英语翻译
The classical liberal theory of the press derives from the eighteenth century when the principal “media” were public affairs-oriented newspapers.By contrast,media systems in the early twenty-first century are given over largely to entertainment.Even many so-called “news media” allocated only a small part of their content to public affairs—and a tiny amount to disclosure of official wrong-doing.Though we live amidst apparent communicative plenty,we are actually being starved of information—starved,that is,of the right kind of information; the kind that we require to function politically and to perform our civic duties.We live in an era of proliferating media outlets,it is generally acknowledged,but their content is increasingly shaped by the low,base needs of commerce and profit rather than the higher motivations of culture and civic duty.In so far as the media are concerned,more most definitely means less.The coincidence of the emergence of mass circulation newspapers and the concentration of ownership meant that a small number of press barons had acquired a considerable amount of power which was a direct threat to the development of democracy.And the issue is no longer simply that the media are compromised by their links to big business:the media are big business.
The BBC,since its inception,has been a very special case.It represents a form of broadcasting informed by the concept of public service.A public service-catering for all sections of the community,reaching all parts of the country regardless of cost,seeking to educate,inform,and improve,and prepared to lead public opinion rather than follow it,a public corporation dependent on government funding but claiming a high degree of autonomy from the state.The decision to set up broadcasting as a public service monopoly in the hands of the BBC was a clear rejection of the market as the means for organizing this new medium.The central consideration was that the audience would be treated as citizens rather than consumers and educated to play a full part in the democratic and cultural life of the nation; broadcasting should be independent of state control and that the interests of the state and the interests of the civil society are not necessarily identical.