THE MASS MEDIA

The medias importance

We cant imagine our live without newspaper, radio and television. We have got used to media so much that if they suddenly disappeared, most of us would get bored and our lives would seem empty The term mass media is applied to all media that reach a mass audience. In fact mass media have existed as long as mankind itself. But it took quite a long time to reach their present hitechnology form. There has always been a need to exchange news and messages among people and the advance of new technologies enables us to deliver information very promptly and more efficiently. The medias importance is rather simple they are our source of information, easily available, complex and cheap. Through newspapers, radio and television we learn about the world around us, important inventions, new technologies and unique achievements. Technological developments Developments in technology over the past few years have led to a revolution in the field of information, never before has so much information been able to be produced, stored, used and communicated so quickly and efficiently. Indeed, many social observers and sociologists now speak of modern society in terms of the information society. My mass media we mean those means of communication which reach large or mass audiences: the press, radio and television are probably the most important and well known means of communication today. Newspapers People like to read newspapers, journals and magazines. We want to be informed an get the latest news so most of us buy a newspaper early in the morning. We can find different sorts of articles in a newspaper: on economics, politics or social life, sports, editorials (giving the personal opinion of the editors about something in the news), features (special reports about an interesting subject, place or person), crosswords, reviews, international/domestic news, cartoons, business news, etc. Newspapers are published every day, some are even published at weekends. The oldest type of media are newspapers which are known from the invention printing machine. There were not so many magazines and papers before 1989 and the freedom of the press did not exist. After 1989 we should divide papers into two groups: serious papers/broadsheets (large sheet) and the tabloids (small sheet). The broadsheets are known as quality papers and the tabloids are called popular. Quality papers are read by those readers who expect to find serious news and are ready to spend a good deal of time in reading articles written in a serious manner. The popular papers/gutter press is relatively poor when compared to that the quality paper. They contain a high number of features about stars, sports and celebrities. They tend to be heavily illustrated and the headline sometimes takes more space than the article itself. Magazines are published once a week/month and bring international and national news, various articles and stories. Some target groups of people with special hobbies (photography, gardening,..) of different ages and genders (teenagers, women,..). Journals are serious magazines on a particular subject containing articles written by experts in that field (scientists, doctors, teachers,..). Commercial and non-commercial group Modern life is closely connected with radio and television as sources of information, entertainment or just bacground noise. Radio and television stations can be divided into two categories: commercial and noncommercial. Commercial stations are supported by charging money to companies that would like their goods or services advertised on the station. Companies that pay large amounts of money to the stations for advertising will

often try to control the content of the programme. Non-commercial stations, on the other hand do not advertise products, are either financed from state budget or supported by donations, grants, or private organisations. TV broadcast A Scotsman John Logie Baird transmitted the first TV in 1925. Watching TV is very popular. Many people spend their free time by watching TV and they enjoy every single programme. Programmes which are broadcast on television cater for viewers of different age groups, interests, educational background. Programme guides help you to make your own choice between the programmes whose aim is to entertain (chat/talk shows, quiz shows, comedies, cartoons, sitsoms, series, serials, breakfast/morning shows, soap operas) and those which want to inform and educate people (documentaries, wildlife programmes, nature programme, the news with weather forecast, travelogues, plays, dramas). Couch potatoe lifestyle Kids nowadays dont read books, they dont write letters and for most of their free time they just slump in front of a television or computer. The problem starts at school. Teachers have to give a lot of time to subjects like Literature, Maths, Science and foreign languages and so pupils do less PE and Games. Also, most pupils dont walk or cycle to school. Some go on the bus, but more and more parents take their children to school and back by car. When they get home, what do they do? Do they play in the garden or in the street? Do they go to the park for a game of football or tennis? No, they sit down and watch TV or play a computer game. Many children have got a television or computer in their bedroom. When a child gets home, they switch his TV on and they dont switch it off until going to bed six hours later! If they want to talk to their friends, they us the telephone or the Internet. Kids today just dont take enough exercise and they eat too much junk food, too. Its very sad. Weve got all these wonderful things televisions, video-recorders, computers, cars but theyre producing a generation of couch potatoes. The problem is very simple. Life is too easy for young people today. One disadvantage is that television destroys conversation and encourages us to be passive. We just sit and watch like dumb animals. Families have nothing to say each other any more. They just sit in front of the TV, switch it on and swich off their brains. On the other hand, through TV we can learn so much about our world and other cultures. Its a wonderful source of information and its very educational. There are educational programmes and some are very good. But, on most channels, there is a great degree of violence and aggression. And all the blood, sex and violence has a bad influence on the cildren. On the other side, if they watch programmes made specially for children, they will find a rich source of information. Parents must learn to be selective about what their children watch. We have such a wide choice of programmes these days with the advent of satellite TV that we can all find something of interest for us, almost any time of the day. All we have to do is choose from one of the many channels. If we dont find anything that suits us, then we only have to switch off. On the whole, television must be a good thing. After all, we can see events from the other side of the world as they happen. All the news in your living room, in an instant. And in full colour. Imagine. Somewhere in Australia, someone points a camera at an event, the signal bounces off the satellite, finds your aerial and fills the screen an instant later.

Radio The first radio was discovered by German physicist Henrich Herty. People who dont like reading newspapers or think its too expensive to buy a newspaper every day and then throw it away, listen to the radio to be informed. The news is read by a presenter and there is also a lot of good music. There is usually a variety of radio programmes to choose from: news programmes and weather forecasts, chat shows (a programme in which famous people talk about themselves and answer listeners questions), educational programmes, quiz shows in which individuals or teams of people compete by answering questions, breakfast/morning shows (a programme broadcast early in the morning which includes news and regularly tells you what time it is, there are also usually songs, jokes and conversations with famous people), phone-in programmes (when people telephone in to give their opinion or get advice), and finally documentaries. Radio is very popular and many of us like listening to the radio throughout the day no matter what we are doing, like cooking, dinner, painting a room and working in the garden and so on.

The Internet Todays era brings us many technological innovations and so we discover new kinds of media. One of the youngest one is the Internet. It is an international network of computers. We can find a lot of information there about everything. Each Internet user has got his/her own e-mail address and we can send a letter to our friends. We can talk or chat during this network in real time. Over 80 % of e-mail messages on the Internet are written in English. We use the Internet also for fun and work as well. In the last 30 years, the Internet has grown dramatically. In 1980s, there were only 200 computers connected to the Net. Now there are about 50 million and this growth is clearly going to continue. The history of the Internet: 1. The Net began for military reasons. Later scientists started using it. 2. It started in 1969. 3. In 1980s people started calling it the Internet. 4. In the mid-1990s the Internet began to grow very fast. 1. Pessimistic opinions: Cyber criminals-young hackers can get into the computers of banks and governments. Cyber terrorists-they may attack the worlds computers, cause chaos and make aeroplanes and trains crash. 2. Optimistic opinions: Users can buy stuff through the net, find out about holidays offers, they can book their tickets and get all sorts of information from the Internet.

Mass Media the press tla radio rdio television televzia newspapers noviny magazines asopisy local paper miestne noviny Sunday paper neden noviny broadsheet/serious serizne noviny (vek formt) tabloid/popular/gutter bulvrne noviny (mal formt) press story/article lnok headline titulok letters page feature scoop editorial/leading article vodnk interview rozhovor review recenzia a letter to the editor list redaktorovi classified ads cartoon karikatra coverage column stpec reporter reportr journalist urnalista correspondent fashion/sport/political editor mdny/portov/politick redaktor investigative journalist investigatvny novinr reader itate readership itatenos (poet ud) circulation nklad subscribe predplati si newsagent/news-stand novinov stnok paper boy/girl paper round press conference tlaov konferencia press release freedom of the press sloboda tlae censor censorship cenzra biased towards/in favour of telly televzia the box krabica the tube tuba be on TV dva v TV broadcast vysiela channel/station kanl/stanica cable/satelit/close circuit television kblov/satelitn/uzavret okruh Tv remote control diakov ovlda show/chat/talk/quiz

breakfast show raajia ou cartoon komiks sitcom drama soap opera the news sprvy phone-in/call-in weather forecast predpove poasia wildlife programmes z divokej prrody documentary dokument current affair aktualita serial/series seril episode epizda presenter/host modertor newsreader modertor sprv commentator komenttor viewer divk listener posluch listen to pova audience obecenstvo short/medium/long wave krtke/stredn/dlh vlny tune in to naladi announcer hlsate advertising/commercials reklamy Broadcasting vysielanie transmission prenos coverage spravodajstvo commercial advertising reklama prime time vysielac as news headlines novinov titulky live broadcast/coverage iv vysielanie/spravodajstvo press review prehad tlae regional broadcasting regionlne vysielanie TV/radio broadcast televzne/rdio vysielanie TV rating TV hodnotenie viewer divk radio listener posluch screen obrazovka transmitter vysiela/mikrofn candid camera skryt kamera radio/TV presenter uvdza anchor televzny modertor chat/reality show presenter uvdza reality/talk show survey prieskum, prehad cable TV kblov televzia channels televzne kanly programmes programy tune in a station prepn stanicu remote control diakov ovlda announcer hlsate studio tdio news room itre pirate broadcasting pirtske vysielanie frequency frekvencia nationwide TV/radio celottna TV/rdio make an announcement oznmi breaking news aktulne spravodajstvo sequel pokraovanie full-lenght feature film celoveern film jingle zvuka interrupt prerui

documentary report dokumentrne vysielanie/sprva flip/switch channels prepna kanly candid shot momentka addict zvisl

have, be, or do?

Put the correct form of have, be or do in the gap.

They ____ finished supper when we arrived. We ____ pizza for supper last night. It ____ been a lovely day. Thank you. I ____ my homework very quickly yesterday evening. I always ____ a shower after work. I ____ always had a passion for Indian food. Jane ____ not at work today because she ____ a bad back. Graham overslept, so he ____ catch his train. What have you ____ to your hair? You look awful! What ____ your new boyfriend look like? This self portrait ____ painted by Van Gogh. My car ____ repaired at the moment. I hate ____ the washing up. Id like ____ a dishwasher. Ive ____ doing this exercise for ages and ____ fed up!