英伦广角 2009-04-19 英传媒业的尴尬境地

The newspaper industry was already pressing through changes. The recession has simply accelerated the process. The figures make grim reading. In the past five years, some of the countries’ biggest and most established regional newspapers have seen their circulations plummet¹. And with advertising² revenue continuing to fall, adapting to change has been a tough process. The annual GA estimates around 1,000 jobs have gone in local newspapers in the past year alone.

Got a Chester Roman Amphitheater misplaced on Google Maps, it's currently where the Chester Magistrate³ Court is.

In Chester, people've sat down to discuss how they should cover their city for over 230 years. Like most newspapers, the Chronicle has had to cut jobs. Advertising revenues are down, adapting wasn't the choice, but a necessity.

"People within the industry realize that it is a different world, it's a different way
doing things. And we have to adapt and I think stuff of, I have to accept that, on the whole, I think this, that there were always dinosaurs⁴, there were always people that would not accept change, but they have to do or they have to fall by the wayside. "

The newspaper is still the cornerstone here, but the website is their growth market.

"... it was a meerkat on its, stood on its back legs, looking through the patio⁵ window, it was absolutely frozen, shivering."

“In the last year, on the Chester Chronicle site, we've seen about 450% increase in unique users, which is quite staggering and that's not at the moment showing any sign of letting-up. So it is really tremendous news that we are reaching so many more people with our product. “

In Essex, EverythingEppingForest.co.uk is also flourishing. Set up by a local newspaper editor who took redundancy.

"Local papers are struggling with the current economic climate.
There are fewer houses for sale, so their property section is reduced. People aren't buying cars, so the motoring section gets smaller and the same with jobs, you know, the stiuations vacant page gets more, more reduced, but community websites offering cheap advertising, providing the community needs. If you get the message around, 'they are there', which I have managed to do, I think that's the way ahead."

Local radio and regional TV are going through similar changes. The common concern is how to balance good journalism⁶ with financial realities, a dilemma⁷ that goes back many, many years.

1 plummet   

vi.(价格、水平等)骤然下跌；n.铅坠；重压物

参考例句：

• Mengniu and Yili have seen their shares plummet since the incident broke.自事件发生以来，蒙牛和伊利的股票大幅下跌。
• Even if rice prices were to plummet,other brakes on poverty alleviation remain.就算大米价格下跌，其它阻止导致贫困的因素仍然存在。

2 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。

3 magistrate   

n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官

参考例句：

• The magistrate committed him to prison for a month.法官判处他一个月监禁。
• John was fined 1000 dollars by the magistrate.约翰被地方法官罚款1000美元。

4 dinosaurs   

n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 )；守旧落伍的人，过时落后的东西

参考例句：

• The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 patio   

n.庭院，平台

参考例句：

• Suddenly, the thought of my beautiful patio came to mind. I can be quiet out there,I thought.我又忽然想到家里漂亮的院子，我能够在这里宁静地呆会。
• They had a barbecue on their patio on Sunday.星期天他们在院子里进行烧烤。

6 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。

7 dilemma   

n.困境，进退两难的局面

参考例句：

• I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
• He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。