IT MADE THE NEWS!

A. Discuss the questions in your group. 

• Is it important to you to know what is happening in other countries?
• When was the last time you watched the news on TV?
• Do you read the news on the internet? Do you have a favourite website for this?
• Do you listen to the news on the radio?
• Do you or your parents buy a newspaper every day?
• Do you think that the internet has changed the way we find out about what’s happening in the world? In what ways?
• Do you always believe everything you see and hear on the news?

B. Make notes on the advantages and disadvantages of learning the news from:

television - the Internet - 

newspapers - the radio

C. Choose one of the newspaper headlines and guess or invent the story. 

• TAX CHEWING GUM TO PAY FOR CLEAN-UP 

• HAPPY BIRTHDAY – WE ARE THROWING YOU OUT OF BRITAIN 

• 4-YEAR-OLDS ASKED TO MARK THEIR TEACHERS 

• POLICE STEP UP SEARCH FOR BODY 

• EAR FOUND ON PAVEMENT 

• TELEVISION KILLS, SAYS GERMAN PROFESSOR 

• WANT A DOG? TAKE A PERSONALITY TEST 

• EARTHQUAKE KILLS 500

E. Discuss these quotes with your classmates. 

• You can’t believe anything you read in the newspapers. 

• The media has no respect for the lives of normal people. 

• All the news you hear is bad news. 

• Famous people earn a lot of money from being in the news. They shouldn’t complain when they have reporters following them. 

• We need to see what is happening in the world. Visual images are important for us to be able to understand. 

• We don’t need to see the horrific things that happen in the world. The images on TV give us too much detail and invade the privacy of real people. 

• The world is getting smaller as news is travelling faster. 

• Within ten years newspapers won’t exist, as we will get all our news online. 

• Bad news travels fast. 

E. Understanding Newspaper Headlines

Headlines often use a noun phrase, that is, a phrase without a verb:

• Poor Service at Supermarkets
• Best Strategies for New Tax Year /   Thai Protesters Parade

Various Verb Changes

There are a number of verb changes made to headlines. The most common are:

• Simple tenses used instead of continuous or perfect forms. For example:Forgotten Brother Appears = A forgotten brother has appeared (after a long period of time).
  Professors Protest Pay Cuts = Professors are protesting pay cuts (at the university).
• The infinitive form refers to the future. For example:Mayor to Open Shopping Mall = The mayor is going to open a new shopping mall.
  James Wood to Visit Portland = (Famous actor) James Wood is going to visit Portland soon.
• Auxiliary verbs are dropped in the passive form. For example:Man Killed in Accident = A Man has been killed in an accident.
  Tommy the Dog Named Hero = Tommy the Dog has been named a hero (by the mayor).

Drop Articles

Perhaps you have noticed in the examples above that both definite and indefinite articles are also dropped in newspaper headlines (i.e. Mayor to Choose Candidate). Here are some more examples:

President Declares Celebration = The president has declared a celebration.
Passerby Sees Woman Jump = A passerby has seen a woman jump (into the river).

Vocabulary
Here is a list of the most common words used in newspaper headlines with their
meaning:
AID – HELP
ALLEGE – MAKE AN ACCUSATION
AXE –CUT
BACK – SUPPORT
BAN – PROHIBIT
BID – ATTEMPT
BLAST – EXPLOSION
BLAZE – FIRE
BLOW – UNFORTUNATE HAPPENING
BOOST – ENCOURAGE
CLASH – CONFLICT, DISAGREEMENT
CLEAR – FIND INNOCENT
CON – TRICK, CHEAT OUT OF
CRASH – FAILURE
DEAL – AGREEMENT
DROP – FALL
EDGE – MOVE GRADUALLY
HAVOC – DISTURBANCE, CHAOS
HEAD FOR – MOVE TOWARDS
KEY – IMPORTANT
LOOM – THREATEN TO HAPPEN
MOB – ANGRY CROWD
PEAK – HIGH POINT
PLEA – CALL FOR HELP
PROBE – INVESTIGATION
QUIT – ABANDON
RAID – ENTER AND SEARCH
ROW – ARGUMENT, QUARREL
SPARK – CAUSE TO START
TOLL – NUMBER KILLED
VOW – PROMISE

EXERCISE 1

• Difficult Times Ahead
• Forgotten Brother Appears
• James Wood to Visit Portland
• Landscaping Company Disturbance Regulations
• Man Killed in Accident
• Mayor to Open Shopping Mall
• Mustang Referral Customer Complaint
• Overwhelming Response of Voters
• Passerby Sees Woman Jump
• President Declares Celebration
• Professors Protest Pay Cuts
• Tommy the Dog Named Hero
• Under Pressure from Boss
• Unexpected Visit
• Widow Pension Pay Committee

EXERCISE 2

Visit the link.

There are different types of newspapers.

Depending on the frequency of publication: Morning or evening newspapers, daily newspapers, weekly newspaper and Sunday supplements

Depending on the size and contents: Tabloids or broadsheets. Tabloids are small papers which contain lots of pictures and short, simple articles. Broadsheets on the contrary are large papers with serious reports and articles.

Finally, although newspapers are supposed to be objective, they are also usually connected to some political party or political ideals, so people consider some of them right wing or left wing newspapers.

exercise 3

these are  links to some of the most popular newspapers in britain. decide what type of newspapers they are: 

(you can’t see the actual size of the paper but in the online version you can easily decide: when gossip news or news about celebrities cover most of the front page, you are usually reading a tabloid. 

Daily Express          http://www.express.co.uk/home 

Daily Mail               http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html

Daily Telegraph      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Belfast Telegraph    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Evening Standard    http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/

Financial Times      http://www.ft.com/home/uk

Guardian                http://www.guardian.co.uk/

Independent            http://www.independent.co.uk/

Mirror                     http://www.mirror.co.uk/

Morning Star          http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php

Sun                         http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/

Times                      http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/

Western Mail          http://www.walesonline.co.uk/

News of the World  http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/

Scotsman                http://www.scotsman.com/

Spectator                                 http://www.spectator.co.uk/

\

EXERCISE 4

WRITE THESE HEADLINES IN EVERYDAY ENGLISH, AS IN THE EXAMPLE:

two men con old man out of life savings ==> Two men have cheated an old man out of all the money he had saved in his life

• strikers clash with police
• government backed by oppostion party
• BP boosts gas exports
• injured player new blow to the team
• deal on pay rise expected by monday
• politician cleared on drugs charges
• country edges towards economic recession
• key evidence found on the case
• mob about to lynch a man in lindbrorg
• earthquake areas plea for food help
• minister quits after sex scandal
• referee decision sparks riot
• floods toll expected to rise
• further rows over wage cuts
• armed man causes havoc at supermarket