Questions 52 to 56 are based on the following passage.
One of the world’s most profitable news organizations is Fox News, an American cable-news channel that is part of Rupert Murdoeh’s News Corporation. Fox was set up in 1996 by Roger Ailes, a former media adviser to three Republican presidents, specifically to appeal to conservative viewers. Fox is famous for being opinionated (固执己见的) rather than for being profitable.
In a world where millions of new sources are emerging on the Internet, consumers are overwhelmed with information and want to be told what it all means. Fox is not the only news organisation that is unafraid to say what it thinks and is prospering as a result. Perhaps significantly, MSNBC, which has lately been positioning itself to appeal to a left-wing crowd, is picking up viewers. "It’s not quite as political as what Fox does, "says Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC," but we definitely have a progressive sensibility. a sensibility to the left."
The idea that journalists should be impartial in reporting news is a relatively recent one. "A lot of newspaper people treat it as one true religion, when it’s an artifact of a certain set of economic and historical circumstances, "says Joshua Benton of the Nieman Journalism Lab. America’s Founding. Fathers nurtured a vibrant, fiercely partisan (党派性) I press with no licensing of newspapers or policing of content. During the 19th century newspapers gradually adopted a more objective perspective, for several reasons. With the professionalization of journalism in the early 20th century came amore detached style of reporting.
These days different countries have different preferences. In Europe obvious partisanship in newspapers is widespread and state-run television channels often have partisan loyalty: In India 81 of the 500 satellite-TV channels that have sprung up in the past 20 years are news channels, most of them catering to specific political, religious, regional, linguistic or ethnic groups.
If impartiality is already the exception rather than the rule, the Internet is now eroding it further. In America it undermines local news monopolies by reducing advertising revenue and providing access to a wide range of alternative sources. In Britain and other countries where news broadcasters are required to be impartial, at least in theory, the blend of television and the web makes such rules seem outdated. The Internet has also compressed the news cycle, with headlines delivered instantly by smart phone or Twitter, creating a demand for immediate ysis and opinion.
More over, the Internet makes it easier than ever to find and synthesize different views, says Krishna Bharat, the creator of Google News. When news comes from multiple sources, a mix of strong opinions becomes more desirable. By undermining many of the traditional arguments for objectivity, the Internet may thus cause a wider "Foxification" of news and a return to the more opinionated and partisan media landscape of the 18th and early 19th centuries.
Questions 52 to 56 are based on the following passage.Why does Joshua Benton say the idea that journalists should be impartial is an artifact