Mass media

The media´s importance
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 media´s 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.

Basically, there are two types of newspapers: 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 non-commercial.
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
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 don´t read books, they don´t 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 don´t 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 don´t 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 don´t take enough exercise and they eat too much junk food, too. It´s very sad. We´ve got all these wonderful things – televisions, video-recorders, computers, cars – but they´re producing a generation of couch potatoes. The problem is very simple. Life is too easy for young people today.

Television
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. It´s a wonderful source of information and it´s 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 don´t 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
People who don´t like reading newspapers or think it´s 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.
front page news = správy na prednej strane
subscriber = predplatiteľ
editor = vydavateľ
copy editor = redaktor
proof = korektúra
circulation = publicista, ohlas, počet výtlačkov
subscription = predplatné
self-timer = samospúšť
develop the film = vyvolať film
snapshot = momentka (fotografia)
accuse = obviniť
bulletin = spravodajský denník
classless = beztriedny
exclusive = výnimočný
issue = problém, otázka
posh = povýšený
bother = mrhať časom
comprehensible = zrozumiteľný
earnings = zárobok
freelance = slobodné povolanie
give sb a sack = prepustiť z práce
pace = tempo reči
skull = lebka
tabloid = bulvárne noviny
weighty = závažný, dôležitý
obituary = nekrolog
classified adds = inzeráty
budget = rozpočet
cater for = baviť
leader = úvodník
charge money = platenie poplatkov
donation = sponzorský príspevok
travelogues = cestopisy
glamorous = očarujúci
down-to-earth = všedný, realistický
strife = svár, potyčka
appeal = páčiť sa
setting = prostredie
immerse = ponoriť sa
deprivation = strata, nedostatok
pursue = pestovať, vyvíjať činnosť
tranquil = pokojný

(mass) media: the press, radio, television
newspapers, magazines: local paper, Sunday paper, broadsheet/serious, tabloid/popular/gutter
press story, article, headline, letters page, article, feature, scoop, editorial/leading article, interview review, a letter to the editor, classified adds, cartoon, coverage, column, reporter, journalist, correspondent, editor, fashion/sport/political editor, investigate journalism
reader, readership, circulation, subscribe, newsagent, news-stand, paper-boy/girl, paper round
press conference, press release
freedom of the press, censor, censorship, biased towards/in favour of
television, telly, TV set, the box, the tube, be on TV, broadcast, channel, station
cable/satellite/close-circuit television, remote control
programmes: show, chat/talk/quiz/game/breakfast show, cartoon, sitcom, drama, soap opera, the news, phone-in/call-in, weather forecast, wildlife programmes, documentary, current affair
serial, series, episode
presenter, host, newsreader, commentator, viewer, listener
video (VCR), DVD, plasma TV
radio, listen to, audience, frequency: short/medium/long wave, tune, tune in to, audience, announcer, presenter
advertising, adverts, commercials