VOA标准英语2009年-Another One Bites the Dust

Not a daily newspaper this time, but the 'bible' that covered journalism¹

Ted² Landphair | Washington, DC 16 December 2009

 
Photo: James Cridland, Flickr Creative Commons
Lots of the newspapers that "Editor & Publisher" covered saw this sign on their doors this year. Then the magazine got one, too.

This year, at least five U.S. daily newspapers and uncounted weekly papers have closed in the face of falling advertising³ revenue, as readers turn to computers and handheld devices to access their primary news sources online.

And now the industry's oldest journal, the 108-year-old magazine Editor & Publisher, is disappearing as well.  Its owner, the Neilsen Co., is selling several other magazines, including the popular entertainment-industry publications Billboard⁴ and Hollywood Reporter.  But it could not find a buyer for the magazine that some call the bible of the newspaper business.

 
allabout George, Flickr Creative Commons
This photo of newsboxes was taken in Seattle when it had two daily papers. Now the one in the middle box, the "Post-Intelligencer", is gone.

Editor & Publisher, based in New York City, had already scaled back from a weekly to a monthly publication five years ago.  It launched a Web site that printed breaking journalism news.  That site, too, came down on December 11th.

With a small staff under editor Greg Mitchell, the author of eight books about journalism coverage⁵, Editor & Publisher aggressively attacked biased⁶ reporting from both left and right.  "The main principle of journalism – besides being accurate and fair – is to be skeptical," Mitchell wrote in his column.

"It's a sad day," Philadelphia Daily News reporter Will Bunch wrote on the online Huffington Post blog. But, he added, the folding of Editor & Publisher gave him hope for journalism's future.  "If Greg Mitchell and his small staff can ask the right question and not back down," he wrote, 'then I know it can happen again and will happen again, somewhere else and in some other format⁷ – that no-holds-barred journalism is possible even on these weird⁸ little newfangled tablets or whatever."

Those newfangled tablets are electronic book readers, one of the handheld devices that helped put endangered newspapers, and the magazine that was their bible, out of business.

Read more of Ted's personal reflections and stories from the road on his blog, Ted Landphair's America.
 

1 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

2 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

3 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

4 billboard   

n.布告板，揭示栏，广告牌

参考例句：

• He ploughed his energies into his father's billboard business.他把精力投入到父亲的广告牌业务中。
• Billboard spreads will be simpler and more eye-catching.广告牌广告会比较简单且更引人注目。

5 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

6 biased   

a.有偏见的

参考例句：

• a school biased towards music and art 一所偏重音乐和艺术的学校
• The Methods: They employed were heavily biased in the gentry's favour. 他们采用的方法严重偏袒中上阶级。

7 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。

8 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。