18. Mass media and means of communication

18. MASS MEDIA AND MEANS OF COMMUNICATION

• nowdays mass media have a big influence on our lives

• the kinds of mass media are: newspapers, radio, the internet, television and magazines

NEWSPAPERS

• newspapers are the oldest kind of media

• people like reading newspapers to get more information or sometimes just for relax

• in Britain people read newspapers more than in any other European country

• newspapers can be:

  • dailies – which come out every day except Sunday

  • weeklies – which come out once a week

• newspapers are divided into 2 groups:

  • tabloids

    • bring short reports mainly about life of celebrities and they are full of gossips

    • there are also short colorful articles with big headlines and many photos

    • in the Czech Republic there are f.ex. Blesk, Šíp or Aha

    • and in Britain there are The Sun or The Daily Mirror

  • broadsheets

    • in broadsheets there are long articles with lots of information about world news, economy, culture, sport, weather and so on

    • headlines and photos are smaller than in tabloids and they are usually black and white

    • in the Czech Republic there are f.ex. Mladá fronta dnes, Lidové noviny or Právo

    • in Britain there are The Times and in America there are The New York Times

MAGAZINES

• magazines are another kind of press

• they are printed on a better paper than newspapers, come out weekly or monthly and they are more expensive

• there are many types of magazines f.ex. magazines for women, men, children, young people and so on

• we can also buy special ones focused on special topics f.ex. about fashion, cars, animals etc.

• famous magazines are: Time, Rolling Stone or Vogue

RADIO

• people who don’t like reading can listen to the radio

• except for regular news we can listen to the music, traffic reports or weather reports

• before the time when TV was invented people had listened radio more than they do now

• there are public radios (f.ex. Czech broadcasting – Český radiožurnál) and private radios (f.ex. Evropa 2)

THE INTERNET

• the youngest form of mass media is the Internet which became necesarry for everyday life

• you can find almost everything on the Internet and more

  • you can also chat with friends even from the other side of the Earth

• the huge advantage of the Internet is its speed

TELEVISION

• many people prefer watching television to listening to the radio

  • it’s easies to imagine what they are talking about because you can see it

• in the Czech Republic we have 4 main channels → there are ČT1, ČT2, Prima and Nova

• on TV we can watch news, the weather forecast, talk shows, reality shows, movies, documentaries...

WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF THE INTERNET OVER TRADITIONAL MEDIA?

• the Internet allows us to get information for free at any time of the day from many sources

• on the other hand news on the Internet might not be as reliable as traditional media

• there is also too much information online so it sometimes it can be confusing what‘s true and what’s not

DO YOU THINK THAT NEWSPAPERS HAVE A FUTURE OR WILL BE REPLACED WITH ONLINE NEWS?