VOA慢速英语2010年-IN THE NEWS - US Newspapers Seek Ways

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has become America's first major daily newspaper to publish online-only. Hearst, the company that owns it, printed the final newspaper on Tuesday. The Seattle P-I was one hundred forty-six years old -- the oldest daily newspaper in Washington state.

Seattle P-I employees in early March, before the newspaper became online-only

One hundred seventy people worked in the newsroom. Now just twenty journalists will work for seattlepi.com. The city is left with one major local daily, the Seattle Times. Some people think it could also go online-only.

Denver, Colorado, became a one-newspaper city a few weeks ago: the Rocky Mountain News closed. Other cities could soon follow.

Mike Simonton is a media analyst¹ at Fitch Ratings². He believes many two-newspaper markets will not survive through the end of next year. By that time, he says, there could even be some markets with no printed local paper each day.

Newspaper companies like Hearst, he says, are experimenting with new business models to see what works. But he says any new product will have to be different enough that people will not be able to find it anywhere else.

Some newspaper companies have recently sought bankruptcy³ protection. These include the Tribune Company, owner of the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, among others.

Newspapers earn most of their money from sales of advertising⁴. But a lot of that market has moved to free or low-cost advertising on the Internet, including sites like Craigslist. Losses have only been intensified⁵ by the recession⁶.

Ad sales have always gone up and down with the economy. But one difference this time is that many newspaper companies are heavily in debt from buying other newspapers.

Papers are cutting costs. Gannett, the nation's largest newspaper publisher, has cut more than one-fifth of its jobs in the past two years. More than eight thousand jobs have been lost.

In Detroit, Michigan, the two big dailies are reducing home delivery to three days a week. In Ohio, the state's largest papers still compete but now share stories.

Newspapers have lost millions of readers as a new generation has grown up. Yet much of the news that people get online still comes from newspapers. Most papers give it away free on their own sites. The Wall Street Journal is one of the few that charge for its online version.

Last month bloggers celebrated⁷ what they called a historic⁸ moment. President Obama, at his first major press conference, called on a reporter for a Web-only operation, the Huffington Post.

The United States Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and the press. But as budgets shrink, newspapers are printing fewer pages, less news. They have fewer reporters not just in foreign capitals, but even in Washington.

Industry observers say quality reporting is being lost. The question now is to what extent it will find a new home on the Internet.

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Brianna Blake. I'm Steve Ember.

 

1 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

2 ratings   

n.等级( rating的名词复数 )；收视率；表示电影分级的数字（或字母）；（海军）水兵

参考例句：

• He won high ratings [marks] in all his examinations. 他所有的考试都获得高分。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The boat was operated by two naval ratings in dress whites. 船由两个穿着白色礼服的水兵驾驶。 来自辞典例句

3 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

4 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。

5 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 recession   

n.（工商业的）衷退（期），萧条（期）

参考例句：

• Manufacturing fell sharply under the impact of the recession.受到经济萧条的影响，制造业急剧衰退。
• A rise in interest rates plunged Britain deeper into recession.利率的提高导致英国经济更加萧条。

7 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

8 historic   

adj.历史上著名的，具有历史意义的

参考例句：

• This is a historic occasion.这是具有重大历史意义的时刻。
• We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。