b 03 Whats Wrong with Our Press.doc

Lesson Three What’s Wrong With Our Press ? Newspapers have two great advantages over television. They can be used by men as barriers against their wives. It is still the only effective screen against the morning features of the loved one, and, as such , performs a unique human service . The second advantage is that you can’t line a garbage pail with a television set it’s usually the other way around . But here are some interesting statistics from a little , and little known , survey by Mr. Roper called “ The public’s reaction to Television Following the Quiz Investigations “ . In it he asks everybody but me this question : Suppose you could continue to have only one of the followingradio ,television , newspapers ,or magazines which would you prefer ? Newspapers came in second: Forty –two percent said if they could only have one , they would keep television. Thirty –two per cent said if they could only have one , they would keep newspapers . Even so, newspaper people should be much happier than the magazine people , because only four per cent said they needed magazines , as against nineteen per cent for radio . But listen to this . Mr. Roper asked these same harried people :” 我们的报纸问题何在？ 报纸比电视来说具有两大优越性。 第一，男人可以把报纸作为阻隔妻子的屏障， 现在报纸仍然是早晨避免目睹妻子起床后那般面容的唯一有效屏障。这样，报纸做出了独特而又有人情味的贡献。 第二个优越性是,电视机不能用来衬垫垃圾桶——而报纸通常却能垫垃圾桶。 罗珀先生进行了一项小小的鲜为人知的调查，题目是：“从问答调查看观众对电视的反应”， 下面就是从这个调查得出有趣的统计数字。调查中，他问了除我以外所有人这样一个问题：假如你只能在广播、电视、报纸、杂志中继续保留一种，你愿意要哪一种？ 结果是报纸居第二位：42%的人说，如果只能要一种，他们将保留电视； 32%的人说如果只能要一种，他们将保留报纸。 即便如此，办报纸的人也应比办杂志的人高兴得多了，因为说需要杂志的人只有4%，而要广播的人达到19%。 但是请听以下情况。罗珀先生又问同一些被他纠缠着提问的人 If you get conflicting or different reports of the same new story from radio, television, the magazines, and the newspapers , which of the four versions would you be most inclined to believe ? “Thirty –two per cent believe newspapers as against thirty per cent who believe television. But then something really strange happens. When Mr. Roper asked his guinea pigs which of these media they woul