新编大学英语第四册unit8 Text B: What Makes TV Most Entertaining?
UNIT 8 AFTER-CLASS READING 1; New College English (IV)
What Makes TV Most Entertaining?
1 In America, over 98 percent of all households have a radio, and most automobiles are equipped with one. The average American listens to the radio eighteen hours a week.
2 About 77 percent of the population read newspapers. The average American spends about 3.5 hours a week reading newspapers.
3 Over 98 percent of all households own a television set; more than 50 percent own two sets. The average family uses its set more than 40 hours a week. Television is the most popular medium in the United States today.
4 American television is dominated by three private corporations the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), CBS Incorporated, and the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), which is a division of the RCA Corporation. Most of the 700 local television stations are forced to affiliate with one or another of these networks because of the high cost of producing news and entertainment programs. Local stations restrict themselves to local news coverage and then broadcast the network "feeds" of the "Evening News", rebroadcasting it in shorter form as part of their late news programs. In addition, each network owns five stations itself, the maximum number under the rules of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). These network-owned stations are found in the largest "market" cities, and they cover 38 percent of all "TV households" in the nation.
5 Prime time (8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.) is the most important time in television, and it is dominated by the three networks. Potentially, all 80 million homes in America with TV sets could tune in, and these homes house over 200 million people. The networks broadcast mostly action and adventure series (30 percent), situation comedies (25 percent) and movies (16 percent) on prime time. Special sand mini-series are becoming more popular. The only regular "live" programs on prime time are sports events, such as ABC's NFL Monday Night Football. Most other programs are filmed or videotaped.
6 Local stations do the actual broadcasting. Almost all stations are affiliated with one of the networks. The stations are paid by the networks to carry network primetime shows. Networks do not make payments to stations to carry news, sports, or late-night programs. However, the networks allow a certain number of advertising slots in those programs to be filled by local stations.
7 It is important to all three networks that their evening news programs attract as large an audience as possible. It is important not only because a large audience means that they can sell higher-priced commercial time on the news itself but also because they know that many American families leave their TV dials untouched after the news. A popular news show will promote audiences for later entertainment shows.
8 The news must entertain. It must be "hyped" to capture and hold audience attention with drama, action, conflict, violence, or disaster.
9 Like any good entertainment show, a news show must have recognizable characters doing something interesting, who are involved in struggles and conflicts over important issues. There must be a dramatic story line, but one that can be introduced, developed, and concluded in less than two minutes. The news must be made to appear timely, and it must be shown to affect us directly.
10 The need to make the news entertaining results in some interesting criteria for the selection of "news
Violence is more "newsworthy" than nonviolence. War, crime, conflict, and disasters excite audiences. Violent behavior is remembered better than nonviolent behavior. The murder and suicide of 900 Americans in Guyana in 1978 was the most remembered story of that year, with 98 percent of the Gallup Poll respondents saying that they knew about the event a figure matched only by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan in 1945.
The "news should have a direct impact on the lives of viewers. Millions of starving people in central Africa will not get as much coverage as a hotel fire in Las Vegas. Dramatic film of starving African children may help get the story on the air; but film of fire victims leaping to their deaths from high buildings is better. After all, nearly everyone in the United States has stayed in a hotel at one time or another, but very few have gone to Africa.
Stories about celebrities are more "newsworthy" than stories about people unfamiliar to the audience. Scandal, sex, accidents, personal grief, and even the daily habits of prominent and famous people make "news". Personalities are substituted for explanation. For instance, a conflict between two countries may be symbolized as a conflict between their presidents.
"News" should be timely and novel. This only means that the "news" should not have been reported in the previous 24 hours. Most of the evening news on all three networks is composed of "pre-planned" stories stories about events or situations that are not spontaneous. However insofar as possible these pre-planned stories must be made to appear novel and timely.
"News" must be an event, rather than a trend or an idea. It must be an event that can be filmed and seen and heard. Even if inflation is the single most important problem confronting Americans, according to a national survey, this topic will be pushed aside in favor of coverage of presidential visits, ceremonial bill signings, strikes, protests, accidents, or fires for which action film is available. When inflation is covered at all, it will be through a brief announcement of newly released inflation figures or some interviews with shoppers complaining of high prices. The news chiefs are not trying to hide inflation; the problem is that inflation is not an event that produces good film.
Every "news" story should have a dramatic quality an obvious conflict between identifiable opponents. The "news" cannot report ideas in the abstract. Stories work better on television when there are clear antagonists, especially when they are physically different. It is best when confrontation occurs between men and women, blacks and whites, young and old, rich and poor. Ideal antagonists will shout, cry, shake fists, or otherwise show intense emotions. There should be "good guys" and "bad guys", and either side can be shown as winning.
Finally, a "news" story must be short. The entire drama must be introduced, played out, and summarized in less than two minutes. Anything longer is a "documentary".
