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15
UNIT 2
POLITICS IN THE PRESS
READING
1 Before reading the text try to guess whether the following statements
are True or False.
1 There are 80 million gun owners in the USA.
2 NRA stands for National Rescue Association.
3 The First Amendment is an American law which allows people to own guns.
4 Free speech is guaranteed under the American constitution.
5 John Kerry is the Republican presidential candidate at the next US presidential
election.
6 ABC news is owned by Disney.
American talk radio tends to veer to the right of the political spectrum, but a
new station launched last week eliminates the last trace of ambiguity on the
matter. It is owned and operated by the National Rifle Association, the loudest
voice lobbying on behalf of the nation's 80 million gun owners. NRA News, which
began broadcasting a fiercely partisan schedule of firearms-related coverage last
week, has been condemned as an attempt to circumvent new US laws curbing
political campaigning.
The legislation severely limits special interest groups' ability to buy
advertising to argue on behalf of a candidate. But the NRA says the radio station
makes it a media organisation, so its broadcasts are journalism - not adverts.
Within minutes of the start of broadcasting the NRA's executive vicepresident,
Wayne LaPierre, told listeners: "The great thing about the USA is that anyone can
walk into a radio studio and proclaim themselves a journalist."
The broadcasts were launched via a satellite network which reaches
400,000 listeners. Politicians in Washington wanted "some nebulous agency" to
decide who could and could not broadcast, threatening free speech, Mr LaPierre
added. "I hope we open a Pandora's Box on what they're doing to the first
amendment," he added, referring to the clause in the US constitution protecting
free speech. Until now the NRA has been more concerned with the second
amendment: the right to "keep and bear arms".
It interprets this as an individual right, while opponents say it refers only to
the US military. Mr LaPierre said he hoped that NRA News would be "a shot
heard round the world". Initially it will be heard for only three hours a day. "Some
of these big media conglomerates have so warped coverage of the firearms
industry," he said. He promised that his station would be "balanced, objective and
the truth".
He followed this with a vigorous condemnation of the Democratic
presidential candidate, John Kerry, and an interview with a college student who
had received a C grade for writing a progun essay in a philosophy class. "They're
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