Poll reveals TV news too negative

A recent Time/CNN poll in the USA has discovered that 75% of people agreed that the news media is "sensationalist", 63% found it "too negative" and 73% said they are " (1)____


the accuracy" of the news they are receiving.



Local news programmes in the USA are so dominated by stories of violence and crime (2)____


other topics like government, education and the environment are left with little airtime. Network broadcaster John Walters claimed, “This lack of information has (3)____


negative feelings towards the media.”



Crime reports, which often serve (4)____


lead stories, make up an average of 30.2% of news time on local TV news programmes in the USA. Media researcher Bob Smith reported, “53% of crime reports are about murder, but it is one of the least frequently (5)____


crimes.” Another media study revealed that 42% of all local TV news broadcasts are stories about crime, disaster and war.



One possible reason (6)____


this is that local television news is ratings driven. Some market research suggests that viewers like to see stories of crime and violence, (7)____

increases the ratings of newscasts. Higher ratings mean higher advertising revenues. Mike Adams, a television executive, explained, "The increase in crime reports is because, (8)____


, almost half the money a local station makes comes from news."



Many experts believe a steady diet of violence-oriented news broadcasts has serious effects. A spokesman for the National Television Violence Committee stated, “There are three main risks associated (9)____


viewing media violence. People learn aggressive behaviour. They become desensitised (10)____


real-world violence. These lead to an increased fear of being a victim of violence, resulting in mistrust of others.”

1. A. sure about B. doubt about C. sceptical about D. interested in

2. A. what B. that C. which D. –

3. A. resulted from B. been caused by C. leaded to D. resulted in

4. A. as B. with C. in D. –

5. A. commit B. committing C. committed D. to commit

6. A. with B. for C. in D. at

7. A. that B. what C. which D. –

8. A. in average B. on general C. in the whole D. on average

9. A. to B. with C. at D. and

10. A. to B. with C.at D. in