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06927_Field_TCUM T492.txt
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1996-04-10
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913b
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16 lines
discover two facts such as these. They floodlight a vast murky
area of the press-world, and illuminate the role of telephone as
seen through another culture. The American newspaperman in
large degree assembles his stories and processes his data by
telephone because of the speed and immediacy of the oral
process. Our popular press is a near approximation to the
grapevine. The Russian and European newspaperman is, by
comparison, a littérateur. It is a paradoxical situation, but the
press in literate America has an intensely oral character, while
in oral Russia and Europe the press has a strongly literary
character and function.
The English dislike the telephone so much that they
substitute numerous mail deliveries for it. The Russians use the
telephone for a status symbol, like the alarm clock worn by
tribal chiefs as an article of attire in Africa. The mosaic of the