The News Industry inUS

Why do so manyAmericans distrust what they read in their newspapers?The American Society ofNewspaper Editors is trying to answer this painful question.The

organization is deepinto a long self-analysis known as the journalism credibility project.

Sad to say,thisproject has turned out to be mostly low-level findings about factual errors andspelling and grammar mistakes,combined with lots of head-scratching

puzzlement aboutwhat in the world those readers really want.

But the sources ofdistrust go way deeper. Most journalists learn to see the world through a setof standard templates(patterns)into which they plug each day's events.In other

words,there is a conventionalstory line in the newsroom culture that provides a backbone and a ready-madenarrative structure for otherwise confusing news.

There exists asocial and cultural disconnect between journalists and their readers,whichhelps explain why the"standard templates"of the newsroom seem aliento many

readers.In a recentsurvey,questionnaires were sent to reporters in five middle-size cities aroundthe country,plus one large metropolitan area. Then residents in these

communities werephoned at random and asked the same questions.

Replies show thatcompared with other Americans,journalists are more likely to live in upscaleneighborhoods,have maids,own Mercedeses,and trade stocks,and they're less

likely to go tochurch, do volunteer work,or put down roots in a community.

Reporters tend to bepart of a broadly social and cultural elite,so their work tends to reflect theconventional values of this elite. The astonishing distrust of the news media

isn't rooted ininaccuracy or poor reportorial skills but in the daily clash of world viewsbetween reporters and their readers.

This is an explosivesituation for any industry,particularly a declining one.Here is a troubledbusiness that keeps hiring employees whose attitudes vastly annoy the

customers.Then itsponsors lots of symposiums and a credibility project dedicated to wonderingwhy customers are annoyed and fleeing in large numbers.But it never seems

to get around tonoticing the cultural and class biases that so many former buyers arecomplaining about. If it did,it would open up its diversity program, nowfocused

narrowly on race andgender,and look for reporters who differ broadly by outlook,values,education,and class.

How does theauthor probably feel about the present newspaper industry?

A.It is a promisingindustry.

B.It is a prosperousindustry.

C.It is anout-of-date industry.

D.It is a troubledindustry.