Fraud fugitive in Facebook trap

A man who was on the run from police in the US revealed where he was hiding through a series of Facebook updates.

Cameroon-born Maxi Sopo falsely obtained credit from banks while he was living in the US. By the time he had finished, he had stolen more than $200,000. He then escaped to Cancun in Mexico, where he was happily spending the money, until he made posts on his Facebook page telling the world that he was 'living in paradise'.

‘He was making posts about how beautiful life is and how he was having a good time with his buddies,' said Assistant US Attorney Michael Scoville. 'He was definitely not living the way we wanted him to be living, given the charges he was facing,' he added.

However, during his time in Cancun, Mr Sopo also befriended a former justice department official on the networking site. This man, who had only met Mr Sopo a few times, was able to discover exactly where Mr Sopo was living. As soon as he had this information, he passed it to the Mexican authorities who arrested Sopo last month.

The twenty-six-year-old is currently in custody in Mexico City.

b) Read the news report again. Find examples of the following:

1. quotes used to give someone 's opinion

2. a concluding statement which gives us information about the current situation

3. an introductory statement which explains in one sentence what happened

4. more information about the background to the story

Exercise 51. a) Choose a headline and write six questions asking information you would like to know about the story.

1. Woman finds suitcase full of money on train

2. Huge earthquake destroys city

3. Man shot outside his house.

b) Write a short news report (100-150 words)

Exercise 52. Find out about other people's opinions of the media.

Go round the class asking questions about the following:

-the newspapers which people read

-the amount of television they watch

-their favourite radio programmes

Think of supplementary questions about each question.

Foe example: Do you read a newspaper every day? Which one? How often do you read it?

Exercise 53. Tell the class what you asked people and what they answered.

I asked Giovanni if he read a newspaper every day. He said he read 'La Stampa ' most days.

Exercise 54. Comment on the following quotations:

1. The secret of successful journalism is to make your readers so angry they will write half your paper for you.  ~C.E.M. Joad
( 1891-1953 English philosopher and broadcasting personality.)

2. Journalism is organized gossip.  ~Edward Egglestone
(1837-1902 American historian and novelist)

3. If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed.  If you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed. ~ Mark Twain (1835-1910 American author and humorist).

4. We can't quite decide if the world is growing worse, or if the reporters are just working harder.  ~The Houghton Line, November 1965 (Publishing house)

5. If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read:  "President Can't Swim."  ~Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973 36^th President of the United States(1963-1969)).