The Power of the Press

更新：2023-11-22

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[00:01.44]Lesson 45
[00:03.45]The power of the press
[00:12.29]Does the writer think the parents were lucky or unlucky to gain prosperity in this way? Why?
[00:21.64]In democratic countries any efforts to restrict the freedom of the press are rightly condemned.
[00:28.83]However, this freedom can easily be abused.
[00:33.05]Stories about people often attract far more public attention than political events.
[00:39.27]Though we may enjoy reading about the lives of others,
[00:42.59]it is extremely doubtful whether we would equally enjoy reading about ourselves.
[00:48.43]Acting on the contention that facts are sacred,
[00:52.14]reporters can cause untold suffering to individuals by publishing details about their private lives.
[00:59.54]Newspapers exert such tremendous influence
[01:02.83]that they can not only bring about major changes to the lives of ordinary people but can even overthrow a government.
[01:10.81]The story of a poor family that acquired fame and fortune overnight, dramatically illustrates the power of the press.
[01:18.76]The family lived in Aberdeen, a small town of 23, 000 inhabitants in South Dakota.
[01:25.73]As the parents had five children, life was a perpetual struggle against poverty.
[01:31.24]They were expecting their sixth child and were faced with even more pressing economic problems.
[01:37.41]If they had only had one more child, the fact would have passed unnoticed.
[01:42.42]They would have continued to struggle against economic odds and would have lived in obscurity.
[01:48.40]But they suddenly became the parents of quintuplets, four girls and a boy,
[01:53.94]an event which radically changed their lives.
[01:57.60]The day after the birth of the five children,
[02:00.25]an aeroplane arrived in Aberdeen bringing sixty reporters and photographers.
[02:07.13]The rise to fame was swift.
[02:09.72]Television cameras and newspapers carried the news to everyone in the country.
[02:15.59]Newspapers and magazines offered the family huge sums for the exclusive rights to publish stories and photographs.
[02:24.28]Gifts poured in not only from unknown people,
[02:27.86]but from baby food and soap manufacturers who wished to advertise their products.
[02:33.41]The old farmhouse the family lived in was to be replaced by a new $500, 000 home.
[02:40.15]Reporters kept pressing for interviews so lawyers had to be employed to act as spokesmen for the family at press conferences.
[02:48.03]While the five babies were still quietly sleeping in oxygen tents in a hospital nursery,
[02:53.70]their parents were paying the price for fame.
[02:57.01]It would never again be possible for them to lead normal lives.
[03:01.67]They had become the victims of commercialization, for their names had acquired a market value.
[03:08.46]Instead of being five new family members, these children had immediately become a commodity.