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Newspapers
Newspapers are the original form of broadband communication, a distinction not always recognized in the age of the Internet. Long before we had computers, television, radio, telephones and telegraph, newspapers were the cheapest and most efficient way to reach mass audiences with news, commentary and advertising. Newspapers, from their beginnings as hand-printed "broadsheets", have been a true random-access medium-readers can move easily and quickly through the different sections of a newspaper, returning to them days or even weeks later. And because a newspaper's "software" consists of a common language, it possesses a universal and timeless quality.
What Did the Growth of TV News Mean to Newspapers?
With the growth of television news in the 1960s, newspapers confronted their first formidable competitor. Today, ABC News claims that more Americans get their news from ABC than from any other source-and it's probably true. The United States' 1,600 daily newspapers continue to serve millions of readers, but newspapers are no longer the country's dominant mass medium. How to survive and even flourish in a culture more attuned to (吻合) electronic media than to printer's ink is the most serious issue facing the newspaper industry as it enters the 21st century.
It is safe to say that newspapers are not about to follow the Morse telegraph into oblivion. Newspapers are a portable, convenient medium. No one lugs a computer monitor to the breakfast table to get the morning news. And, newspapers are proving surprisingly adept at reinventing themselves for today's readers by emphasizing good design, color photography and detailed stories that report and interpret current events.
What Exactly Is News and How Does It Work?
Curiously, for a publication called a newspaper, no one has ever coined a standard definition of news. But for the most part, news usually falls under one broad classification-the abnormal. It is human folly, mechanical failures and natural disasters that often "make the news".
Reporters are a newspaper's front-line eyes and ears. Reporters glean(收集) information from many sources, some public, such as police records, and others private, such as a government informant. Occasionally, a reporter will go to jail rather than reveal the name of a confidential source for a news story. American newspapers proudly consider themselves the fourth branch of government-the watchdog branch -that exposes legislative, executive and judicial misbehavior.
Some reporters are assigned to beats, or an area of coverage, such as the courts, city hall, education, business, medicine and so forth. Others are called general assignment reporters, which means they are on call for a variety of stories such as accidents, civic events and human-interest stories.
In the movies, reporters have exciting, frenzied(狂热的)and dangerous jobs as they live a famous pronouncement of the newspaper business: "Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." Although a few members of the media have been killed as a result of investigations into wrongdoing, newspaper work for the great majority of reporters is routine.
All reporters are ultimately responsible to an editor. Depending on its size, a newspaper may have numerous editors, beginning with an executive editor responsible for the news division. Immediately below the executive editor is the managing editor, the person who oversees the day-to-day work of the news division. Other editors-sports, photo, state, national, features and obituary (讣告), for example-may also report to the managing editor.
However, the best known and in some ways the most crucial editor is the city or metro editor. This is the editor that reporters work for directly. The city or metro editor assigns stories, enforces deadlines and is the first to see reporters' raw copy on the composition system or computer network. These editors are called gatekeepers, because they control much of what will and will not appear in the next day's paper. Often working under the stress of breaking news, their decisions translate directly into the content of the newspaper.
Once the city or metro editor has finished editing a reporter's raw copy, the story moves from the composition system via the computer network to another part of the news division, the copy desk. Here, copy editors check for spelling and other errors of usage. They may also look for "holes" in the story that would confuse readers or leave their questions unanswered.
The copy desk chief routes finished stories to other editors who fit local and wire service stories, headlines (written by the editor-not the reporter!) and digital photographs onto pages. Newspapers are increasingly doing this work, called pagination (分页), with personal computers using software available at any office supply store. Microsoft Windows, Word and Quark Express are three programs that, though not designed for newspaper production, are easily adapted for it.
What Are the Editorial Pages All About?
A newspaper publishes its views on current events-both local and national-on its editorial pages. This is where editorials, unsigned commentary that reflects the collective position of the newspaper's editorial board, appear. Editorials are not news, but rather reasoned opinion based on facts. For example, editorials may criticize the performance of public officials such as the mayor, the police chief, or the local school board; conversely, editorials may praise others for their civic contributions. Whatever the topic, newspapers hope their editorials will raise the level of community discourse.
Two ways this occurs are familiar to any newspaper reader-letters to the editor and op-ed articles (a contraction of opposite-editorial page). Letters are always among the best-read section of any newspaper, for this is where readers express their opinions. Op-ed articles usually run 850 to 1,000 words. Newspapers make space for letters to the editor and op-ed articles freely available as part of their contribution to civic dialogue.
The editorial pages are under the direction of an editor outside the news division. Newspaper people call this "separation of church and state", meaning there is a line between news and opinion that must not be crossed. To do so strips a newspaper of its most valuable asset-credibility. For that reason, editorial page editors at some large newspapers report to the publisher, who is the chief executive officer of the company, and not to the executive editor. Other newspapers may have their editorial page editor reporting to the executive editor. Whatever the organizational model, though, neither department can tell the other what to publish in the newspaper.
How Are Newspapers Distributed?
Responsibility for getting the newspaper from the press to the reader falls to the distribution division. Large newspapers publish two, three or even four editions, all of which must be ready to leave the newspaper plant at a certain time. The first edition, sometimes called the bulldog edition (晨版), goes to the outer limits of the newspaper's circulation area. This may be several counties or even an entire state. Later editions contain progressively fresher news and go to smaller areas. The final edition, which goes to press after midnight, contains the latest news but covers the smallest geographical area, usually a city.
Any subscriber to a daily newspaper knows that it plops (扑通落下) onto the driveway in the wee hours of the morning. Independent contractors called carriers buy copies of the newspaper at a discount and deliver them, using their personal vehicles. The first job for many American youngsters was delivering the afternoon paper in their neighborhood.
The circulation department draws the routes that carriers follow. This department is also responsible for rack sales, newspapers that go into coin-operated dispensers (自动售货机). The circulation department maintains subscribers' billing records, stops and starts deliveries upon request, and uses service runners to deliver missing papers.
In 18 hours of highly coordinated work carried out by numerous divisions, what newspaper people call a "rough draft of history" has moved through computer systems, imaging(成像)machines and presses, to its final destination-the readers. After 3:30 a.m., few people remain at a newspaper plant. All the other divisions have gone home. The presses have fallen silent, perhaps undergoing maintenance for the remainder of the night. The sudden silence will not last long. In less than four hours, the newspaper, as it must do 365 days a year, will rouse from its short sleep and start all over again.