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JURNALISM, AVANSATI, CURS 1, 16 oct 2006 I. Read and translate: Origins of Newspapers Before the invention of printing machines, people spread news by word of mouth, written letters, or public notices. As more people learned to read and write, news reports gained added reliability. Ancient Rome had a particularly sophisticated system for circulatind written news. Its publishing practices centered on acta diurna (daily events) , handwritten news sheets posted by the government in the public marketplace from the year 59 BC to at least AD 222. Acta diurna announced news of politics, trials, scandals, military campaigns, and executions. In China, early government-produced news sheets called tipao, circulated among court officials during the Han dynasty (202 BC- AD 220). At some point during the Tang dynasty (619 907), the Chinese used carved wooden blocks to print tipao, making them the first printed newspapers in history. A printing press was developed in Europe in 1450, and European officials soon began using it to publish news. Short pamphlets, called news books, informed the public of royal weddings, victorious battles, or other newsworthy events. News ballads recounted news events in verse form. News books and news ballads were circulated sporadically in Europe and the American colonies, usually when officials wanted to inform the public of important events. The First Newspapers Newspapers published under the same name on a regular schedule first appeared in Venice, Italy, in the 16th century. Handwritten newspapers called avisi, or gazettes, appeared weekly as early as 1566. They reported news brought to Venice by traders, such as accounts of wars and politics in other parts of Italy and Europe. Venetian gazettes established a style of journalism that most early printed newspapers followed short sheets of news items written under the name of the city they came from and the date on which they were sent. The oldest surviving copies of European newspapers are of two weeklies published in German in 1609, one in Strassburg (now, Strasbourg France), by Johann Carolus, the other in Wolfenbtel, Germany, by Lucas Schulte. Newspapers spread rapidly throughout Europe. One-page weeklies appeared in Basel, Switzerland, by 1610; in Frankfurt, Germany, and Vienna, Austria, by 1615; in Hamburg, Germany, by 1616; in Berlin, Germany, by 1617; and in Amsterdam, Netherlands, by 1918. The first newspapers printed in England appeared in 1621, and France produced a newspaper in 1631. However, printers in Amsterdam, a center of trade and of political and religious tolerance in the early 17th century, exported weeklies in French and in English as early as 1620. The first continuously published English newspaper was the Weekly News, published from 1622 to 1641. Italys first printed weekly appeared by 1639, and Spain had one by 1941. Early English newspapers were generally printed in one of two formats: in the style of the Dutch papers or in the style of the early German weeklies. Dutch-style papers compressed news stories onto four or fewer pages, while news in German-style weeklies

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covered up to 24 pages. English publishers first used the Dutch-style but switched to the German-style by 1622. English newspapers were among the first in the world to use headlines to attract readers and woodcuts to illustrate stories. English newspapers also set new business standards. They hired women as reporters, printed advertisments as a source of revenue, and paid newsboys, or more commonly newsgirls, to sell papers in the streets. The fledgling English press faced censorship throughout much of the 17th century. Early newspapers called diurnals the predecessors of the todays dailies featured news from all over Europe and occasionally America or Asia. However, government officials discouraged reporting on local matters. In addition, the government tightly regulated print shops. In England, as in most other European countries, the government required printers to have licences to print the news. Printers could lose their licences if they published anything offensive to authorities. The first major change in this arrangement came in the years before the outbreak of the English Civil War (1642-1648). As Parliament, under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell, struggled with King Charles I, national news assumed a new importance. Newspapers, libetared by the breakdown in the kings authority, began to feel free enough to discuss domestic politics. The first English newspaper to attempt to report on national news was The Heads of Several Proceedings in This Present Parliament, a weekly that appeared in 1641. The publics appetite for domestic news grew steadily, and soon a number of papers covered national politics and other previously censored topics. In 1644 writer John Milton articulated the ideal of freedom of the press with great eloquence in his essay Areopagitica. However, when Oliver Cromwell consolidated his power after Charles I was beheaded in 1649, he cracked down on the press. He allowed only a few authorized newspapers to be printed. After the monarchy was restored under King Charles II in 1660, the government gradually ended licensing provisions and other restrictions. The English press published in an atmosphere of considerable freedom as long as it did not criticize the government. During the upheaval of the Glorious Revolution in 1688 (when Parliament deposed King James II in favour of William of Orange) the English press burst free of nearly all government restrictions. The law that required printers to obtain licences lapsed in 1695. Belief in the right of the press to question and criticize government eventually took hold in England and migrated to its American colonies. (Newspapers, Encarta Encyclopedia) STYLE: Expository writing (the following instruction are taken from: Styles of Writing http://library.nudgee.com/styles_of_writing.htm; Rhodes University, How to Write a Research Proposal for Peer Review http://www.nrf.ac.za/yenza/pdf/pruprop.PDF; Creating a Thesis Statement http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/545/01/) An exposition essay explains things- it provides information about a subject as it can communicate or analyse facts. Some expository writings include newspaper articles, encyclopedia articles or explanatory essays. An expository statement explains something to the audience.

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Ex: The life of the typical college student is characterized by time spend studying, attending class, and socializing with peers. The paper that follows should: explain how students spend their time studying, attending class, and socializing with peers.

You are to construct an explanatory essay, that is, you are going to write in response to questions such as:- why is something like this? how did it happen? Look at cause and effect.

Even though you will follow the typical essay structure of Introduction, Main Body and Conclusion, there are some special requirements for an explanatory essay.

Introduction: Introduce the topic - describe or define what you are going to talk about.

Main body: Explain each of the ideas/factors involved in the topic. Give examples.

Use a different paragraph for each different factor.

Talk about the most important factor first and then go to minor factors about the subject.

Conclusion: Weigh up the factors involved.

Summarize your explanations.

Some other hints to use while constructing your essay.

Don't express your personal opinion on a subject.

Don't use emotive words or imaginative language, use precise words only.

Use facts and figures.

Use the third person voice.

If any paragraph is too long (over one page), your agenda and data may have overwhelmed you. The paragraph must be carefully constructed. The paragraph form is the same as the overall ferm of the paper initialization of the topic, elaboration of argument, presentation and marshaling of evidence and conclusion. In addition, the paragraph must have allusive, transitional links to previous paragraph.

Do not over use it constructions: it is usually a personal pronoun and refers to an antecedent. Too many its in a single paragraph, let alone a sentence, make it excessively difficult to remember the antecedent of the last it. Excessive its therefore usually result in turgid prose. It is also used in impersonal constructions (which have no antecedent) and are also passive in construction: It is to be avoided if it is at all possible

Avoid the passive voice.

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Avoid all first person constructions, I, the royal we, the editorial we and so on. Such constructions are invariably pretentious and are used in conjuction with jargon to puff up a poor proposal.

Avoid all contractions: cant, dont, wont, isnt To split or not to split infinitives? Even though Geoffrey Chaucer, the New York

Times and even CBS split infinitives, avoid this practice if you can (Star Trek: To boldly go where no man)

Avoid hidden gender-specific words: man Adverbs and adjectives leach the nouns and verbs of their power. Consider the

following: They always leach the powerful nouns and picturesque verb of their natural power. Always be very careful of the word very. It can creep in very nearly everywhere. Moreover, the excessive overuse of unnecessary adverbs and unneeded adjectives is very juvenile and sophomoric.

Avoid crossed or mixed metaphors: Gold was the bedrock on which this mighty empire bloomed

Avoid repetition No Latin citation forms (not needed and intimidating) Use English (Anglo-

Saxon words), short titles and always Arabic numerals Avoid all jargon always.

A good example of expository style: Encarta Encyclopedia Title: Newspapers Introduction: Define the newspaper (publication usually issued on a daily or weekly basis, the main function of which is to report news) Main Body: Kinds of Newspapers (daily newspapers, weekly newspapers, special-interest newspapers); How a Newspaper is Produced (A. Creating Articles and Features: 1. Reporters, 2. Wire Services. 3. Editors, 4. Graphic Artists and Photographers; B. Business Operations: 1. Advertising, 2. Printing, 3. Distribution); Origins of Newspapers; The First Newspapers; The Newspaper in the United States (A. Colonial Papers; B Revolutionary Period; C. Penny Press; D. Newspapers in the 19th Century; E. Alternative Papers; F. Concentration of Ownership; G. Competition from Radio and Television; H Government-Press Conflict); The Newspaper in Canada (A. British Colonial Period; B. Confederation Debates; C. 20th Century); The Global Press (A. The British Model, B. Freedom of the Press Following Word War I; C Post World War II; D. Newspapers in Postcolonial Governments; E. Breakdown of Communism in Eastern Europe); The Newspaper Industry Today (A. Consolidation; B. Newspaper Chains; C. The Internet) Conclusion: But whatever its medium electronic or print the newspaper will likely remain an important feature in modern society Speaking: History of the newspapers in Romania; religious tolerance; women as reporters; the newspaper and the Internet

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Grammar: Revision (The theory is taken from Practical English Usage, Michael Swan, Oxford University Press, 2003) Past (1): Talking about the past in English: 6 different uses: simple past (I worked) past continuous (I was working) simple present perfect (I have worked) present perfect continuous (I have been working) simple past perfect (I had worked) past perfect continuous (I had been working) Past (2) Simple Past I worked Did I work? I did not work Vbs finish in e = d hope = hoped Decide = decided Vbs finish in 1 stressed vowel + 1 cons (except w or y) = double the consonant Shop = shopped Plan = planned Refer = referred Regret = regretted Vbs finish in cons + y = y i+ed Hurry = hurried Cry = cried Study = studied Vbs finish in c = ck Pocnic = picnicked British English l doubled (after short vowel): travel = travelled Use: * short, quickly finished actions and happenings, longer situations, repeated events: Peter broke a window last night. I spent all my childhood in Scotland. Regularly every summer, Janet fell in love. * story-telling and when we are telling people about past events One day the Princess decided that she didnt like staying at home all day, so she told her father that she wanted to get a job. * references to finished periods and moments of time I saw John yesterday morning. He told me.. * the normal one for talking about the past

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Practice (the exercises are taken from Advanced Language Practice, Michael Vince, Heinemann, 1994)

1. Choose the most suitable words underlined. a. When you passed the town hall clock, did you notice/ were you noticing what

time it was? b. Last night my neighbours were shouting/would shout for hours and I couldnt

get to sleep. c. When you lived in London, did you use to travel/ were you travelling by bus? d. Everyone was having a good time, although not many people danced/ were

dancing. e. Excuse me, but this seat is mine.

-Im sorry, I didnt realise/ hadnt realised that you were sitting here. f. Jill didnt eat/ hadnt eaten all day, so she was really hungry at this point. g. Paul has forgotten to book the tickets Im afraid.

-He was always doing/ would do something like that! h. It took a while for me to notice, but then I did. Everyone stared/ was staring at

me. What had I done wrong? i. Nobody bothered to tell me that the school decided/ had decided to have a

special holiday that Friday. j. I was trying/ tried to get in touch with you all day yesterday. Where were you?

2. Put each verb in brackets into a suitable tense. All sentences refer to past time. Suggest alternative tenses if necessary where the past perfect or another tense might be possible. a. I realised that someone (steal) my wallet when I (feel) their hand in my jacket

pocket. b. When I (phone) Helen last night she (wash) her hair and she (not finish) when

I finally (get to) her house. c. Peter (offer) me another drink but I decided I (drink) enough. d. Nobody (watch), so the little boy (take) the packet of sweets from the shelf

and (put) it in his pocket. e. I (not realise) that I (leave) my umbrella on the bus until it (start) to rain. f. At school I (dislike) the maths teacher because he (always pick) on me. g. Wherever Marion (find) a job, there was someone who (know) that she (go) to

prison. h. It was only much later I (find out) that during all the time I (write) to my

penfriend, my mother (open) and reading the replies! i. I (not understand) what (go on). Several people (shout) at me, and one (wave)

a newspaper in front of my face. j. I (know) I (do) well in my exams even before I (receive) the official results.

3. Choose the most appropriate time expression underlined. a. Once/ Afterwards Id read the manual, I found I could use the computer quite

well. b. It was more than a month before/ until I realised what had happened. c. I managed to talk to Carol just as/ while she was leaving. d. It wasnt until/ up to 1983 that Nigel could afford to take holidays abroad.

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e. George always let me know by the time/ whenever he was going to be late. f. I was having a bath at the time/ that time, so I didnt hear the doorbell. g. We bought our tickets and five minutes after/ later the train arrived. h. According to Grandpa, people used to dress formally those days/ in his day. i. Everyone was talking but stopped at the time/ the moment Mr Smith entered

the room. j. The letter still hadnt arrived by/ until the end of the week.

HOMEWORK: Make a one-page composition, using the expository style, starting with: The life of the typical college student is characterized by time spend studying, attending class, and socializing with peers. As the theory says, the paper that follows should: explain how students spend their time studying, attending class, and socializing with peers.