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Vocabulary related to the Media and Journalism
Task 1 Task 2 Rating Form
Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate word/phrase.

bias
deadline
popular press
scoop
spin
broadsheet
libel laws
pose a question
soundbite
tabloid
chequebook journalism
media coverage
privacy
source
viewing figures
circulation figures
off the record
ratings/ratings wars
speculation
  1. viewing figures are the number of people watching a television programme.
  2. If people pose a question or an idea, they ask or state that question or idea.
  3. Speculation is a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence; a guess, supposition, hypothesis, opinion, view; an investment that is very risky but could yield great profits.
  4. A deadline is a time limit for any activity.
  5. A bias is a tendency to show prejudice against one group and favouritism towards another or to be influenced so much by something that you do not judge things fairly.
  6. Circulation figures refers to the distribution of newspapers, magazines; the number of copies of an issue of such a publication that is distributed.
  7. A soundbite is brief excerpt from a text or performance (anything from a single word to a sentence or two) that is meant to capture the interest and attention of an audience; a short sentence or phrase, usually from a politician's speech, which is broadcast during a news programme.
  8. Media coverage is the extent or degree to which something is observed, analyzed, and reported in the media.
  9. To spin means to provide an interpretation of (a statement or event, for example), especially in a way meant to sway public opinion; to draw out and twist (fibers) into thread. If people spin a story or spin a yarn, they give you an account of something that is untrue or only partly true. If you are in a spin , you are confused and unable to act sensibly because of something that has happened.
  10. Libel laws protect people from libel which is something written in a book or newspaper which wrongly damages somebody’s reputation.
  11. A scoop is an exclusive newspaper story (i.e. a story that is published only in that particular paper); an amount of some items obtained in a large quantity, as with a scoop , e.g. an ice cream scoop ; a piece of luck.
  12. If something that you say is off the record , it is not official and not intended to be published or made known.
  13. If you have privacy , you are alone or can be alone so that you can do things without other people seeing you or disturbing you. It is the condition of being private or withdrawn.
  14. The popular press refers to the cheap newspapers with a mass circulation; the tabloid press.
  15. Ratings (statistics) are lists giving the number of people who watched each television programme during the week so that the most popular and least popular programmes are known. A situation in which each of two or more channels makes a particular effort to attract more viewers or listeners than its rival is known as a ratings war
  16. A source is a person, book, organization, etc, that provides information for a news story or for a piece of research; the point or place from which something originates; a person, group, etc, that creates, issues, or originates something.
  17. A tabloid is a newspaper with pages (about 30 cm X 40 cm), usually characterized by an emphasis on photographs and a concise and often sensational style.
  18. A broadsheet is a newspaper which has a large format (approximately 38 X 61 centimetres).
  19. Chequebook journalism is the practice of securing exclusive rights to material for newspaper stories by paying a high price for it, regardless of any moral implications such as paying people to boast of criminal or morally reprehensible activities.
Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate word.

People in the media
anchor
paparazzo
reporter
columnist
producer
correspondent
publicist
editor
publisher
  1. A publisher is a company or person engaged in publishing periodicals, books, music, etc.
  2. A paparazzo is a freelance photographer who specializes in candid camera shots of famous people and often invades their privacy to obtain such photographs. The plural form is paparazzi
  3. An editor is a person in overall charge of the editing and often the policy of a newspaper or periodical; a person who edits written material for publication; a person in charge of one section of a newspaper or periodical. In cinema, a person who makes a selection and arrangement of individual shots in order to construct the flowing sequence of images for a film; in television and radio, a person in overall control of a programme that consists of various items, such as a news or magazine style programme.
  4. A columnist is a journalist who writes a regular feature in a newspaper. A feature article in a newspaper or magazine deals in depth with a topic or person.
  5. A correspondent is a reporter, especially one who reports from a particular place or about a particular subject.
  6. A publicist is a person who publicizes something, especially a press or publicity agent; a journalist.
  7. An anchor , also called a presenter, (in broadcasting) is a person in a central studio who links up and maintains contact with various outside camera units, reporters, etc; in sport, he/she is the last person in a team to compete, especially in a relay race.
  8. A producer is the person who takes overall administrative responsibility for a film or television programme; in British English, a person responsible for the artistic direction of a play, including interpretation of the script, preparation of the actors, and overall design; a person or thing that produces.
  9. A reporter is a person who reports, especially one employed to gather news for a newspaper, news agency, or broadcasting organization.
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