Mass Media – television, radio, internet

Mass Media

Mass media – we can divide them into:

1. The press

1. Newspapers
2. Magazines

1. The television

1. Public(the national TV- RTVS1, 2 in Slovakia) - they broadcast news programmes, films, educational programmes and documentaries
2. Private (Markiza, JOJ) - they are less serious, broadcast new films, shows, reality shows and entertaining programmes. Foreign language films are dubbed, sometimes subtitled.
3. Regional (TV Poprad, Reduta, TV Liptov...) - they usually broadcast the news about the region and events that happened there.

1. The radio
2. The Internet

The importance of mass media – they are our source of information. They are easily available, complex and cheap. Thanks to them we learn about the world around us, important inventions, new technologies and everything that happens in the world. They reach a very large audience (mass-media)

- their role is to inform, educate, entertain, enrich our lives

1. THE PRESS – newspapers and magazines – they have a great influence on public opinion and they also influence the political life. The newspapers are the oldest types of media which are known from the invention of printing press.

Newspapers are published every day, some of them are published even at weekends.

There are two main types of newspapers:

• Broadsheets (serious paper, quality paper, yellow press) - they are printed on large pages and are serious in tone => they bring information that is objective => for example national and political news, financial and economical news, sports news, listings of television and radio programmes, the weather forecast, crosswords, advertisements and so on. They have more text and less pictures. Their main aim is to inform, not to entertain. They are usually published daily, and so we call them dailies. (The Times, The Guardian, The Independent). They are usually read by less people- they use formal language, articles and stories are longer- reading is more demanding.

Typical examples of Slovak broadsheets are SME and Pravda which are widely read and influential, sports daily - Šport. Economic periodicals include the daily Hospodárske noviny and the weekly Trend. The Slovak Spectator is a weekly newspaper which informs its readers about Slovakia in English.

• The tabloids (popular paper) - they have a smaller size and bring less serious news => their aim is to entertain => these are usually “human-interest stories” and often discuss the personal lives of famous people – gossips. They usually refer to something negative, shocking, unexpected, sensational. They are more popular among the people, they use 'eye-catching' colours, headlines, big letters, paparazzi photos. They contain less text and more pictures and photos. (The Daily Mirror, The Sun, Nový čas, Plus jeden deň). The language used in the tabloids is rather subjective, highly emotional, there are lots of commercials.

• There are also regional /local/ newspapers (Korzár, Poprad, Prešovský večerník) - weeklies - with the news of local events and sports, they publish advertisements for local businesses and real estate agencies.

Magazines are usually published weekly, have more pages than newspapers and are in colour.

There are • women`s and men`s magazines which contain stories, articles on fashion, make-up, food and fitness, cars, music, sport

• children`s magazines which publish short fairy tales, poems, simple crosswords...
• magazines for specialists about computer programming, fashion, medicine, biology, etc.
• journals – serious magazines with articles written by experts – e.g. doctors, scientists, teachers etc.

1. THE TELEVISION is the most popular source of information for many people who like spending most of their free time watching it.

On TV we can watch:

• news programmes – about current affairs (TV News)
• the weather forecast
• talk shows (Uvolnete se, prosim)
• quiz shows (Who wants to be a millionaire?)
• documentaries – (The Blue Planet)
• soap operas – (Esmeralda)
• sport broadcast ‒ (The US Open)
• cartoons – (The Simpsons)
• sitcoms – (Friends, How I met your mother)
• reality shows ‒ (Farma)

On TV I like watching films because it is a good way of relaxation and I can discuss the film later with my friends at school or with my family. I also like watching news programmes because I can get a lot of new information and I can be informed about the life and events in the world. Sometimes I also watch sitcoms and documentaries, especially documentaries about animals and wild life. I never watch soap operas because I think that they are boring.

1. THE RADIO

Some people prefer listening to radio to watching TV or reading the press. There is a lot of good music. The news (or weather forecast) is read by a presenter. The radio also offers chat shows, quiz shows, educational programmes, morning shows, phone-in programmes (people phone in to give their opinions or get advice), documentaries etc.

• Many people listen to radio all day long – at work, when they cook dinner, work in the garden and so on. Young people usually listen to a lot of music – e.g. Express, Fun Radio, Európa 2

In Slovakia we also have the national radio – Slovenský rozhlas (Rádio Slovensko, Regina, Devín)

The role of TV in families

- members of the family watch it to be informed, educated or to have fun

- they sit in front of TV and watch sport events, or they relax watching films, sitcoms, series...

but working people don't usually have so much time...

- a lot of parents don't have time for their children and TV is the way of solving their problems.

- it is especially watched by sick, unemployed, lonely people

- old, retired people watch long series of soap operas which go on TV every day

- advertisements: we often buy what we see on TV, what is advertised, our opinions are based on what we see on TV

- we are also influenced by sportsmen, wealthy, famous people

• disadvantages of TV: - many people watch TV long hours and until late night and become addicted to it and the next day they are tired and cannot concentrate at work or at school.

- our eyes suffer and we can have health problems, we eat much

- people don't communicate with each other

- people read less than they used to in the past

• Negative effects of TV on children:

- some children watch TV for several hours a day which is unhealthy to their mental and physical development

- it damages eyesight, prevents from doing sport or being outside with friends

- when they are watching TV they eat too much, do not communicate with other members of family, don't read books, don't learn.

- the violence in films influences children in a bad way

- most of TV content is extremely violent - with the themes of crime, shooting, fighting, murders...

- children have problems to differentiate between fiction and reality...

1. THE INTERNET ‒ advantages and disadvantages ---------› communication

- it covers all types of media - it will soon replace individual forms of so called classic media

- it brings a revolution in many areas of life - it has changed the way we communicate, study, spend our free time

- social networks, email communication, getting the latest news, playing games, shopping, studying, money transfer, booking tickets, hotels, reading books, talking to friends, sending documents, finding partners, listening to the radio, watching films

- somebody can misuse your personal information, esp. on social networks, cyber-bullying...

VOCABULARY

divide - rozdeliť

importance - dôležitosť

source of information – zdroj informácií

available – dostupné

thanks to – vďaka

invention – vynález

happen – stať sa

influence - ovplyvňovať

publish – vydávať, publikovať

print – tlač

they are serious in tone – majú vážny tón

the weather forecast – predpoveď počasia

crosswords – krížovky

advertisement – inzerát, reklama

dailies – denné noviny

less serious – menej vážny

entertaining articles – zábavné články

“human-interest stories” – “zaujímavé príbehy ľudí”

discuss – diskutovať

gossip - klebeta

weeklies – týždenníky

contain – obsahovať

event – udalosť

a real estate agency – realitná kancelária, realitka

fairy tales – rozprávky

poems – básničky

simple crosswords – jednoduché krížovky

a specialist in a particular field – odborník v určitej oblasti

scientist - vedec

spend  - stráviť (čas)

most of their free time – väčšina voľného času

watch - pozerať

a good way of relaxation – dobrý spôsob na relaxovanie

wild life – život v divočine

boring - nudný

until late night – do neskorej noci

become addicted to something – stať sa na niečom závislý

tired – unavený

suffer – trpieť

health problems – zdravotné problémy

early - skoro

channel – kanál

broadcast – vysielať

regularly – pravidelne

violence – násilie

well-known – dobre známy

prefer – uprednostňovať

a presenter – hlásateľ

offer – ponúkať

all day long – celý deň

serious paper – mienkotvorné noviny

tabloids – bulvár

journal – žurnál, odborný článok

soap opera – telenovela

cartoon – kreslený film

chat show/ talk show – diskusná relácia

current affairs – aktuálne udalosti

headline – titulok

phone in – program, do ktorého sa môžu telefonicky zapojiť diváci / poslucháči

live broadcast – priamy prenos

private – súkromný

public – verejný

regional – regionálny