When the BBC asked me to give a talk a few weeks ago, I did not quite know which subject to choose. Wel, I'm going to talk about the journalist.

We often talk about the journalist as if he were completely free to write everything he wanted. This is far from the truth. A journalist only writes news under certain conditions. The first condition is that most journalists write for a particular newspaper that has its own philosophy and ideas. Then the journalist is often limited by the space he is given by the editor. Next, there's the fact that news has a relative importance. For example, the Prime Minister made an important speech at the same time as news of an enormous railway accident was arriving. The editor would decide to print the news about the accident, of course.

His job is extremely important. He is responsible for informing the public. People say that many journalists interpret the facts and distort the truth. I believe that the journalist should state the facts and then comment on them. Both parts are essential to the formation of public opinion. If he did not do them we, the public, would never be able to make our own points of view.

Questions:

1. Why isn't the journalist free to write what he wants?

2. What job has an editor got do you think?

3. Explain in your own words what you think the author means by "relative importance" of news.

4. The author talks about the journalist's responsibility for informing the public. What does he say exactly and do you agree with his opinion?

5. Write a summary of the text in about seventy words.