答案B
解析 根据文章第二段最后一句可知，媒体的力量影响公众的观点及对法律和政治的理解(influence public opinion，legal and political perception)，不准确的和过寸：修饰的报道可能损坏公众形象或侵犯个人隐私，而该段开头所举的例子也能充分证明这一点。四个选项中只有D表达的意思与此相同，故为答案。
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