Unit 2 Fit to print?

Unit 2
conflits
Fit to print?
Thème : Panorama de la presse britannique et américaine
Les Anglo-saxons sont parmi les plus grands lecteurs de journaux du monde. À travers des extraits de roman
(New Grub Street), de cinéma (Citizen Kane) et de presse, ce chapitre vise à présenter une vue globale de la
presse britannique et américaine et les éventuelles dérives des journaux à sensation (scandales, imprécision,
trivialité, atteinte à la vie privée des gens célèbres…).
Comme vous le savez, chaque année, généralement au cours du premier trimestre, nos établissements organisent « la Semaine de la Presse » afin de sensibiliser nos élèves au monde journalistique, d’affûter leur sens critique et de les aider à devenir des lecteurs avertis. Ce chapitre sera particulièrement utile à cette époque de
l’année, permettant une étude comparative de la presse française et anglo-saxonne.
aspects du thème
documents du manuel
manuel
guide
22-23
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La trivialité de la presse populaire.
• Queen has rubber duck…
(première page de The Sun)
Les principes d’une certaine presse.
• Fit to print?
(document audio court)
22
41
La presse en Grande-Bretagne et
aux États-Unis, les tendances
politiques des journaux britanniques.
• “All the news that’s fit to print”
• Political leanings of the British press
(textes presse)
24
43
L’histoire des tabloïds.
• Behind the headlines
(presse)
25
43-44
Un magnat de la presse et
l’importance des gros titres.
• If the headline is big enough…
(extrait de film)
Everyday English - Complaining
26-27
45
27
52
Les dérives partisanes de la presse
américaine.
• Picking sides for the news
(presse)
28-29
52
Points de vue contrastés sur la presse
à sensation.
• Do you read tabloids?
(document audio long)
29
56
Les origines et les caractéristiques
des journaux populaires
• A stroke of genius
(littérature) épreuve de Bac L
32-33
61
Practice makes
perfect, pp. 30-31
Objectifs majeurs
■ lexique
les journaux et leur mise en page ; la presse et les médias
■ grammaire
relatives ; quantifieurs ; comparatifs et superlatifs
■ communication
se plaindre
■ phonologie
accentuation des mots polysyllabiques, accent de phrase ;
prononciation de <qu-> , <gu->, <bu->
■ culture
la presse en Grande-Bretagne et aux États-Unis ;
les médias, Citizen Kane
■ méthodologie
lecture : Back-up: How to read a press article
(manuel, pp. 48-49)
■ citoyenneté
vers une approche plus critique des médias
■ entraînement au Bac
épreuve de Bac L ; épreuve de Bac, sections
technologiques ; Bac oral
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1, 2, 8, 10
3, 4, 5
9
6, 7
Classement des documents par ordre de difficulté croissante
¿
¿¿
– Queen has rubber duck in her
bath (icono, pp. 22-23)
– Fit to print? (audio court,
p. 22)
– “All the news that’s fit to print”
(texte, p. 24)
– Political leanings of the British
press (texte, p. 24)
– “If the headline is big
enough…” (texte, p. 26)
– Do you read tabloids?
(audio long, p. 29)
– Behind the headlines (texte,
p. 25)
– A stroke of genius (texte, p. 32)
– Anything that encourages them
to read (icono, p. 33)
¿¿¿
– Picking sides for the news
(texte Bac L, p. 28)
Queen has rubber duck in her bath, illustration, pp. 22-23
Introduction
Cette première page du journal britannique le plus populaire, The Sun, du 4 octobre
2001, est un exemple étonnant des choix faits par la rédaction du tabloïd afin de s’assurer la fidélité de ses quatre millions de lecteurs quotidiens. Il s’agit d’un document à la
fois typique (le journal adore les illustrations et les titres accrocheurs) et exceptionnel
(ici le ridicule est poussé au-delà de toute mesure).
En effet, à un moment extrêmement critique pour le monde occidental (à peine trois
semaines après les attaques terrifiantes contre le World Trade Centre), et au moment précis
de l’intervention parlementaire de Tony Blair annonçant l’implication d’Osama ben Laden
dans ces attentats, The Sun décide de consacrer sa « une », non pas au discours de Blair, mais
à des révélations parfaitement ridicules sur la vie privée de la reine Elizabeth II.
Ce mélange ahurissant de « commérages » et d’informations importantes permettra aux
élèves d’avoir un aperçu tout à fait significatif d’un certain type de presse anglosaxonne. Pour voir d’autres exemples « historiques » des trésors d’imagination (et de
mauvais goût…) employés pour élaborer les premières pages de The Sun et d’autres journaux populaires, voir le site mentionné dans l’Activity 10 de Practice makes perfect :
www.nmauk.co.uk/nma/do/live.
Objectifs
■ lexique
les éléments qui composent une page de presse ;
sérieux et frivolité
■ culture
la presse populaire en Grande-Bretagne
■ méthodologie
décrire une page de presse avec les termes appropriés
Repères
culturels
The Sun (voir Lexicon, p. 148)
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Pistes proposées
Avant d’aborder le document visuel, faire faire une révision du vocabulaire indispensable pour décrire une page
de presse : headline (introduire banner headline, le gros titre si typique de la presse populaire), caption, subtitle, photo, layout, journalist, date and source… Proposer également les expressions broadsheets et red-tops,
deux termes fréquemment utilisés dans les médias britanniques pour qualifier d’une part les journaux « de qualité » (The Times, The Guardian, etc.) tous publiés, jusqu’à une date relativement récente, sur des feuilles grand
format, et d’autre part les journaux populaires (The Sun, The Daily Mirror, etc.) immédiatement reconnaissables
grâce à l’encadré rouge vif qui porte le nom du journal en haut à gauche de leur première page.
Le vocabulaire fourni ci-dessus, à la suite de la première question ou dans la liste de key words devrait suffire dans
la plupart des classes, mais si vous pensez que vos élèves risquent d’éprouver de grandes difficultés à décrire le
document visuel, à comprendre le document audio court et à répondre aux questions de la page 22 sans un travail
préalable sur le lexique, faites faire le premier exercice de Practice makes perfect (p. 30, guide p. 58).
Question 1 : type de presse
Étudier la première page de The Sun dans le manuel ou, encore mieux, utiliser le rétro-projecteur pour la projeter en classe afin de mieux d’attirer l’attention des élèves sur la mise en page et l’espace accordé aux différents éléments (voir schéma, Question n° 2). L’emploi du rétro-projecteur vous permettra d’écarter ou de
cacher le titre énigmatique du chapitre, Fit to print?, qui n’est pas évoqué dans les quatre premières questions.
Rappeler brièvement le vocabulaire de la mise en page (right at the top, in the middle, on the left-hand side,
in the bottom right-hand corner, etc.).
A British daily, The Sun, one of the country’s most widely-read tabloid newspapers, is represented here. It
prints sensational stories and is sometimes referred to as a red-top, belonging to what some people call
the popular or even gutter press. This is obvious from the huge banner headline spread all over the front
page, the exclamation used in the sub-title right at the bottom and the amount of space given to an
apparently silly story. Even the caption under the photo in the bottom right-hand corner (“The Queen…
bath-time fun”) seems somewhat ridiculous.
Rappeler le sens des mots non-utilisés : circulation (diffusion, tirage), underline (souligner).
Question 2 : mise en page
Rappeler brièvement les fractions et les pourcentages : a half, two thirds, three quarters, four fifths, nine tenths,
10%, 80%, etc.
The name of the newspaper (in white on a red background) is spread right
across the top of the page. Underneath the name, the vast majority of the
front page (roughly 80%) is taken up by the article about the Queen’s
rubber duck – the banner headline, the sub-title and the photo of the duck
occupying more than three quarters (perhaps even nine tenths!) of the
space.
The apparently serious article about Tony Blair is squeezed into a very
narrow column less than an inch wide on the left-hand side of the page. The
small photo of Tony Blair with a serious expression on his face and a
serious caption below it (“Blair… emergency session”) contrasts vividly
with the smiling photo of the Queen, placed precisely in the opposite
corner of the page with a similarly-structured but much more cheerful
caption (“The Queen… bath-time fun”).
Question 3 : anticipation du contenu des articles
Même si les caractères sont petits, les deux articles sont parfaitement lisibles. Par conséquent, il faudrait poser
cette question d’anticipation avant que les élèves n’aient le temps de prendre connaissance du contenu exact
des articles. Il sera peut-être nécessaire de demander le sens du faux-ami editor (non pas « éditeur » mais
« rédacteur en chef ») et d’expliquer le sigle MPs (Members of Parliament, an MP au singulier) aux élèves qui
ont des connaissances plutôt floues des institutions britanniques.
Faire remarquer la présence des petites cartouches “Sun exclusive” et “Exclusive” au-dessus de chaque article,
signes de la concurrence farouche qui existe entre les journaux populaires.
Judging from the banner headline and the photo, the main article seems to be about the world-shattering
revelation that the Queen plays with a particular toy (a rubber duck) when she takes her bath. The other
article apparently concerns the much more serious matter of some kind of evidence which the British Prime
Minister is to give to Parliament.
What is striking is that the editor has chosen to give priority to the trivial / frivolous / trifling / absurd /
ridiculous / foolish / ludicrous subject and has given much less space to the more serious / significant /
important one.
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Question 4 : raisons du choix
Faire lire l’article “MPs to hear Blair’s proof today” et les huit premières lignes de “Queen has rubber duck…”
afin de mieux montrer le contraste entre les deux articles et, surtout, pour que les élèves comprennent bien le
contexte dans lequel on peut situer cet exemplaire de The Sun.
En partant des phrases-clés des deux premiers paragraphes (evidence that Osama bin Laden masterminded
the jetliner terror strikes against America et the United States is ready to launch a missile blitz on the
fanatic’s Afghan strongholds), attirer l’attention des élèves sur la date du journal, Thursday, October 4, 2001,
autrement dit à peine trois semaines après 9/11. Les liens que les élèves peuvent faire entre cette date et le contenu de la première page peuvent les aider à répondre à cette question. Puisqu’il est pratiquement impossible
de répondre à cette question avec certitude, inciter les élèves à utiliser des modaux (peut-être déjà revus dans
Practice makes perfect du chapitre 1, Activity 7 et Grammar Files 6-11).
The editor must have chosen to give priority to the “duck” story because the link between the supposed
nobility of the Queen, the British head of state, and the stupidity of the duck seems so comical and
ridiculous. It therefore may have seemed more likely to attract the attention of a great number of readers.
On the other hand, three weeks after 9/11, which must have been a traumatic experience for many British
people, we can imagine that the editor wished to avoid reminders of the tragedy and give his readers a bit
of comic relief. The burlesque mixture of the majesty, the splendour and the dignity of the Queen with the
cheapness, vulgarity and futility of the duck may have seemed the best way to cheer up readers who were
no doubt suffering from shock and plunged into a mood of gloom and morosity.
Question 5 : sens du titre du chapitre
Profiter de cette question pour réviser les différents sens de fit et de print :
• fit (verb) 1. be the right size or shape, 2. be appropriate or suitable, 3. equip or attach.
fit (adjective) 1. ready, 2. in good physical condition.
fit (noun) uncontrolled outbreak.
• print (verb) 1. publish, 2. reproduce a pattern.
print (noun) 1. letters, numbers on a page, 2. copy of a photo, 3. trace left by one’s foot.
Réponse correcte : a. suitable for publication.
Question 6 : sens du titre du chapitre
L’écoute du document sonore devrait permettre aux élèves de comprendre l’origine de l’expression Fit to
print? (on quitte le contexte britannique pour avoir un petit aperçu de l’histoire de la presse américaine) et
devrait les aider à compléter leur réponse à la Question 5.
D’abord, faire écouter le document en entier (durée 1 min. 46 sec.) avant de faire une écoute éclatée et de
proposer les fiches de compréhension ci-dessous :
Script du document sonore
PART 1
Despite their popularity in Europe, in colonial America newspapers had a difficult start. America’s first
newspaper, called Publick Occurrences, was printed in Boston in 1690, but authorities arrested the
publisher and destroyed all copies of the newspaper. After independence in 1776, the press played an
important role in the new nation. Thomas Jefferson enjoyed newspapers tremendously and wrote in
1787: “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or
newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” The ratification
of the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution in 1791 made freedom of the press universal.
PART 2
In the 19th century, newspapers became more competitive. The New York Times was founded in 1851
and the paper began a long tradition of investigative reporting and political coverage, particularly during
the Civil War. However, by the late 1800s it had lost popularity to the “yellow” journalism of the papers
published by people such as the business tycoon William Randolph Hearst. In 1896 Adolph Ochs, a
newspaperman from Chattanooga, Tennessee, bought The New York Times. Aiming to combat the
sensationalism and scandals of the popular press, he set out to publish an independent and serious
newspaper “unselfishly devoted to the public welfare.” To emphasize the newspaper’s seriousness, at
the top of every issue he added the now-famous slogan, “All the News That’s Fit to Print.”
Faire écouter la première partie de l’enregistrement.
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PART 1
Right or wrong?
Listen to the recording, say whether these statements are right or wrong and correct where necessary.
1. In the 17th century, the press was immediately very popular both in Europe and colonial America.
2. The publisher of Boston’s first newspaper decided to burn every copy of it.
3. In 1776, the American press became independent.
4. Thomas Jefferson thought newspapers were more important than government.
5. The press was not mentioned in the United States Constitution of 1791.
Faire écouter la deuxième partie de l’enregistrement. Les questions qui évoquent les scandal sheets de
William Randolph Hearst, magnat de la presse américaine au XIXe siècle et modèle pour le personnage de
Charles Foster Kane dans le chef-d’œuvre cinématographique d’Orson Welles, Citizen Kane (1941), constitueront une transition entre ce document sonore et deux textes de ce chapitre : “Behind the headlines” (p. 25)
et “If the headline is big enough…” (p. 26).
PART 2
a. Matching
Match the dates on the left with the events on the right. Be careful, all the dates and events marked below
are not mentioned in the recording.
date
19th
1. the
century
2. 1851
3. 1869
4. the late 1800s
5. 1896
event
a. Creation of The New York Times
b. The New York Times was bought by Adolph Ochs
c. Newspapers became more competitive
d. The rubber duck was invented
e. “Yellow” journalism became more popular than the serious press
b. More matching
Match each name with an occupation and a piece of information.
NAMES:
OCCUPATIONS:
INFORMATION:
• William Randolph Hearst
• US President
• was against the scandal sheets of the popular press
• Thomas Jefferson
• business tycoon
• liked newspapers more than politics
• Adolph Ochs
• newspaperman
• made money from publishing sensationalist newspapers
c. Completing
Add a suitable ending to these statements:
1. Adolph Ochs sought to fight against the…
2. He was determined to publish an…
3. He wanted his newspaper to be unselfishly…
4. At the top of every issue, he added…
5. The famous slogan emphasizes…
Corrigés
Right or wrong?
1. Wrong – 2. Wrong – 3. Right – 4. Right – 5. Wrong.
Matching
1. c – 2. a – 3. d – 4. e – 5. b.
More matching
William Randolph Hearst: newspaperman
Thomas Jefferson: US President
Adolph Ochs: business tycoon
Completing
1. Adolph Ochs sought to fight against the scandal press.
2. He was determined to publish an independent and serious newspaper.
3. He wanted his newspaper to be unselfishly devoted to the public welfare.
4. At the top of every issue, he added the slogan “All the news that’s fit to print.”
5. The famous slogan emphasizes the newspaper’s seriousness.
Question 7 : pour ou contre ?
Cette question peut faire l’objet soit d’un débat en fin de séquence, soit d’un travail écrit à la maison. Ce travail
sera une excellente préparation pour l’écoute du deuxième document sonore de l’unité, “Do you read tabloids?”
(p. 29) dans lequel deux jeunes filles donnent des points de vue très contrastés sur la « presse du caniveau ».
Les réponses ici sont évidemment subjectives, mais voici quelques pistes possibles pour la première partie de
la question :
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advantages
drawbacks
• handy size – easy to read in the bus or train.
• can be understood quickly – short articles,
explicit headlines, a lot of photos
• good fun – amusing articles about famous
people
• good summary of the article if you combine the
headline, sub-title and introduction in bold type
• articles are too short – readers can’t learn
about a problem in depth
• subjects are ludicrous – often stupid, vulgar or
sensational
• distort the truth – exaggerate or even tell lies to
attract readers
• extremist viewpoints – often nationalistic or
narrow-minded
Pour terminer cette phase de travail sur les Opening Pages, proposer les exercices suivants de la rubrique
Practice makes perfect : l’exercice lexical (Activity 2, p. 30) et l’activité d’expression (Activity 10, p. 31).
Background: “All the news…” / Political leanings… /
Behind the headlines, pp. 24-25
Introduction
Cette double page présente, en trois textes et deux tableaux, un résumé des grandes
valeurs, des tendances politiques et de l’histoire de la presse anglo-saxonne. Les deux
tableaux de la page 24 seront très utiles chaque fois que vos élèves aborderont un
nouveau texte journalistique, car ils leur permettront de mieux situer, qualitativement,
géographiquement et politiquement, les principaux journaux britanniques et américains.
Objectifs
■ lexique
presse internationale, politique britannique…
■ grammaire
comparatifs, superlatifs (GF 24)
■ culture
évolution et importance des journaux dans les pays anglo-saxons
■ méthodologie
compréhension des gros titres
Pistes proposées
Apporter en classe (ou demander aux élèves d’apporter) quelques exemplaires récents des journaux et des
magazines qui figurent dans les tableaux. Il serait intéressant, par exemple, d’étudier leurs différentes façons
de traiter le même sujet (taille des titres, type d’illustrations, niveau de langue…).
La page 24 étant plutôt un document de référence, visant à permettre aux élèves de mieux connaître la presse
anglo-américaine et ses particularités, nous conseillons une lecture silencieuse suivie d’un petit « jeu de
repérage » proposé dans les cinq questions en bas de la page 24.
Profiter de la présence du tableau sur les tendances politiques des journaux pour rappeler les noms des principaux partis politiques en Grande-Bretagne :
– Left (or Centre-left): the Labour party (or “New Labour” under Tony Blair),
– Right: the Conservatives (also known as the “Tories”),
– Centre: the Liberal Democrats (or “Lib Dems”).
Faire un rapide tour d’horizon du vocabulaire politique : MPs (Members of Parliament) (déjà vu à la page 23),
the House of Commons, the House of Lords, 10 Downing Street, a constituency, the Prime Minister, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Home Secretary, the Foreign Secretary, etc.
1. The motto of The New York Times means that it aims to publish only decent, honest, serious and truthful
pieces of information and stories, in other words, confirmed, factual news which deserves to be made
public and which will not shock ordinary citizens, whatever their age or beliefs.
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This motto may be respected by most quality newspapers and magazines, but it is far from being the
main concern of the popular press, which often puts commercial criteria before moral ones.
2. The Guardian, which expresses left-wing views, and The Daily Telegraph, known for its right-wing
stance, are two British broadsheets which represent contrasting sides of the political spectrum.
3. The Daily Mirror is the only left-leaning tabloid.
Il serait tout de même souhaitable d’expliquer aux élèves que The Sun, malgré son classement à droite de
l’échiquier politique, a largement contribué aux trois victoires électorales de Tony Blair en lui apportant son
soutien en 1997, 2001 et 2005.
4. So few British newspapers seem to favour the left, not because a great majority of British people have
right-wing views, but because most papers are owned by Conservatives.
5. The Wall Street Journal and Business Week (American) and The Financial Times and The Economist
(British) seem to deal with money matters.
Expliquer aux élèves que, même si les deux journaux (The Wall Street Journal et The Financial Times) se
consacrent presque exclusivement au monde économique, les deux magazines (Business Week et The Economist)
accordent une très large place aux problèmes de société, aux questions politiques et au monde de la culture.
Rappeler le sens du faux-ami journal, qui signifie revue spécialisée.
Behind the headlines, p. 25
Faire étudier cet article très édifiant de The Economist de préférence dans une classe de niveau intermédiaire
ou avancé, ou bien dans une classe plus hétérogène mais où les élèves sont passionnés par le thème de la
presse. Malgré sa date de publication (le 5 février 1998), cet article est toujours tout à fait d’actualité, nous
apportant des informations très intéressantes sur l’histoire et l’évolution de la presse populaire.
Compte tenu de la date de l’article, et pour éviter un malentendu tout à fait compréhensible dans le premier
paragraphe du texte, expliquer que lorsque le journaliste évoque “the bombing of the World Trade Centre”
(l. 5), il ne peut en aucun cas s’agir des attentats du 11 septembre 2001. Il fait allusion à l’explosion d’une
camionnette piégée dans le parking souterrain des tours jumelles qui a eu lieu en 1993.
Deux approches sont possibles :
1. dans une bonne classe, faire faire une lecture silencieuse de l’article à l’aide éventuellement du Lexicon
(pp. 148-149), et proposer les cinq questions en bas de la page 25 comme travail écrit pour vérifier la compréhension globale du texte ;
2. dans une classe de niveau intermédiaire, procéder à une lecture guidée et collective, paragraphe par paragraphe, en posant, au moment approprié, une question portant sur les informations qui viennent d’être lues.
Faire lire les paragraphes 1 et 2. Expliquer, ou faire inférer, le sens de soap (série télévisée, souvent de
qualité médiocre) earthquake et sinking (mot ré-utilisé à la ligne 22).
1. The most visible difference is that, at the beginning of the 20th century, the banner headline was rarely
used (it was “reserved for major events” such as assassinations, earthquakes or other catastrophes),
whereas, at the end of the century it was (and still is) used for every type of story, whether sensational
or trivial (“changes in the cast of a television soap”).
Faire lire le paragraphe 3. Expliquer, ou faire inférer, le sens de devote (consacrer), news-stand (kiosque à
journaux).
2. Instead of having several different articles on the front page, the early tabloids decided to use the whole
front page to present just one story. They first used photos but then made the headlines big and black.
The reason for this was to make their newspaper more visible and eye-catching when it was presented
to the public (“shouting out from the news-stands”) and therefore make it more competitive and more
likely to sell than its counterparts (“newspaper rivalry”).
Faire lire le paragraphe 4. Expliquer, ou faire inférer, le sens de in earnest (sérieusement, pour de bon), terse
(concis, abrupt, sec).
Faire remarquer l’enchaînement de trois formes comparatives (ever bigger, blacker and more terse) et insister
sur le fait que, contrairement à ce que disent certains livres de grammaire, l’on peut trouver le mot more devant
un adjectif court (voir aussi, par exemple, “it is more true today than it has ever been”, ou bien, “the poor
wretch was more dead than alive”, etc.). Les élèves auront l’occasion de revoir les formes comparatives et
44
superlatives dans l’exercice de la rubrique Practice makes perfect (Activity 5, p. 30) que vous pourrez proposer
à la suite de l’étude de cet article.
3. “Gotcha”, being a classic example of a striking, one-word banner headline, appears in textbooks used
to train future journalists. It is a contraction of the expression “I have got you!”, often used in children’s
games (équivalent français : « Ça y est ! J’t’ai eu ! » / « J’te tiens ! »).
Faire lire les paragraphes 5 et 6. Expliquer, ou faire inférer, le sens de tease out (extraire), run-of-the-mill
(banal, quelconque), tittle-tattle (potins, ragots), lurid (haut en couleur), hype (excès, exagération). En utilisant
l’illustration en haut à droite, faire commenter les exemples de gros titres (ate my hamster, headless /
topless…), et faire expliquer les événements évoqués (tittle-tattle about the royal family, lurid White House
sexual scandals…).
4. Editors no longer choose their front-page story for its importance, but rather for the type of eye-catching
/ appealing / captivating / striking headline which can be invented to present it on the front page.
Faire lire le dernier paragraphe. Expliquer, ou faire inférer, le sens de appalled (horrifié, consterné),
shenanigans (fumisterie), wanton recklessness (imprudence gratuite), mischief (mauvais coups, mal, tort).
5. E.L. Godkin deplored the shameless lies and sensationalist inventions used by unscrupulous
newspapermen simply to make profits.
Pour terminer le travail sur cette double page, proposer un exercice grammatical (Activity 5) et un exercice de
compréhension des gros titres (Activity 8) de la rubrique Practice makes perfect.
If the headline is big enough, extrait du film Citizen Kane,
Orson Welles, p. 26
Introduction
Salué comme l’un des véritables chefs-d’œuvre de l’histoire du cinéma, Citizen Kane
(produit et mis en scène par celui qui joue également le rôle principal, Orson Welles, en
1941) raconte la vie mouvementée d’un magnat de la presse, Charles Foster Kane, qui,
après une réussite éblouissante, termine sa vie dans son château de Xanadu dans l’opulence matérielle mais dans la plus grande misère morale et affective. Welles avait pris
comme modèle William Randolph Hearst (voir notes biographiques ci-dessous), dont le
nom a déjà été évoqué dans notre audio court “Fit to print?” (p. 22) et dans le dernier
paragraphe de l’article “Behind the headlines” (p. 25).
Le texte proposé est composé de deux extraits courts du film : d’abord, la scène où Kane
« invente » la guerre hispano-américaine à force de gros titres parfaitement mensongers ;
ensuite, la discussion animée entre Kane et son rédacteur en chef, Carter, où ce dernier
est obligé de publier à la « une » l’histoire d’un soi-disant « assassinat » à Brooklyn,
histoire qui est fondée uniquement sur des rumeurs, sans aucune preuve concrète.
Objectifs
■ lexique
journalisme, faits divers, preuves, attitudes ; plans cinématographiques
■ grammaire
double comparatif (GF 14)
quantifieurs (GF 22)
■ phonologie
accent de phrase
■ culture
magnats de la presse ; Orson Welles, cinéma des années 40
■ méthodologie écrire un article de presse ; écrire des notes biographiques
45
Repères
culturels
Vous trouverez des notes biographiques succinctes sur Orson Welles dans le Lexicon 2
(p. 148).
Citizen Kane
The fresh, sophisticated, and classic masterpiece, Citizen Kane (1941), is
probably the world’s most famous and highly-rated film, with its many
remarkable scenes and performances, cinematic and narrative techniques and
experimental innovations – in photography, editing, and sound. Its director, star,
and producer were all the same genius individual – Orson Welles (in his film
debut at age 25!), who collaborated with Herman J. Mankiewicz on the script
– and also with an uncredited John Houseman – and with Gregg Toland as his
talented cinematographer.
The film, budgeted at $800,000, received unanimous critical praise even at the
time of its release, although it was not a commercial success – partly due to its
limited distribution and delayed release by RKO due to pressure exerted by
famous publisher William Randolph Hearst – until it was re-released after World
War II. The film found well-deserved – but delayed – recognition in Europe, and
then played on television.
The film engendered controversy – and efforts at suppression in early 1941
– before it premiered in New York City on May 1, 1941, because it appeared to
fictionalize and caricaturize certain events and individuals in the life of William
Randolph Hearst – a powerful newspaper magnate and publisher. The film was
accused of drawing remarkable, unflattering, and uncomplimentary parallels
– especially in regard to the Susan Alexander Kane character – to real-life.
Welles’ film was the recipient of nine Oscar nominations with only one win
– Best Original Screenplay (Mankiewicz and Welles). But, more importantly, the
innovative, bold film is an acknowledged milestone in the development of
cinematic technique. It uses film as an art form to energetically communicate
and display a non-static view of life. Its components brought together the
following aspects:
– use of a subjective camera.
– unconventional lighting, including chiaroscuro, prefiguring the darkness and
low-key lighting of future film noirs.
– inventive use of shadows, following in the tradition of German Expressionists.
– deep-focus shots with incredible depth-of-field and focus from extreme
foreground to extreme background, also found in Toland’s earlier work in Dead
End (1937), John Ford’s The Long Voyage Home (1940), and Hitchcock’s
Rebecca (1940) that emphasize mise-en-scène.
– low-angled shots revealing ceilings in sets – a technique possibly borrowed
from John Ford’s Stagecoach (1939) which Welles screened numerous times.
– sparse use of revealing facial close-ups.
– elaborate camera movements.
– overlapping, talk-over dialogue – exhibited earlier in Howard Hawks’ His Girl
Friday (1940) – and layered sound.
– a cast of characters that ages throughout the film.
– flashbacks and non-linear story-telling – used in earlier films, including another
rags-to-riches tale starring Spencer Tracy titled The Power and the Glory (1933)
with a screenplay by Preston Sturges, and RKO’s A Man to Remember (1938)
from director Garson Kanin and screenwriter Dalton Trumbo.
– the frequent use of transitionary dissolves or wipes.
– long, uninterrupted shots or lengthy takes of sequences.
Its complex and pessimistic theme of a spiritually-failed man is told from several,
unreliable perspectives and points-of-view – also metaphorically communicated by
the jigsaw puzzle – by several different characters – the associates and friends of
the deceased – providing a sometimes contradictory, non-sequential, and enigmatic
46
portrait. The film tells the thought-provoking, tragic epic story of a “rags-to-riches”
child who inherited a fortune, was taken away from his humble surroundings and his
father and mother, was raised by a banker, and became a fabulously wealthy,
arrogant, and energetic newspaperman. He made his reputation as the generous,
idealistic champion of the underprivileged, and set his egotistical mind on a political
career, until those political dreams were shattered after the revelation of an illadvised “love-nest” affair with a singer. Kane’s life was corrupted and ultimately selfdestructed by a lust to fulfill the American dream of success, fame, wealth, power
and immortality. After two failed marriages and a transformation into a gloomy,
grotesque, and tyrannical monster, his final days were spent alone, morose and
unhappy before his death in a reclusive refuge of his own making – an ominous
castle filled with innumerable possessions to compensate for his life’s emptiness.
The discovery and revelation of the mystery of the life of the multi-millionaire
publishing tycoon is determined through a reporter’s search for the meaning of his
single, cryptic dying word: “Rosebud” – in part, the film’s plot-enabling device.
However, no-one was present to hear him utter the elusive last word. The reporter
looks for clues to the word’s identity by researching the newspaper publisher’s life,
through interviews with several of Kane’s former friends and colleagues. Was it a
favorite pet or nickname of a lost love? Or the name of a racehorse? At film’s end,
the identity of “Rosebud” is revealed, but only to the film audience. (One source, Gore
Vidal – a close friend of Hearst’s, claimed in 1989 in a short memoir in the New York
Review of Books that “Rosebud” was a euphemism for the most intimate part of his
long-time mistress Marion Davies’ female anatomy.)
Pistes proposées
Compte tenu de la nature du document et, bien entendu, de l’évolution du Baccalauréat vers plus d’oral, nous
préconisons pour cet extrait de Citizen Kane, soit un visionnement des deux séquences au magnétoscope, soit
une approche audio-orale à partir de l’enregistrement.
Avant d’aborder l’écoute ou le visionnement du document, faire faire un travail d’anticipation (les trois premières questions des rubriques On your marks…, Get set…) à partir du titre du film, du titre de l’extrait et des
illustrations. D’après nos sondages en classe, beaucoup d’élèves de Terminale n’ont qu’une connaissance très
floue (voire inexistante !) de ce grand classique du septième art, qui est proposé régulièrement dans les programmes télévisés. Par conséquent, il ne sera pas inutile (par exemple, en partant des notes du Background
ci-dessus) de rappeler tout au moins les grandes lignes de l’histoire de Citizen Kane ainsi que les principales
innovations cinématographiques de Welles.
on your marks…
Marquer au tableau le titre du film, Citizen Kane, et faire étudier les trois photos. Rappeler brièvement les
expressions utilisées pour décrire certaines prises de vue : downward shot, upward shot, close-up, fulllength shot, medium shot, wide-angle shot / panoramic view… (Voir Cinema shots, Going Places Seconde,
p. 9).
Kane (joué par Orson Welles) se trouve, bien évidemment, sur la photo 1 (p. 26), et également sur les photos 2 et 3 (p. 27) : à gauche sur la première photo et, derrière la vitre du New York Daily Inquirer, souriant
au beau milieu de ses deux complices, Leland et Bernstein, sur la deuxième photo. M. Carter, le rédacteur
en chef qui est agressé par Kane dans la deuxième partie du texte (ll. 29-44), se trouve en position de faiblesse, coincé entre Kane et Leland, sur la première photo de la page 27. Nous vous conseillons de marquer
au tableau les noms et les rôles des différents personnages pour aider les élèves à les situer lors de l’écoute
du document sonore.
Question 1
Réponse subjective, mais insister sur l’arrogance et la suffisance de Kane (photo 1), la position d’infériorité
du malheureux Carter (photo 2) et la complicité souriante et quelque peu obséquieuse de Leland et Bernstein
(photo 3).
In photo 1, Charles Kane, seen in a downward shot, giving the viewer a certain ironical distance, is
standing astride piles of his own newspapers. With his black trilby hat, his white scarf and his arrogant
stance (legs apart and hands behind his back in the pose of a hunter or a conqueror), he gives the
impression that he takes himself for the king of the world, the master of the universe – a position which, in
his opinion, his vast newspaper empire certainly gave him.
47
This success and self-importance are reflected in photo 2 (at the top of page 27) where we can see his
arrogance as he looks down upon his unfortunate editor-in-chief, Mr Carter, and in photo 3 (on the righthand side of page 27) where Kane and his work associates have beaming smiles as they pose behind the
window showing the high circulation figures of their newspaper.
Marquer au tableau le titre “If the headline is big enough…” et faire compléter la phrase.
Question 2
Réponse ouverte, mais on peut s’attendre à ce genre de suite :
… the newspaper will sell more copies.
… it will attract people’s attention.
… the news seems more important.
… the story itself can be trivial, etc.
Retenir (et marquer au tableau) les meilleures réponses. Proposer ensuite une autre amorce et demander aux
élèves de modifier ou de reformuler leurs phrases, par exemple, comme ceci :
The bigger the headline is… the more copies the newspaper will sell.
the more it will attract people’s attention.
get set…
Faire lire l’introduction.
Question 3
We learn that Charles Kane is rich, and that he has someone to look after his fortune (perhaps a financial
adviser or an old friend of the family). We also learn that he publishes a newspaper.
Thatcher is disgusted / scandalized / appalled by the banner headlines of Kane’s newspaper The Inquirer
perhaps because they are so outrageous, sensationalist, shocking, trivial or ridiculous.
Évidemment, la plupart des élèves auront lu les premiers mots du texte en lettres majuscules et compris
que le gros titre qui a tellement choqué Thatcher, GALLEONS OF SPAIN OFF JERSEY COAST! (galions
espagnols au large de la côte de Jersey) est effectivement une déclaration parfaitement anachronique et
ridicule.
go.…
Faire écouter (deux fois, si nécessaire) la première partie de l’enregistrement (ll. 1-10).
Question 4
The Inquirer’s main story concerns the supposed invasion of the United States (probably Jersey City, just
next to New York) by large fleets of ancient Spanish warships (“Armadas”, “galleons”).
Thatcher is shocked by this story because it seems so absurd. He knows it must have been invented by Kane
since it is supported by not a single shred of evidence.
Faire remarquer aux élèves que les « galions » furent utilisés, surtout par la marine espagnole, pour le commerce avec l’Amérique entre le 15e et le 17e siècle. Indiquer que le mot espagnol « Armada » est une allusion
à l’« Invincible Armada », la flotte de Philippe II, roi d’Espagne, envoyée contre l’Angleterre en 1588 (voir la
frise historique des rabats : 1588 English navy defeats the Spanish Armada).
Voir également les notes biographiques sur William Randolph Hearst ci-dessous (p. 51) : “[He was] believed
by many to have initiated the Spanish-American War of 1898 to encourage sales of his newspaper”.
Question 5
Kane seems to be a very inexperienced publisher. He admits that he hasn’t got the slightest idea of / he
hasn’t a clue about how to run a newspaper. He tries any notion which crosses his mind without searching
for any proof / evidence of what he prints in his newspapers.
Noter au tableau les expressions désignant l’absence d’idées ou de réflexion (en caractères gras ci-dessus).
Question 6
Faire écouter (deux fois, si nécessaire) la deuxième partie de l’enregistrement (ll. 11-28). Noter au tableau
les noms des personnages (Kane, Thatcher, Bernstein, Wheeler) et s’assurer, grâce aux questions 6, 7 et 8, que
les élèves ont compris globalement le rôle de chacun.
Bernstein is usually Kane’s “right-hand-man”, that’s to say he is his chief assistant and supporter at all
times. Here he’s bringing a telegram or cable to Kane who asks him to read it and then reply to it.
Question 7
Kane’s words to Bernstein about Thatcher at first seem to be a compliment (“one of our most devoted
48
readers”), but then he transforms them into a criticism of him (“He’s known what’s wrong with every copy
of The Inquirer since I took over”).
Question 8
Wheeler is a reporter / journalist working for The Inquirer and he is currently in Cuba in order to report
on the war which is supposedly being waged there. However, he says in his telegram that there is no war
in Cuba, and so he is simply enjoying the scenery (about which he could write prose poems) and the
“delightful” girls…
Kane wants to make his readers think that, in spite of Wheeler’s denials, there really is a war in Cuba.
Perhaps he thinks that a war might boost the sales of his newspaper… (Voir les notes sur William Randolph
Hearst et la guerre hispano-américaine de 1898 à la suite de la Question 4.)
Question 9
Faire écouter (deux fois, si nécessaire) la troisième partie de l’enregistrement (ll. 29-44). S’assurer que les
élèves ont bien compris qu’il s’agit d’une autre séquence du film.
Kane feels angry / exasperated / annoyed / irritated / furious because their rival newspaper, The Chronicle,
has published a sensational story (with photo) about a woman from Brooklyn who is missing and has
perhaps been murdered. Mr Carter, the editor-in-chief of Kane’s newspaper, The Inquirer, has decided not
to print the story because there is no proof of it.
Question 10
Demander aux élèves de noter d’abord les expressions qu’on pourrait associer à Kane, et ensuite celles associées à Carter. Voici une proposition de tableau :
Kane
headline, make money, photo, run
Carter
fill, front-page, gossip, inform, proof, scandal
Kane thinks that the best way to run a newspaper is to use huge banner headlines and lots of photos which
will attract readers and therefore make money.
Carter, on the other hand, believes that it would be too easy to fill newspapers with gossip and scandal as
front-page stories every day. He believes that there must be proof of each story which is printed, and that
the function of the press is to inform the public.
Question 11
Faire écouter l’enregistrement en entier, le texte sous les yeux. Demander aux élèves de prendre des notes
sur l’attitude de Kane.
Although Charles Kane is an inexperienced publisher who admits that he doesn’t know how to run a
newspaper, he seems to think that news can be invented and that any type of absurd, ridiculous or
sensational story can be printed in order to attract potential readers. This means that he has a profound
contempt for the reading public whom he considers as rather simple-minded customers who are ready to
fall for / be taken in by any sensational story. He obviously does not consider them as intelligent human
beings who might wish to buy newspapers in order to be reliably informed about important matters.
Si, à la suite du travail sur les Opening pages, vos élèves ont déjà fait l’Activity 10 de la
rubrique Practice makes perfect (élaboration d’un article de presse), proposer l’activité de
recherche sur William Randolph Hearst (voir notes biographiques ci-dessous).
Voir l’Activity 4 sur les quantifieurs et le Sounds OK (Activity 7) sur le sentence stress.
Sinon, proposer l’exercice de compétences croisées, en conseillant aux élèves de prendre comme modèle le
début de l’article “Queen has rubber duck…” (p. 23), et en leur demandant de faire une mise en page comme
la suivante :
49
The Inquirer
GALLEONS OF SPAIN
OFF JERSEY COAST
By JEAN DUPONT
Chief Reporter
SPANISH galleons have been spotted just off the coast of Jersey
City, it was revealed yesterday.
Residents locked themselves inside their
houses and watched in horror as the ancient
warships, with cannons ready to fire,
manœuvred along the coast.
The ships were spotted by the amazed
Vince O’Hara, Jersey City’s 70-year-old
coast-guard, who told The Inquirer, “I was
really gobsmacked. I was just sitting,
drinking my cocoa, when all of a sudden
they were there!”
“I’ve never seen anything like it in my
whole life – great big whacking warships,
threatening to devastate our homeland with
their batteries of guns! I thought I was
having a nightmare!”
The White House and the Pentagon,
alleged to be totally flabbergasted by the
affair, refused to make any comment.
Our EXCLUSIVE photo
Research project (p. 27)
Orson Welles’s film “Citizen Kane” was based on the life story of William Randolph Hearst. Using sources
of your own choice, find information about him and write a paragraph about his life and achievements.
Ce travail de recherche (sur Internet ou dans des encyclopédies au CDI) permettra aux élèves de constater les
parallèles entre les vies, les attitudes et les comportements de Hearst et de Kane. S’assurer que les éléments
importants de l’extrait de Citizen Kane étudié en classe (manipulation des informations menant à l’éclatement
de la guerre hispano-américaine en 1898, l’expression “you provide the prose poems, I’ll provide the war”,
recherche effrénée d’un article sensationnaliste pour la « une », “combination of reformist investigative reporting and lurid sensationalism”, etc.) figurent dans les travaux des élèves.
50
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst was born on April 29, 1863, in San Francisco,
California, as the only child of George Hearst, a self-made multimillionaire miner
and rancher, and Phoebe Apperson Hearst. In 1887, at 23 he became
“Proprietor” of the San Francisco Examiner which his father, George Hearst,
accepted as payment for a gambling debt... In 1903, Mr. Hearst married
Millicent Willson in New York City. The couple had five sons together during their
marriage: George, William Randolph Jr., John and twins Randolph and David.
Hearst died in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Aug. 14, 1951, at age 88. He is interred at
the Cypress Lawn Cemetery in Colma, California.
Inspired by the journalism of Joseph Pulitzer, Hearst turned the newspaper into
a combination of reformist investigative reporting and lurid sensationalism. He
soon developed a reputation for employing the best journalists available. These
included Ambrose Pierce, Stephen Crane, Mark Twain, Richard Harding Davis
and Jack London. Hearst was a member of the United States House of
Representatives (1903-1907). In the 1920s Hearst built a castle on a 240,000acre ranch at San Simeon, California. At his peak he owned 28 major
newspapers and 18 magazines, along with several radio stations and movie
companies. The Great Depression weakened his financial position and by 1940
he had lost personal control of his vast communications empire. Hearst upset
the left-wing in America by being a pro-Nazi in the 1930s and a staunch antiCommunist in the 1940s.
He studied at Harvard, then took over the San Francisco Examiner in 1887 from his
father. He acquired the New York Morning Journal (1895), and launched the
Evening Journal in 1896. He sensationalized journalism by the introduction of
banner headlines and lavish illustrations. Believed by many to have initiated the
Spanish-American War of 1898 to encourage sales of his newspaper, he also
advocated political assassination in an editorial just months before the
assassination of President McKinley. His national chain of newspapers and
periodicals grew to include the Chicago Examiner, Boston American, Cosmopolitan
and Harper’s Bazaar. His life inspired the Orson Welles film Citizen Kane.
“Yellow Journalism”
Though the term was originally coined to describe the journalistic practices of
Joseph Pulitzer, William Randolph Hearst proved himself worthy of the title.
Today, it is his name that is synonymous with “yellow journalism.”
In a classic example of the power of ownership, Hearst responded to illustrator
Frederic Remington’s request to return from a Havana that was quiet, “Please
remain. You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.”
When an explosion sank the Maine and killed hundreds of sailors in the Havana
Harbor on 15 February 1898, journalists, including those from the Journal,
recommended caution in speculating the cause of the disaster. Hearst had other
ideas. When he learned of the explosion, he called the Journal city desk and
asked the editor on duty what other stories were to be played on the front page.
When the editor replied “just the other big news,” Hearst exploded that there was
no other big news and the sinking of the Maine meant war. Two days later the
Journal was banging the war drum with such headlines as “War? Sure!”
Coverage of the Spanish-American War, soon to become the Journal’s war,
established a template for the next century of how journalists were to cover
significant events. After thirty-five years of this type of journalism, newsmen and
women at competing papers were amused when Hearst issued a bulletin in 1933
that established editorial guidelines for his newsrooms across the country.
Ernest L. Meyer wrote: “Mr. Hearst in his long and not laudable career has
inflamed Americans against Spaniards, Americans against Japanese, Americans
against Filipinos, Americans against Russians, and in the pursuit of his incendiary
campaign he has printed downright lies, forged documents, faked atrocity
stories, inflammatory editorials, sensational cartoons and photographs and other
devices by which he abetted his jingoistic ends.”
51
Everyday English – Complaining, p. 27
Avant de proposer l’activité de communication (Practice makes perfect, Activity 9), faire remarquer que les
expressions proposées à la page 27 constituent des registres et des niveaux de langue souvent très différents.
Voici un classement indicatif :
acceptable in all situations
rather informal
“Is this really your idea of how
to do a good job?”
“You must be out of your mind!”
“Now look. You know perfectly
well that…”
“This really is too much!”
“If you think I’m going to allow
this, you can think again!”
very informal or even offensive
“What a cock-up!”
“What a mess! You don’t expect me “You’re off your rocker!”
to accept this, do you?”
“You’ve got a screw loose!”
“This is a downright disgrace!”
“You’ve got a damned nerve!”
“How dare you print stuff like
that!”
Picking sides for the news, p. 28
Introduction
Il est important de noter que cet article de Newsweek fut publié quatre mois avant les
élections présidentielles américaines de 2004 qui ont opposé George W. Bush du parti
républicain à John Kerry du parti démocrate, à un moment où l’opinion publique était
particulièrement divisée. Cette division très nette entre droite et gauche, sans doute exacerbée par des événements tels que la victoire contestée de Bush en 2000, le traumatisme des attentats du 11 septembre 2001 et la guerre en Irak, est une des données essentielles dont il faut absolument tenir compte pour comprendre la vie politique aux ÉtatsUnis au début du XXIe siècle.
Cet article, qui vise plutôt des classes d’une certaine maturité et d’un assez bon niveau,
permettra une révision des grandes tendances de la politique et des médias aux ÉtatsUnis, un travail sur l’accentuation des mots polysyllabiques (Practice makes perfect,
Activity 6), ainsi qu’un apprentissage de certaines techniques de décodage des articles de
presse sur la page méthodologique (Back-up: How to read a press article, p. 34).
Objectifs
52
■ lexique
la politique, les médias
■ phonologie
accentuation des mots polysyllabiques
■ culture
les partis et les tendances politiques aux États-Unis ;
les nouveaux types de médias
■ méthodologie
lecture : comment analyser un article de presse
Repères
culturels
Media in the United States
The U.S. media today is frequently known as the Fourth Estate, an appellation that
suggests the press shares equal stature with the other branches of government
created by the Constitution. The press, or “Fourth Estate” plays a vital role as a
guardian of U.S. democracy. That role is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the
U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1789, stipulating that Congress not enact any laws
abridging freedom of the press.
U.S. media have traveled a long road since the first newspaper was published in
Boston, Massachusetts in 1690. Within 50 years, magazines also began appearing in
several major American cities. The advent of commercial radio at the beginning of the
20th century ended print’s monopoly of the media in America, giving nationwide and,
later, global audiences unprecedented access to live audio programs. Television, an
even more powerful medium, entered the scene shortly after World War II. Defying
predictions of their decline, the other media have diversified to confront television’s
dominant appeal. Satellite technology has allowed U.S. TV networks, especially cable
networks, to reach overseas audiences anywhere on the globe. Interactive media,
fueled by the advance of digital technology and the growing convergence of the
computer, telephone and cable television, represent the principal trend of the end of
the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries.
The print and electronic media in the United States, offering wide news and
entertainment options, are a pervasive element in American society. According to a
recent survey by Mediamark Research, 98% of Americans have a television; 82% of
those watch “prime time” and 71% cable programming in an average week. Eightyfour percent of Americans listen to radio regularly. Seventy-nine percent are
newspaper readers. Forty-five percent of the whole American population has access
to the Internet, while for certain demographic groups that percentage reaches a high
of close to 70%.
Economics plays a major role in shaping the information served up to the U.S. public
in newspapers, on radio and television, and now on the Internet. While nonprofit and
advocacy organizations have significant voices, most of the public’s primary sources
of information – major urban newspapers, the weekly news magazines, and the
broadcast and cable networks – are in business to make money. Media and
communications, with revenues of over $242 billion, are one of America’s largest
business groups. In 2000, adult consumers of media information and amusement
products spent over $675 a person. Advertisers spent an additional $215 billion to
bring their products to the attention of the American public. The media are a great
engine in American society, providing jobs for hundreds of thousands of technicians,
writers, artists, performers and intellectuals and shaping attitudes and beliefs.
Abridged from U.S. State Department IIP publications and other U.S. government materials
Pistes proposées
Nous vous conseillons d’étudier ce texte en parallèle avec la page méthodologique How to read a press article
(p. 34). Ceci permettra à vos élèves d’acquérir des méthodes non seulement utiles ponctuellement, mais également transférables à d’autres textes journalistiques. En même temps, ils seront en mesure de constater immédiatement les avantages concrets des méthodes ainsi acquises. Vous pouvez faire ce travail en deux étapes :
1. étude de l’article (didactisation de la page 29),
2. étude de la page méthodologique (Back-up, p. 34).
Lors d’une première étape de travail, suivre l’ordre des questions de la page 29 qui permettent une approche
progressive des difficultés du texte.
ÉTAPE 1 : étude de l’article
on your marks…
53
Question 1 : dessin
At the pit-head, it seems to be the end of a working day and groups of tired-looking / dishevelled / miserable
miners are preparing to go home, dressed in their typical flat caps, donkey-jackets, dirty trousers and big
pit-boots. In the middle of the crowd of miners stands a very wealthy and aristocratic-looking gentleman,
wearing a top-hat, fur-collared coat, pin-striped trousers and spats (guêtres) or two-tone shoes. He seems
even to be wearing a monocle, smoking a cigar and carrying a walking-stick like rich upper-class people
did in days gone by. This wealthy man is perhaps the mine-owner and, if so, he is provoking the workers
by shouting out the offensive, or even insulting, title of the newspaper he is selling – “Capitalist Bastard”
(« Sale capitaliste » / « Salaud / fumier / salopard de capitaliste »).
It is paradoxical because at the entrances to factories and mines we usually see working-class newspapervendors selling communist or revolutionary publications. What is funny here is that, unless someone buys
a copy of his paper as a joke, the aristocratic-looking man has absolutely no chance of selling a single copy
of his “Capitalist Bastard” to the public he is addressing.
The cartoon suggests that the press covers an incredibly wide range of opinions, going from extreme leftwing to extreme right-wing viewpoints – and even going as far as to print provocatively-titled, extremist
publications.
Marquer au tableau les expressions utiles (souvent en forme de mots composés) qui sont en caractères gras.
Question 2 : titre
Marquer au tableau le titre de l’article, “Picking sides for the news”. Vérifier, grâce à la question 2, que les
élèves ont compris le sens du titre et sa connotation sportive (« constituer deux camps », et non pas « choisir
son camp » qui serait plutôt “taking sides”).
“Picking sides” is normally used in a sporting context / in the context of team games, for example, at
school in a sports lesson when two pupils are invited to choose, in turn, from a group of classmates which
ones they want to play for their team.
Here, since it is associated with the word “news”, it probably means choosing which newspaper, radio
station or television channel best represents one’s point of view.
Avant d’aborder la lecture du texte, poser quelques questions sur la photo de la page 28. Marquer au tableau,
par exemple, les mots en caractères gras :
What is illustrated here?
Probably a prime-time news programme on one of America’s nation-wide networks, ABC (American
Broadcasting Corporation).
Who is the man sitting at the desk in the photo?
He is no doubt the main news-announcer or anchor-man (in fact, it is Peter Jennings who, like Dan
Rather, the recently retired star of CBS, is one of America’s best-known TV news presenters).
What can you see in the background?
There is the logo of the channel (ABC NEWS) and a map of the different states of the USA, some in white, some
in red, probably to show the division of votes between Democrats and Republicans after a presidential election.
Profiter de cette occasion pour parler des élections présidentielles de 2004 (Bush vs Kerry). Montrer la carte
des rabats ou, encore mieux, celle publiée juste après ces élections, qui montre clairement la nette division géographique et politique des États-Unis : Kerry, le démocrate, a gagné tous les états de la côte ouest (la
Californie, Washington State, etc.), et de la côte nord-est (New York, Massachusetts, etc.) tandis que Bush a
remporté la victoire dans tous les états du centre (le mid-west) et du sud (la Bible Belt).
get set…
Question 3 : lecture partielle et anticipation
Faire lire les deux premières phrases de l’article.
The word which could describe someone who likes to pick sides is “biased”. “Impartial” means the
opposite.
go.…
Question 4 : opinions sur les médias
Faire lire le premier paragraphe.
Three expressions are used to group together the press, radio and television:
1. “the news business” (l. 1)
2. “news organizations” (l. 5)
3. “the media” (l. 8 and l. 10)
54
Between 1985 and 2002-03, more and more Americans began to think that the media were not honest /
truthful / frank / sincere and that they were less “moral” / principled / virtuous. This is because the media
are considered to be increasingly preoccupied with telling stories about the scandalous behaviour of the
rich and influential and are believed sometimes to create news in order to attract a greater public
following.
Question 5 : partis politiques américains
Faire lire le deuxième paragraphe. Profiter de cette question pour réviser les noms des principaux partis
politiques aux États-Unis, et pour clarifier les sens du mot anglais liberal.
The two main American political parties are the Republicans (l. 18) and the Democrats (l. 21).
a. conservative,
b. liberal.
Whereas the American word “liberal” means rather left-wing and is used to define social policies linked
with state reform, the French word “libéral” generally means “favourable to individual liberties” and is
used to describe rather right-wing free-market policies and supporters of free enterprise and capitalism.
Question 6 : image culinaire
Just as people choose the restaurant where they want to eat because they prefer a certain type of food
(Chinese, Italian), in the same way, American people choose their radio station or news channel according
to their political tastes, some channels favouring the right, others the left.
“Blogs” or “web logs” (individual Internet sites which can have very partisan views) are similar to
Macdonald’s or Pizza Hut because anyone can cheaply, quickly and easily have access to views which suit
their political tastes.
Question 7 : évolution des médias
Faire lire paragraphes 3 et 4.
The journalist, Robert J. Samuelson, thinks that most of his colleagues are honest and try to give
information objectively.
However, he considers that the news has become a kind of commercial product which has to satisfy its
customers in order to sell more. He thinks that if the political gap between conservatives and liberals (the
right and the left) continues to grow, then news organizations will also become more extremist and more
divided in order to please their particular group of customers.
Readers might consequently refuse to read or listen to any opinions which are different from their own and
therefore become even more narrow-minded and increasingly entrenched in their extremist viewpoints.
Question 8 : risques pour l’avenir
Faire lire le dernier paragraphe. Le but de cette question est d’explorer le sens des deux questions
fondamentales posées par le journaliste à la ligne 30 : “What’s going on? Why should we care?” et, par
conséquent, de se demander si la profonde division politique des médias est un problème grave pour la
démocratie.
Nous allons tenter d’aider les élèves à suivre les arguments successifs du journaliste, arguments qui l’amènent
à la triste conclusion de la dernière phrase : “It will be a sad day when we trust only the media that voice our
views”.
Expressions suggesting:
a. destruction: erode (l. 48), breakdown (= à la fois simple division et véritable rupture, l. 51), damage (l. 53)
b. the values of good journalism: fairness and objectivity (ll. 47-48), excellence (l. 55), trust (l. 59)
c. social cohesion: develop common facts and language that helps hold society together and solve common
problems (ll. 56-58)
“What’s going on?”
Americans seem to be experiencing a period of destruction, since the journalist fears that news media
might be so intent on supporting their own political side that they will no longer attempt to respect the
values of good journalism, honesty and objectivity.
“Why should we care?”
If this continues, the main national media will no longer be a guarantee of social cohesion by giving the
American public the same uncontested information expressed in the same terms (common facts and
language). People will become wary of certain media messages, perhaps considering that they are nothing
but lies, and will therefore only read, watch or listen to the media which have the same opinions as they do.
The dangers are that American people will become more and more divided and that society might even fall
apart / break up / disintegrate.
S’il vous reste dix ou quinze minutes en fin de séquence (et notamment si vos élèves ont déjà eu l’occasion
d’aborder ce sujet dans d’autres cours, par exemple lors de la « Semaine de la Presse »), lancer un débat en
55
classe. Vous pourrez prendre comme point de départ, par exemple, un résumé des lignes 48-53 du texte :
Young people’s news habits are changing – they use the web, they want the news to be more entertaining –
and this means that they are no longer informed honestly and objectively. What do you think?
ÉTAPE 2 : étude de la page méthodologique
Back-up: How to read a press article
À la suite de cette séquence sur l’article de presse “Picking sides for the news”, faire faire un résumé du texte
en suivant les conseils de la page méthodologique :
1. noter l’information périphérique,
2. repérer les éléments-clés,
3. prendre des notes.
À partir des notes en style télégraphique en bas de la page 34, les élèves pourront construire leur résumé.
Si vous constatez lors du travail sur ce document que certains élèves ont des difficultés à prononcer les mots
polysyllabiques (dont on trouve plusieurs dans ce texte), faire faire l’exercice de la rubrique Sounds OK
(p. 31).
Do you read tabloids? p. 29
Cet enregistrement est relativement facile à comprendre car la diction est très claire et les deux points de vue
nettement contrastés. Il permettra à vos élèves de revoir le vocabulaire déjà étudié lors de la première séquence
de ce chapitre (Opening pages, pp. 22-23) et de compléter et d’approfondir leurs réponses à la question 7
(p. 22) : From your point of view, what are the advantages and drawbacks of the type of newspaper presented
here? Would you be tempted to read it?
Suivre l’ordre des questions du manuel :
1. la photo d’une grève des employés de The New York Post dans les années 50,
2. différents aspects de The Sun et de The Daily Mirror,
3. opinions sur les tabloïds des deux jeunes filles interviewées,
4. avis très critique de Carol sur l’étroitesse d’esprit et le chauvinisme de la presse populaire.
Faire étudier la photo, en demandant aux élèves de regarder très attentivement les journaux et les pancartes
afin de chercher tous les indices visibles.
Question 1
This photo seems to have been taken in the streets of a big city, probably New York (in fact, if we look closely
at the name of the newspaper on the right we notice that it is The New York Post). The way the men are
dressed seems to suggest that the event took place in the 1950s or 60s (trilby hats, caps, hairstyles). In the
photo we can see about a dozen men, walking in single file, all reading tabloid newspapers (The New York
Post) with signs strapped over their shoulders saying “On strike against the news”, probably to protest
about a problem in the newspaper industry.
Avant de faire écouter l’enregistrement, et pour assurer la transition entre la photo et l’interview, poser les deux
questions suivantes :
What problems might The New York Post have had at the time of the photo?
Unfair dismissals of their staff, loss of jobs due to competition with radio and TV…
What problems do the tabloid press have nowadays?
Court cases when they are sued by famous personalities for libel or slander (procès en diffamation), clashes
with the government, etc.
Faire écouter l’enregistrement en entier, deux fois si nécessaire, en demandant aux élèves de prendre des
notes sur les aspects positifs et négatifs des deux tabloïds britanniques les plus connus, The Sun and The Daily
Mirror (voir tableau ci-dessous, Question 2).
56
Script du document sonore
INTERVIEWER: Certain popular newspapers, such as The Sun and The Daily Mirror sell around four million
copies a day. But after the recent scandals involving the tabloid press – accused of publishing fake photos
from Iraqi prisons, using unauthorized photos of the Royal Family, and spreading unfounded rumours about
various well-known personalities – we thought we’d ask members of the general public what they think
about this kind of newspaper. Liz, first of all you. Do you sometimes read the red-tops, the tabloids…?
LIZ: Well, I must admit that I do, but only when a story seems really fascinating.
INT: What do you mean?
LIZ: Well… you know, stuff about famous singers and actors… and sportsmen. Or new theories about
Lady Di’s death, things like that.
INT: And don’t you think they’re sometimes leading you up the garden path? Pulling the wool over your
eyes?…
LIZ: Oh, yes, sure. But I don’t mind as long as it’s a good read…
INT: And what about you, Carol?
CAROL: I have never read – and I will never read such scandal sheets! It’s an absolute disgrace to make
money in such a despicable way, arousing people’s morbid curiosity – as in the case of Diana – or pandering
to their desire for scandal and depravity – as they do with their rumours about stars and their sex lives.
INT: But all their stories aren’t about sex and death and so on…
CAROL: Well, you’re right. But there’s something that’s perhaps even worse. Sometimes they just invent
absurd stories or use fake photos or stupid headlines… to create so-called “news” which actually
doesn’t exist at all. They really take their readers for prize idiots!
INT: But isn’t this kind of thing exactly what many readers want?
CAROL: Well, if it is, it’s a very sad reflection on our society. We may not have many people who vote
for extremist political parties, but our popular press certainly takes their place…
INT: Takes the place of extremists? Mmm… Can you be more specific?
CAROL: Of course. Personally, I think that the popular press is very “nationalistic”, chauvinistic, you know.
It’s very anti-European, for example, “everything that’s British is best”, that sort of thing. And, what’s more,
it plays upon people’s fears and their baser instincts… all of which adds up to an extremely narrow-minded
outlook on life – an outlook which they spread, very gradually and very insidiously, to their readers…
Question 2
Faire remplir un tableau « pour » et « contre ». Marquer au tableau et expliquer (ou faire expliquer) les expressions en caractères gras.
positive aspects
negative aspects
– sell around 4 million copies
– fascinating stories about famous people
– a good read
– accused of publishing fake photos from Iraqi prisons
– use unauthorized photos of the Royal Family
– lead you up the garden path
– pull the wool over your eyes
– make money in a despicable way
– spread unfounded rumours about well-known
personalities
– arouse morbid curiosity (Diana)
– pander to desire for scandal and depravity
– create news with fake photos and stupid headlines
– take their readers for prize idiots
– nationalistic, chauvinistic
– play upon people’s fears and baser instincts
Évidemment, la liste des élèves ne sera pas aussi exhaustive, mais ils pourront la compléter en répondant aux
Questions 3 et 4.
57
Question 3
Faire écouter une nouvelle fois la première partie de l’enregistrement (jusqu’à la dernière réponse de Liz,
“Oh, yes, sure. But I don’t mind as long as it’s a good read”).
Liz is quite keen on tabloids, since she reads them when they have fascinating stories about famous people.
Faire écouter une nouvelle fois la deuxième partie de l’enregistrement (à partir de “And what about you,
Carol?” jusqu’à la fin).
Carol hates tabloids which she finds disgraceful and despicable because… (Accepter n’importe laquelle
des nombreuses raisons citées ci-dessus.)
Question 4
She thinks they have an extremely narrow-minded outlook on life which they gradually and insidiously
spread to their readers. She compares them to extremist political parties.
Practice makes perfect, pp. 30-31
Words
Activity 1, key words
Using key words from the list on page 22, name the different parts of this front page:
red-top
banner
headline
sub-title
caption
headline
Find other words defining:
a. the type of press shown here (two expressions): gutter press, popular press
b. its frequency: daily
c. its format: tabloid
Activity
2, key words
The following are words from the list on p. 22, but they have been jumbled. Identify each word and match
it with its definition.
1. REEDAL = LEADER
7. TINCROLACUI = CIRCULATION
2. SIDEBA = BIASED
8. LODIBAT = TABLOID
3. YALID = DAILY
9. HONLYMT = MONTHLY
4. GAWNTENSE = NEWSAGENT
10. RIBBECUSS = SUBSCRIBE
5. TROIDE = EDITOR
11. GOLB = BLOG
6. RUNLAJO = JOURNAL
12. AINEEDLE = DEADLINE
a. magazine published every four weeks = monthly
b. publication devoted to a special subject = journal
c. forum or personal newspaper on the internet = blog
d. pay to receive copies of a newspaper or magazine = subscribe
e. showing prejudice = biased
f. person responsible for choosing articles published = editor
g. final limit before publication = deadline
h. main article expressing editor’s opinion = leader
i. shop selling the press = newsagent
j. total number of newspapers sold per day = circulation
k. small format popular paper = tabloid
l. newspaper published every day = daily
58
Grammar
Activity
3, relatives
Complete, using one of the following: who, whom, which, what, whose, Ø.
1. The Sun is a tabloid which is read by four million people each day.
2. He is trying to find a capitalist who will finance his newspaper.
3. He wants to write articles about what the Queen eats.
4. This paper is rubbish – and rubbish which, strangely enough, doesn’t attract people.
5. Most of the reporters (whom) I know are fair and objective.
6. He couldn’t get them to believe what he said.
7. He met a journalist whose book had been a best-seller.
8. What the public wants is bits of scandal.
9. He is aiming to attract young people, many of whom don’t read the press.
Activity
4, quantifiers
Translate.
1. Il faudrait faire quelques changements.
A few changes should be made.
2. Aucun article ne doit mesurer plus de cinq centimètres.
No article is to / must measure more than two inches / five centimetres (in length).
3. Tout doit être très léger – rien de trop sérieux.
Everything must be very light / frothy – nothing too serious.
4. Peu de changements ont été faits.
Few changes have been / were made.
5. Il n’y a aucune preuve qu’elle a été assassinée.
There’s no proof (that) she was murdered / assassinated.
6. Beaucoup de journaux ont très peu de lecteurs.
A lot of / Many newspapers have very few readers.
7. Avez-vous, par hasard, des journaux anglais ?
Do you by any chance have / Have you by any chance got any English newspapers?
Activity
5, comparatives and superlatives
Put the adjectives in brackets into the correct form, then translate each sentence.
1. Even quality newspapers have now adopted a much smaller format.
Même les journaux de qualité ont maintenant adopté un format beaucoup plus petit.
2. This is the most interesting project I have ever seen.
C’est le projet le plus intéressant que j’aie jamais vu.
3. Headlines are now bigger and more visible than ever before.
Les titres sont maintenant plus gros et plus visibles que jamais.
4. The bigger the headline, the more striking the story seems.
Plus le titre est gros, plus l’histoire semble dramatique / saisissante / frappante / marquante / spectaculaire.
5. In the 19th century, papers were not so / as sensational.
Au dix-neuvième siècle, les journaux ne recherchaient pas autant le sensationnel.
6. Things have got much worse since World War Two.
Les choses ont vraiment empiré depuis la seconde guerre mondiale.
7. He’s one of our most devoted readers, but he still thinks the paper was better before.
C’est un de nos lecteurs les plus assidus / fervents, mais il persiste à penser que le journal était meilleur
autrefois.
8. He intended to become the richest and most important publisher in the world.
Il avait l’intention de devenir l’éditeur le plus riche et le plus important / influent du monde.
9. Journalists used to define news, but that seems to be less true today.
Autrefois, c’étaient les journalistes qui définissaient (ce qui constituait) l’information, mais cela semble
(être) moins vrai aujourd’hui / de nos jours.
Sounds OK
Activity
6, stress – polysyllabic words
A. Say how many syllables each of the following words from the unit has got:
alteration (4), assassination (5), circulation (4), competition (4), differentiation (6), information (4),
interpretation (5), misrepresentation (6), organization (5), possession (3), revelation (4).
59
Which syllable is stressed in all cases? The penultimate syllable (the last but one).
What deduction can you make? Words ending in “-ion” are stressed on the syllable just before the
“-ion” ending.
B. What is the stress pattern of these words? irresistible (oo oo), responsible (o oo), admirable
( ooo), unattainable (oo oo).
Which is the odd one out? “Admirable” is the odd-one-out. In the other words, the stress falls on the
syllable just before the suffix “-ible” or “-able”.
•
Activity
•
•
•
7, sentence stress
To send a telegram like Wheeler (p. 26) containing the following information: “All the young girls are quite
delightful on the island of Cuba,” it would be sufficient to write: “Girls delightful in Cuba.”
And these are the key words which would be stressed in the spoken sentence.
Reduce the following sentences to their basic minimum and practise pronouncing them:
1. A woman called Mrs Silverstone is apparently missing and has perhaps been murdered.
Woman Silverstone (apparently) missing perhaps murdered.
2. There has been a kidnapping in the centre of London not far from Leicester Square.
Kidnapping centre London not far Leicester Square.
3. I think the presidents are going to meet at a summit in Geneva.
Presidents meet summit Geneva.
General knowledge
Activity
8, headlines
A. These are authentic headlines from the front page of the popular British daily The Sun. Match each
one with the probable contents of the story.
1. SEX TRIAL OF THE CENTURY = b. Clinton to give evidence on TV about the Monica Lewinsky
affair.
2. NOT AGAIN = h. Just one year after the Paddington disaster, there is another rail crash near
London.
3. BINSANE = g. A madman disguised as Osama bin Laden evades police to get into Prince William’s
birthday party.
4. FOREVER IN YOUR DEBT = d. The Queen gives a bravery medal to a wounded British soldier.
5. CLOBBA SLOBBA = f. British pilots lead a NATO attack on Slobodan Milosevic.
6. BOOT 66 = c. Jonny Wilkinson kicks 66 points as England win the rugby World Cup.
7. DAY WORLD STOOD STILL = a. The September 11th attacks on the World Trade Centre.
8. MY ROCK = e. David Beckham gives a £1m pink diamond ring to his wife for her birthday.
B. Considering the definitions given below, explain the plays on words in the headlines:
1. (No play on words)
2. (No play on words)
3. The name “bin Laden” has been combined with the word “insane” (= crazy, mad, out of one’s mind).
4. (No play on words)
5. The informal verb “clobber” (= to hit or strike someone) has been placed next to the nickname of
Slobodan Milosevic (“Slobba”, also reminiscent of the verb “to slobber” = pleurnicher, larmoyer,
baver) to make a rhyming headline.
6. The “boot” with which Jonny Wilkinson kicked his points is placed next to the number of points he
scored (“66”) to make a headline which sounds like the famous highway which goes right across
America (made even more famous as the title of a rock’n’ roll song), “Route 66”.
7. (No play on words)
8. When you say that someone is your “rock” (rocher), you mean that they can be relied on to give you
solid support in times of trouble. In informal English, a “rock” also means a precious stone or jewel,
so here we are not sure whether Mrs Beckham is talking about her husband and praising him for his
support, or talking with great pride of possession to her expensive diamond ring…
60
A stroke of genius, p. 28
Cet extrait d’un roman qui date de 1891 mérite sa place dans un dossier sur la presse anglo-saxonne d’aujourd’hui puisqu’il annonce les principes de base et les recettes encore en vigueur dans les journaux populaires : titres accrocheurs, articles et paragraphes très courts, sujets à sensation sur la vie privée des personnages connus, et très peu d’articles de fond, qui exigeraient une attention trop soutenue de la part du
public visé. Whelpdale et Jasper Milvain, deux des personnages principaux de cet extrait, sont, en quelque
sorte, les précurseurs des Rupert Murdoch, des Robert Maxwell et autres Ted Turner de la presse du
XXe siècle.
À la suite de l’exploitation de ce document comme épreuve du Baccalauréat, vous pourrez l’utiliser pour
réviser les modaux et les verbes similaires. En effet, le texte contient tout un éventail d’exemples (plus de
trente en 56 lignes !), couvrant de nombreux emplois de ces verbes : can ou can’t (4 fois), could (1 fois),
may (1 fois), might (3 fois), must (3 fois), will (6 fois), would (5 fois), shall (1 fois), should (2 fois), ainsi
que ought to ou oughtn’t to (2 fois), is to (1 fois) et is ou are (in)capable of (2 fois).
Corrigé de l’épreuve simulée du Bac, section L
Barème
Compréhension : 70 points + expression : 70 points = 140 points, ramenés à 14 points.
Traduction : 60 points, ramenés à 6 points.
COMPREHENSION
1. In which country does the scene take place? Justify. 3 points
The scene probably takes place in Britain since there are references to the Queen and Gladstone, a former
British Prime Minister (l. 26). It cannot take place in the USA since one character uses the expression “as
they say in America” (l. 13).
2. Who are the main characters? Are they related? 3 points
The main characters are Whelpdale, Jasper and Dora. Jasper and Dora are brother and sister, as we can
tell from line 43: “Again Jasper burst into merriment. His sister reddened…”.
3. What kind of affair are they involved in? Quote 3 elements proving this. What role does each character
play? 6 points
They are involved in a business project – looking for money for the launching and transformation of a
newspaper called Chat to make it into a commercial success.
Citation de trois éléments sur les quatre suivants :
– “I want to find a capitalist… who will get possession of the paper Chat, and transform it according to an
idea I have in my head” (ll. 1-2).
– “it might be made splendid property” (l. 3).
– “the rubbish is capable of being made a very valuable article, if only it were handled properly” (ll. 6-7).
– “Chit-Chat would sell like hot cakes” (l. 13).
Les citations ne sont pas obligatoires.
Whelpdale is the one who proposes different ideas (“the man of projects”, l. 22).
Jasper approves of his ideas and encourages him in his project (“That’s brilliant!… A stroke of genius!”, l. 11)
Dora at first discourages them / dampens their enthusiasm (“Surely these poor, silly people oughtn’t to be
encouraged in their weakness”, l. 37), but in the end she, somewhat reluctantly, comes to accept the idea
(“in that case you would be doing good”, l. 54).
4. Name each character and indicate their attitude or main characteristics by making sentences with appropriate adjectives from the list: business-like, caring, comical, contemptuous, cynical, delighted, embarrassed, enthusiastic, foolish, hesitant, imaginative, modest, money-grabbing, proud. 12 points
Répartition possible des adjectifs :
Whelpdale: delighted, enthusiastic, imaginative, modest
Jasper: business-like, comical, contemptuous, cynical, money-grabbing
Dora: caring, embarrassed, hesitant
(Distracteurs: foolish, proud)
61
name
attitude or characteristics
character 1
Whelpdale
He is an imaginative man, who is very enthusiastic about his
business project. He is delighted with Jasper’s jokes but becomes
more modest when his project is criticized by Dora.
character 2
Jasper
He is rather comical when talking about Whelpdale’s plans,
joking about Tittle-Tattle, but he also has a very cynical,
business-like side, encouraging him to be as money-grabbing as
he is and to take advantage of quarter-educated people in order
to make money. He is contemptuous when he refers to these
people as fools.
character 3
Dora
Dora is hesitant about Whelpdale’s project and seems very
caring when she alludes to the poor people who are his target
public. She is embarrassed when she sees Whelpdale’s reaction
to her criticism.
5. What is strange about the paper Chat? 3 points
Normally, newspapers which are rubbish usually attract customers. Paradoxically, Chat is the kind of
rubbish which does not sell very well.
6. The modals “would” / “should” are used five times between lines 6 and 16. Do they have the same
meaning? Justify their use in this situation. 3 points
In all five cases they are conditionals and so they have the same meaning. Here they are used to talk about
hypothetical situations (“If I could, I should call it …”, “If The Tatler were changed, its circulation would be…”).
7. Sum up the first part of the project and the expected results. (40 words) 10 points
The first part of Whelpdale’s project is commercial – to transform a newspaper which has had very little
success into a highly popular, and therefore economically viable, publication. He has ideas, but he needs
a businessman to provide the money.
8. What are the other major proposals in Whelpdale’s new idea? What reasons are given? (50 words)
12 points
His other proposals concern the newspaper’s style and content – he wants it to have an appealing / eyecatching name, he wants all articles to be about famous people’s private lives, to be divided into several
paragraphs and to be so short that they can be easily read even by uneducated people.
9. Does his idea resemble anything available nowadays? How? 4 points
Obviously, his conception of a popular newspaper corresponds almost exactly to the “gutter” press of
today – sensational gossip about well-known personalities and very short, easy-to-read articles. All that is
missing from this astonishingly premonitory 19th century text is the banner headline.
10. How do the other two characters react to the project? Explain their reactions. 6 points
Jasper and Dora have diametrically-opposed reactions:
He is overjoyed and highly enthusiastic, keen on exploiting Whelpdale’s ideas commercially and taking
advantage of the stupidity / lack of education of the newspaper’s potential customers.
She at first thinks Whelpdale’s idea is a joke and is reluctant to approve a project which, far from improving the
minds of the “quarter-educated”, will simply encourage their intellectual weaknesses and lack of education. Later
she accepts the idea that it is better for these people to read low-level, sensational gossip than nothing at all.
11. Give more precise details about who or what the following proper names refer to: 4 points
a. The Tatler: an exclusive, high society magazine first published in the 18th century (accepter magazine
ou newspaper of the time).
b. the Queen: At the time the text was written, Queen Victoria was on the British throne (accepter Victoria).
c. Gladstone: Gladstone was Britain’s Prime Minister (accepter politician ou Prime Minister).
d. Board schools: thanks to the Education Act of 1870 (voir frise historique des rabats), free elementary
education at Board schools was available to all children (accepter schools for all children).
12. Read the final sentence. Which characters are involved? Explain their reaction. 4 points
Dora and Whelpdale are the characters involved. Their reaction suggests that they feel very close to each
other and are pleased to have found a solution to their disagreement, or perhaps even that they are in love
with one another…
62
EXPRESSION 70 points
Choose one of these subjects. (250 words)
1. Whelpdale decides to write to a wealthy businessman to explain his idea. Imagine his letter.
Pour des conseils sur la rédaction d’une lettre officielle, quelques amorces de phrases et la mise en page de
cette lettre, voir Back-up: How to write a dialogue, a letter or a page from a diary, p. 63. Voici une lettre
complète que vous pourrez photocopier pour vos élèves.
9 Grub Street
London W.1
Nom et adresse
du destinataire
→
Formule
de début →
Introduction →
May 1st 1891
← Date
Mr W. May
2 Bond St
London
Dear Sir,
I wish to draw your attention to the fact that the newspaper Chat,
despite being a supposedly popular publication, is not really a commercial success. I am a young journalist and I have a certain number of
ideas which, in my opinion, could transform it into the best-selling paper
in Britain.
Without going into details, my main idea would be to try to attract
a very wide readership by publishing very short, easy-to-read, but
extremely sensational articles about the private life of well-known people.
The information would be light and entertaining and would appeal in
particular to all those travellers who do not know what to do to occupy
themselves when they take public transport. I am sure that millions of
people, educated or not, would be attracted by this concept.
However, in order to do this, I would need some financial backing,
and it is for this reason that I am writing to ask if you would be kind
enough to consider investing a modest sum of money in this exciting
project. I would be most grateful if you could receive me in your office to
discuss my plan. Please find enclosed a stamped addressed envelope for
your reply.
Conclusion →
← Adresse de
l’expéditeur
← Corps de la
lettre
I thank you in anticipation and look forward to hearing from you
soon.
← Formule
de politesse
Yours faithfully,
J. Whelpdale
← Signature
2. Dora thinks that popular newspapers can be a source of good (l. 47). Do you agree?
Vous trouverez quelques pistes et quelques idées pour préparer cette rédaction à la page 76 (Back-up: How to
write an essay).
63
TRANSLATION
Translate from line 45, “You said this was for reading…” to the end of the text.
Traduction possible
« Vous avez dit que c’était dans les trains et les bus qu’on lirait ce journal / que c’était pour lire dans les
trains ? »
Whelpdale vit une lueur d’espoir (s’accrochait à un espoir).
« Oui, dit-il. Et franchement, vous savez, à de tels moments il serait peut-être préférable de lire des
racontars / bêtises / commérages / cancans que d’être complètement inoccupé, ou de parler de manière
inutile / de parler de tout et de rien / de parler pour ne rien dire. Je ne sais pas. Je m’en remets sans réserve
à votre jugement / Je m’incline sans réserve devant votre jugement.
– À condition qu’ils ne lisent / S’ils ne lisent le journal qu’à ces moments-là, dit Dora, d’un air encore
incertain. On sait par expérience qu’on n’arrive jamais à bien se concentrer lorsqu’on voyage ; même un
article de presse est souvent trop long.
– Justement ! / Précisément ! Et si vous, vous êtes de cet avis, que doivent penser les masses de gens sans
instruction, les laissés-pour-compte du système éducatif ? Cela pourrait susciter chez eux un goût de la
lecture, ne (le) pensez-vous pas ?
– C’est fort possible, acquiesça Dora, d’un air méditatif / songeur. Et dans ce cas-là, vous feriez une bonne
action !
– Une très bonne action ! »
Ils se regardaient en souriant, l’air heureux / joyeux / Ils s’échangèrent un sourire, l’air tout joyeux.
Sujet d’épreuve simulée de Bac, sections technologiques
Les journaux « papier » existent depuis plus de trois siècles, et continuent à rester populaires aujourd’hui malgré la concurrence très rude des autres moyens de communication. Cet article de presse de The Economist pose
la question classique de la survie des journaux au XXIe siècle, notamment en raison du foisonnement des sites
internet de très bonne qualité tels que celui de la BBC.
64
The Economist, June 18th, 2005
Can newspapers survive?
5
10
15
20
25
30
The BBC, Britain’s mammoth public-service broadcaster, has long been a rival for
television, radio, and educational and magazine publishers. Newspapers, meanwhile, have been
protected from it because they published in a different medium. That’s no longer the case. The
internet has brought the BBC and newspapers into direct competition – and the BBC looks like
coming off best.
The BBC now has 525 sites, ranging from society and culture to science, nature and
entertainment, and some of them offer possibilities that newspapers just can’t compete with. For
this year’s Chelsea Flower Show, for instance, the BBC’s gardening micro-site made it possible to
zoom around each competing garden, watch an interview with the designer and click on “leaf
hotspots” about individual plants. And during this year’s General Election, the news website
offered a wealth of easy-to-use statistical detail on constituencies, voting patterns and polls.
Recently the BBC even announced free downloads of several Beethoven symphonies performed
by one of its five in-house orchestras. That particularly annoys newspapers, whose online sites
sometimes offer free music downloads – but they have to pay the music industry for them.
But it is the success of its news website that most troubles newspapers. Its audience has
increased from 1.6 million weekly users in 2000 to 7.8 million in 2005; and its content has a
breadth and depth that newspapers struggle to match. Total newspaper readership has fallen by
about 30% since 1990 and readers are getting older as young people increasingly get their news
from other sources – principally the internet. In 1990, 38% of newspaper readers were under 35.
By 2002, the figure had dropped to 31%.
Some papers are having some success in building audiences online – The Guardian, which
has by far the most successful newspaper site, gets nearly half as many weekly users as the
BBC – but the problem is turning them into money. The difficulty for all newspaper websites is that
most of their visitors tend to stay only briefly, viewing just a few pages. That makes it tricky to get
them to subscribe for a long period.
Part of the papers’ problem online is that they’re papers – they don’t understand moving
pictures and graphics. The BBC’s television background gives it a feel for what works well on the
internet. And, crucially, it has far more journalists on tap than any newspaper.
“We can’t compete with their breadth of material,” says Pete Picton of The Sun. “There is
no doubt that the BBC’s well-funded presence is very strong competition for newspapers on the
internet.”
COMPREHENSION
1. What is the BBC?
a. a TV and book publishing company in Britain,
b. a commercial multimedia network in the USA,
c. an international cultural organization,
d. a state television and radio company in the UK.
2. What do its initials stand for?
a. British Broadcasting Corporation,
b. Backing British Culture,
c. Broadcasting and Book Company,
d. Business Bureau of California.
3. What is the main subject of this article? Justify.
a. competition between the internet and the BBC,
b. reality TV shows such as Survivor,
c. the BBC’s dominance of the internet news market,
d. websites stealing audiences from the BBC.
4. Who or what do these pronouns refer to?
a. it (l. 3)
b. them (l. 7)
c. they (l. 14)
d. them (l. 14)
e. That (l. 24)
65
5. Find equivalents of the following expressions:
§1: huge, enormous
§2: surveys of opinion
§2: resident
§3: have difficulty
§3: number of customers
§4: delicate, difficult
§4: pay for regular access
§5: available
6. Say whether the following statements are right or wrong. Justify.
a. The press and the BBC have always been rivals.
b. It seems that the BBC will win the competition.
c. The sites mentioned in paragraph 2 deal with music, horticulture and politics.
d. Customers have to pay newspaper sites to download classical music.
e. More than a third of people under 35 still read the press.
f. Fewer people visit the BBC website than that of The Guardian.
g. BBC sites are better because they have more staff and more useful experience.
EXPRESSION
Do both subjects.
1. John’s father loves to keep up-to-date with the latest news, but he refuses to get an internet connection. John
tries very hard to persuade him. Imagine their conversation. (100 words)
2. “Television, radio, newspapers and magazines will disappear in fifty years’ time”. Do you agree with this
prediction? Explain your point of view. (200 words)
66
Corrigé de l’épreuve simulée de Bac, sections technologiques
Barème
Compréhension : 100 points, ramenés à 10 points + expression : 100 points ramenés à 10 points.
COMPREHENSION 100 points
1. What is the BBC? 6 points
a. a TV and book publishing company in Britain,
b. a commercial multimedia network in the USA,
c. an international cultural organization,
d. a state television and radio company in the UK.
2. What do its initials stand for? 6 points
a. British Broadcasting Corporation,
b. Backing British Culture,
c. Broadcasting and Book Company,
d. Business Bureau of California.
3. What is the main subject of this article? Justify. 12 points (6 + 6)
a. competition between the internet and the BBC,
b. reality TV shows such as Survivor,
c. the BBC’s dominance of the internet news market,
d. websites stealing audiences from the BBC.
e. Justification: “The BBC now has 525 sites, ranging from society and culture to science, nature and
entertainment, and some of them offer possibilities that newspapers just can’t compete with”.
4. Who or what do these pronouns refer to? 10 points (5 × 2)
a. it (l. 3) = competition, rivalry (with the BBC).
b. them (l. 7) = the BBC’s sites.
c. they (l. 14) = newspapers.
d. them (l. 14) = music downloads.
e. That (l. 24) = the fact that their visitors stay only briefly.
5. Find equivalents of the following expressions: 24 points (8 × 3)
§1: huge, enormous = mammoth (l. 1).
§2: surveys of opinion = polls (l. 11).
§2: resident = in-house (l. 13).
§3: have difficulty = struggle (l. 17).
§3: number of customers = readership (l. 17).
§4: delicate, difficult = tricky (l. 24).
§4: pay for regular access = subscribe (l. 25).
§5: available = on tap (l. 28).
6. Say whether the following statements are right or wrong. Justify. 42 points (7 × 6 – 2 points pour la bonne
réponse, 4 points pour la justification)
a. The press and the BBC have always been rivals.
Wrong: “Newspapers… have been protected from it” (ll. 2-3).
b. It seems that the BBC will win the competition.
Right: “the BBC looks like coming off best” (ll. 4-5).
c. The sites mentioned in paragraph 2 deal with music, horticulture and politics.
Right: “Beethoven symphonies” (l. 12), “Chelsea Flower Show” (l. 8), “General Election” (l. 10).
d. Customers have to pay newspaper sites to download classical music.
Wrong: “newspapers, whose online sites sometimes offer free music downloads – but they have to pay
the music industry” (ll. 13-14).
e. More than a third of people under 35 still read the press.
Wrong: “In 1990, 38% of newspaper readers were under 35. By 2002, the figure had dropped to 31%”
(ll. 19-20).
f. Fewer people visit the BBC website than that of The Guardian.
Wrong: “The Guardian… gets nearly half as many weekly users as the BBC” (ll. 21-23).
g. BBC sites are better because they have more staff and more useful experience.
Right: “The BBC’s television background gives it a feel for what works well on the internet. And,
crucially, it has far more journalists on tap than any newspaper” (ll. 27-28).
67
EXPRESSION
Subject 1
John’s father loves to keep up-to-date with the latest news, but he refuses to get an internet connection. John
tries very hard to persuade him. Imagine their conversation. (100 words) 40 points
Pour des conseils sur la rédaction d’un dialogue, voir Back-up: How to write a dialogue, a letter or a page
from a diary (p. 62). Inciter les élèves à utiliser des demandes polies (Dad, why don’t you…, How about
trying…?), des expressions de refus (I’m afraid I’ll never be able to…, Out of the question!, Not on your
life!…), et de persuasion (But, dad, you would be able to…, it would allow you to…, Look how much time you
would save…) ou d’exaspération (I can’t believe it!, I’m fed up with…, That really bugs me!).
Subject 2
“Television, radio, newspapers and magazines will disappear in fifty years’ time”. Do you agree with this
prediction? Explain your point of view. (200 words) 60 points
Comme pour l’essay du sujet Bac à la page 33 du manuel, vous trouverez quelques pistes et quelques idées
pour préparer ce type de rédaction à la page 76 (Back-up: How to write an essay).
Over to you..., p. 33
En vue d’un travail oral pour le Baccalauréat, il serait souhaitable d’utiliser les documents de cette rubrique
pour donner l’occasion aux élèves de s’exprimer plus ou moins librement en classe.
Ce dessin humoristique de Meyrick Jones est étroitement lié à l’un des thèmes du texte littéraire de George
Gissing, “A stroke of genius” : l’incitation à la lecture. Cependant, ici, il s’agit une inversion des rôles, puisque
ce sont les enfants qui, à travers le best-seller mondial de la littérature pour enfants et adolescents, Harry
Potter, parlent d’une manière condescendante du goût pour la lecture des grandes personnes.
Voici quelques pistes pour l’exploitation de ce document. Marquer au tableau, éventuellement, les expressions
en caractères gras :
Setting and people involved:
A middle-aged / rather elderly man sitting on a park bench, totally absorbed in the reading a Harry Potter
book.
Onlookers: two children a girl and a boy, of about the age usually linked with the reading of J.K. Rowling’s
books (10 to 15-year-olds / young teenagers). They’re making comments about the apparent passion for this
type of book shown by the elderly man.
Comical situation:
It is a case of reversed roles.
In this situation, the tables are turned.
Here, the shoe’s really on the other foot…
Instead of grown-ups making comments about children’s reading habits, here the children are playing the
role of the responsible ones / the ones who criticize.
Possible development and implications:
The cartoon suggests that Harry Potter appeals to readers of all ages / to a wide range of readers.
Questions raised:
Should people just read classical literature by great authors?
Is it justifiable to begin reading, however old you may be, by very popular books?
Is Harry Potter “acceptable” literature?
What is “acceptable” literature?…
68
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