full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Chuck Plunkett: When local news dies, so does democracy

Unscramble the Blue Letters


When election day is over, a great local paper is still there, waiting like a watchdog. When they're being watched, politicians have less power, police do right by the public, even massive corporations are on their best behavior.

This mihesancm that for generations has helped inform and guide us no longer functions the way it used to. You know intimately what the poisoned ntinoaal discourse feles like, what a mockery of reasoned debate it has become. This is what happens when local newsrooms sthuetr and communities across the country go uachetwnd and unseen.

Until we recognize that the decline of local news has serious csqconeueens for our society, this situation will not improve. A properly staffed local newsroom isn't profitable, and in this age of Google and fabcooek, it's not going to be. If newspapers are vital to our democracy, then we should fund them like they're vatil to our dcoamrcey.

Open Cloze


When election day is over, a great local paper is still there, waiting like a watchdog. When they're being watched, politicians have less power, police do right by the public, even massive corporations are on their best behavior.

This _________ that for generations has helped inform and guide us no longer functions the way it used to. You know intimately what the poisoned ________ discourse _____ like, what a mockery of reasoned debate it has become. This is what happens when local newsrooms _______ and communities across the country go _________ and unseen.

Until we recognize that the decline of local news has serious ____________ for our society, this situation will not improve. A properly staffed local newsroom isn't profitable, and in this age of Google and ________, it's not going to be. If newspapers are vital to our democracy, then we should fund them like they're _____ to our _________.

Solution


  1. democracy
  2. unwatched
  3. facebook
  4. feels
  5. shutter
  6. vital
  7. national
  8. mechanism
  9. consequences

Original Text


When election day is over, a great local paper is still there, waiting like a watchdog. When they're being watched, politicians have less power, police do right by the public, even massive corporations are on their best behavior.

This mechanism that for generations has helped inform and guide us no longer functions the way it used to. You know intimately what the poisoned national discourse feels like, what a mockery of reasoned debate it has become. This is what happens when local newsrooms shutter and communities across the country go unwatched and unseen.

Until we recognize that the decline of local news has serious consequences for our society, this situation will not improve. A properly staffed local newsroom isn't profitable, and in this age of Google and Facebook, it's not going to be. If newspapers are vital to our democracy, then we should fund them like they're vital to our democracy.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
local news 5
great local 5
local paper 4
local newsroom 3
big national 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
great local paper 2

Important Words


  1. age
  2. behavior
  3. communities
  4. consequences
  5. corporations
  6. country
  7. day
  8. debate
  9. decline
  10. democracy
  11. discourse
  12. election
  13. facebook
  14. feels
  15. functions
  16. fund
  17. generations
  18. google
  19. great
  20. guide
  21. helped
  22. improve
  23. inform
  24. intimately
  25. local
  26. longer
  27. massive
  28. mechanism
  29. mockery
  30. national
  31. news
  32. newspapers
  33. newsroom
  34. newsrooms
  35. paper
  36. poisoned
  37. police
  38. politicians
  39. power
  40. profitable
  41. properly
  42. public
  43. reasoned
  44. recognize
  45. shutter
  46. situation
  47. society
  48. staffed
  49. unseen
  50. unwatched
  51. vital
  52. waiting
  53. watchdog
  54. watched