Unit 12. Text I What Makes Mainstream Media Mainstream

【Unit 1】Text I What Makes Mainstream Media Mainstream

Warm-up

? What is media? How do you understand the term? Define the term with your

partner within 50 words.

1. Cambridge: newspapers, magazines, radio and television considered as a group 2. Oxford: the main ways that large numbers of people receive information and

entertainment, that is television, radio, newspapers and the Internet.

3. Wikipedia: In communications, media (singular medium) are the storage and

transmission channels or tools used to store and deliver information or data. It is often referred to as synonymous with mass media or news media, but may refer to a single medium used to communicate any data for any purpose.

? Do you know the following terms related to “media”? Illustrate them with

some examples.

1. Advertising media: various media, content, buying and placement for advertising 2. Broadcast media: communications delivered over mass electronic communication

networks, e.g. TV, radio

3. Digital media: electronic media used to store, transmit, and receive digitized

information, e.g. Internet

4. Hypermedia: media with hyperlinks, e.g. Internet 5. Mass media: all means of mass communications

6. Multimedia: communications that incorporate multiple forms of information

content and processing, e.g. Internet (including text, audio, still images, animation, video footage or interactivity)

7. New media: a broad term encompassing the amalgamation of traditional media

with the interactive power of computer and communications technology, e.g. Internet, websites, computer multimedia,

8. News media: mass media focused on communicating news, e.g.

www.nytimes.com

9. Print media: communications delivered via paper or canvas (paper-based

publication), e.g. magazine, newspaper

10. Published media: any media made available to the public

11. Social media: media disseminated through social interaction, e.g. renren.com,

Facebook, Twitter

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【Unit 1】Text I What Makes Mainstream Media Mainstream

? What types of media do mainstream media encompass? Why do you think

mainstream media are controlled by and what is the motive for controlling?

? Recently a complaint posted on Sina weibo, a popular micro-blogging

website in China, about a Sanya seafood restaurant overcharging tourists has triggered controversy among Web users. How does micro-blogging affect the society in terms of the freedom of information? How is it different from the traditional media?

The seafood stall/restaurant with the sky high prices exposed by 罗迪微博: 朋友一家3口前天在三亚吃海鲜，3个普通菜被宰近4000元。他说是被出租车司机推荐来的。邻座一哥们指着池里一条大鱼刚问价，店家手脚麻利将鱼捞出摔晕，一称11斤，每斤580元共6000多元。那哥们刚想说理，出来几个东北大汉，只好收声认栽。别说服务水平了，连最基本的诚信都做不到，遑论国际旅游岛。——罗迪微薄 (2012年1月28日)

(More information about the news is available at the following webpage: http://www.beijingshots.com/2012/02/sanya-restaurants-ripping-off-customers-fleecing-tourists/)

Do you know any other event that has got a lot of media exposure in China or the world? Try to uncover the real reasons why it got so much attention.

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【Unit 1】Text I What Makes Mainstream Media Mainstream

What Makes Mainstream Media Mainstream

Noam Chomsky1

【1】Part of the reason why I write about the media is because I am interested in the whole intellectual culture, and the part of it that is easiest to study is the media. It comes out every day. You can do a systematic investigation. You can compare yesterday‘s version to today‘s version. There is a lot of evidence about what‘s played up2 and what isn‘t and the way things are structured.

【2】My impression is the media aren’t very different from scholarship or from, say, journals of intellectual opinion – there are some extra constraints3 – but it’s

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Avram Noam Chomsky

Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, and activist. He is a Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the ―father of modern linguistics‖ and a major figure of analytic philosophy. His work has influenced fields such as computer science, mathematics, and psychology. According to the Arts and Humanities Citation Index in 1992, Chomsky was cited as a source more often than any other living scholar from 1980 to 1992, and was the eighth most cited source overall.

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play sth up: to try to make sth seem more important than it is 夸大…的重要性；渲

染 (P6) SYN overplay OPP play down

play up | play sb up: (informal, especially BrE) to cause sb problems or pain （给某人）添麻烦；使痛苦

● The kids have been playing up all day. 孩子们整天价惹麻烦。 ● My shoulder is playing me up today. 我的肩膀今天疼起来了。

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constraint vs.limit vs. restriction vs. control vs. restraint vs. limitation

These are all words for sth that limits what you can do or what can happen. 以上各词均表示限制或限定。

constraint: (rather formal) a fact or decision that limits what you can do 指限制、限定、约束：

● We have to work within severe constraints of time and money. 我们必须在时间

紧迫、资金紧绌的限制下工作。

limit: the greatest or smallest amount of sth that is allowed 指极限、限量、限额

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【Unit 1】Text I What Makes Mainstream Media Mainstream

● The EU has set strict limits on pollution levels. 欧盟对污染程度订下了严格的

限制。

● the speed limit 速度限制

restriction: (rather formal) a rule or law that limits what you can do 指限制规定、限制法规

● There are no restrictions on the amount of money you can withdraw. 取款没有限

额。

control: (often in compounds) the act of limiting or managing sth; a method of doing this （常构成复合词）指限制、约束、管理、管制 ● arms control 军备控制

restraint: (rather formal) a decision, a rule, an idea, etc. that limits what you can do; the act of limiting sth because it is necessary or sensible to do so 指约束力、管制措施、制约因素、控制、限制

● The government has imposed export restraints on some products. 政府对一些产

品实行了出口控制。

● The unions are unlikely to accept any sort of wage restraint.工会不大可能接受

任何形式的工资限制。

limitation: the act or process of limiting sth; a rule, fact or condition that limits sth 指限制、控制、起限制作用的规则、事实或条件

● They would resist any limitation of their powers. 他们会抵制对他们权力的任何

限制。

Restriction, constraint, restraint or limitation?

These are all things that limit what you can do. A restriction is rule or law that is made by sb in authority. A constraint is sth that exists rather than sth that is made, although it may exist as a result of sb‘s decision. A restraint is also sth that exists: it can exist outside yourself, as the result of sb else‘s decision; but it can also exist inside you, as a fear of what other people may think or as your own feeling about what is acceptable.以上各词均表示限制规定。restriction 指掌权者所作的限制规定或法规。constraint 指现存的、也可能是由于某人的决定而存在的限制或约束。restraint 亦指现存的限制或制约因素，可能是由于他人的决定而存在于自身之外的限制，也可能是由于担心别人的想法而自设的限制。

● moral/social/cultural restraints 道德╱社会╱文化制约因素

A limitation is more general and can be a rule that sb makes or a fact or condition that exists. limitation 较通用，可指人为的规定，也可指客观存在的构成限制的事实

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【Unit 1】Text I What Makes Mainstream Media Mainstream

not radically different. They interact, which is why people go up and back quite easily among them.4 You want to study the media the way, say5, a scientist would study some complex molecule6 or something. You take a look at its internal institutional structure and then make some hypothesis based on the structure as to7

或情况。

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My impression is the media aren’t very different from scholarship or from, say,

journals of intellectual opinion – there are some extra constraints – but it’s not radically different. They interact, which is why people go up and back quite easily among them.

In what way are the media similar to academic world?

We can study the media the way a scientist would study some complex molecule. First we look at its internal institutional structure and then make some hypothesis about the media product, which we then investigate and see how well it conforms to the hypothesis. Finally we make the analysis. Paraphrase the sentence.

My impression is that the media aren‘t very different from the academic world or from, say, journals that publishes intellectual opinions. Although there are some extra constraints on the media but the difference is not huge. These fields interact with each other, which is why people switch their work quite easily among them.

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say: to suggest or give sth as an example or a possibility 比方说；假设 掌握基本知识。

● You could learn the basics in, let‘s say, three months. 比方说，三个月你就可以● Let‘s take any writer, say (= for example) Dickens… 我们随便举一个作家为

例，比如说狄更斯……

● Say you lose your job: what would you do then? 假设你把工作丢了，那你怎么

办呢？

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molecule: (chemistry) the smallest unit, consisting of a group of atoms, into which a

substance can be divided without a change in its chemical nature 分子 (P6) ● A molecule of water consists of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen.

水分子由两个氢原子和一个氧原子构成。 molecular: adj.

● molecular structure/biology 分子结构/生物学

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as to sth | as regards sth: used when you are referring to sth 关于；至于

● As to tax, that will be deducted from your salary. 至于税款，将从你薪水中扣

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