Part 6

You are going to read an article in which a television news producer talks about his work. Six sentences have been removed from the article. Choose from the sentences A-G the one which fits each gap (37-42). There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use. 

Working as a TV news producer

Rob Cole has produced TV news for decades now, working on anything from international celebrities to global conflicts. He shares the benefit of his considerable experience in the industry

Rob’s time behind the cameras has coincided with huge changes in the way news is reported – from a time when everyone bought local newspapers, through the birth of 24-hour rolling news, and now the Internet. But what is the work like on a day-to-day basis?

Rob’s always worked in foreign news, so his focus is obviously on news from around the world. As you can imagine, there’s a lot of that. Rob comes in early, having checked his phone, social media, and listened to as many news programmes as he could. 37 __. Running the foreign section is like a never-ending contest – constantly trying to get his journalists’ news presented ahead of the TV station’s other sections.

Once you have a story it’s then a matter of making sure that wherever the journalist is, the report comes into the building – through satellite, Internet or other routes – and it is ready to run on air on time. 38 __. There’s nothing like getting a note from the producer at another network congratulating on a job well done. The low points, on the other hand, are much less pleasant: ‘I’ve had colleagues badly injured.’

So how can you become a news producer? Says Rob: ‘We get loads of applications. 39 __.Don’t be put off; people in this business admire people who don’t give up.

You need to be keen to learn and, of course, take a real interest in current affairs. ‘You have to be obsessed with news, constantly following it. Even if you’re a creative producer, doing graphics, you still have to care about what’s going on in the world. Also, some people think about going into the media just because it sounds exciting. That would be a mistake; you have to really want to do the job. Luck’s involved too, of course. 40 __.

In some ways, Rob’s job should remain fairly constant for the next few years. ‘They will always need someone to make decisions and take responsibility for newsgathering. However, what will change is the way in which news is delivered. When I started in TV, the crew used to consist of a reporter, producer, a camera operator, a sound person, and sometimes even a separate lighting person. 41 __. Now there’s just the reporter and a multitasking camera operator who also edits and supplies the written material – if you’re lucky!’

‘Before long there will be a crew of just one, shooting all their own material on a smartphone, then editing and voicing that material, before sending it to head office, where it ends up going straight on air. 42 __. Actually, this has already started to happen. The technology will just get quicker and quicker and smaller and smaller.’

A. You might write to just the right person at the right time.
В. Turning the device around and pressing the live app button also enables live broadcasting into the same programme.
C. They would be loaded down with equipment and some of them would be linked by cable.
D. With this information, before any stories actually come in, he then decides on the news priorities of the day.
E. In those days it was possible to start a career in news without even going to university: you went straight into training on a local paper.
F. Making sure it does so matters, especially given the friendly competition with other TV networks: ‘beating the other networks’ is a real highlight.
G. I always endeavour to reply, but from my own experience too many people don’t get back to you, so it’s best to keep trying.

Part 7

You are going to read a magazine article about adults who have met an old school friend again through social media. For questions 43-52, choose from the people(A-E). The people may be chosen more than once.

Which section…
43. is surprised at the job her friend now has?
44. is sure that this time their friendship will last?
45. thinks her life may have changed as a result of meeting her friend again?
46. feels that in one way she and her friend have similar personalities?
47. believes that even without the Internet they would have met again?
48. regrets losing contact with her friend years ago?
49. was initially unsure whether she wanted to talk to her friend again?
50. told her friend she was sad to hear what had happened to her?
51. was surprised at how little her friend’s appearance had changed?
52. admits she wrongly predicted her friend would never have a successful career?

Friends again

Five people talk about the school friends they have met up with again thanks to social media websites.

A Nadia Hassan
Although we’ve been living in different countries for a long time, I know I should have made more of an effort to stay in touch with Amina because we always got on well together, even though we’re quite different people. For instance, I’m much more ambitious than her and have no plans to start a family, whereas she already has two children. It’s quite a contrast in lifestyle, and although it’s great that we’re both content with our own lives – and we’ve enjoyed catching up with each other’s news – I don’t really know whether in the future we’ll have enough in common to keep the relationship going.

В Julia Nowak
The first thing that struck me was that Natalia still looked much the same as she had ten years earlier, unlike some other people in their late twenties – especially those who have had serious personal issues to deal with during that time. She’s also still very keen on sports, which I’m not, but she remains as sociable as she ever was and I suppose we’re quite alike in that respect. In fact, she was one of the first people I thought of when the idea of contacting my old classmates occurred to me, and it’s great you can do that online so easily. Otherwise you could lose touch with them forever.

C Olivia Morgan
Back in our school days I always liked Megan, but she was never keen on studying so I sort of took it for granted that she would end up doing a job that didn’t require qualifications. Now it turns out she went on to do really well academically and for two years was a Philosophy lecturer at a top university. The other mistake I made was being rather cautious about responding when she first got in touch with me online last autumn, when in fact as soon as we saw each other on the screen we started chatting again as if that ten-year gap had never existed. I think we both quickly realised that we wouldn’t ever let anything like that happen again.

D Maite Silva
I was delighted when Carla told me she has such a good job. Somehow I always knew she’d do well, though I must confess that back then she was the last person I would have imagined becoming an economist because she was pretty hopeless at maths. But when she appeared on my laptop screen after all those years I was impressed by how mature she sounded and looked, and in fact she might be having an influence on me. Ever since we met up again. I’ve found myself taking a more serious attitude to my career, with promotion now a real possibility.

E Уan Lin
When I realised my old classmate Ming was trying to contact me I didn’t hesitate for a second in replying. Somehow I’d always known that one way or another we were bound to run into each other at some point, because when we left school we’d both gone off to do the same subject at different universities. What I hadn’t been prepared for, though, was the news that she’d had to interrupt her studies owing to personal problems. I expressed my sympathy, but she assured me she’d recovered and eventually graduated, and that since then she’s been working in advertising. Which of course is exactly what I do, too.

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