Angličtina - Media (2007)

Autor: Jana Strnadová

The term mass media refers basically to TV, radio and newspapers; means of communication which reach very large numbers of people. Mass media have a great importance in our society. All people around the world are curious and want to be informed about the world’s events. That’s the reason why they read newspapers, listen to the radio or watch television.

Press

Press is the oldest way of distributing information. It can be divided into several groups. Most common are newspapers, which are issued (vydávaný, publikovaný) daily. In second group, there are magazines and they are issued weekly, monthly or in another period.

The Daily newspapers can be divided into two large groups. The first are the broadsheets (the quality press) and the second are the tabloids (popular press). The only common thing for these newspapers is sport and the weather forecast, which are almost identical.

The broadsheets are newspapers, in which there is only serious information. These newspapers are mainly old, some with more than a hundred-year tradition. They contain political, industrial and cultural news and they devote pages to finance matters and international news. The articles are mostly long and they have not large headlines. Most important daily broad-sheets are Lidové Noviny, Mladá fronta Dnes.

The tabloids are newer than the broadsheets - the most popular is Blesk. They are printed on papers twice smaller than broadsheets and they use colours. Word ‘tabloid’ was originally a pharmaceutical term, used for substances which were compressed into pills. So tabloids try to say information in minimal words. They contain sensational stories about famous people. The tabloids use large headlines and many pictures.

Radio & television

A majority of people cannot imagine life without these sorts of mass media. These programmes are spread all over the world and foreign broadcast can be found in many countries. People use radio and television to get the latest news from the world.

In the Czech Republic there are not as many television stations as in other countries. There are four all-area stations: state ČT1 and ČT2 and private NOVA and PRIMA. Czech Television (ČT) gets money from people by charges. NOVA and PRIMA get their money only from advertising.

Czech radio broadcasting is ensured (zajišťovat) by the Czech Radio (ČRo). It has six stations and they have different programmes. ČRo1-Radiožurnál is mostly a reporting station. Other stations broadcast for example classical music, or other programmes specially prepared for a certain group of people. But radio broadcasting includes many private stations which connect short news every hour and then there are concentrated on some sorts of music, some of them produce only Czech music, the others radio classical or popular music.

newspapers: headline, news reports, the editorial (úvodník), horoscope, cartoons, crossword, small ads, sports reports, scandals, gossip columns, circulation (náklad novin), censorship (cenzura), review (recenze), indoctrinate (poučovat)

A popular or tabloid newspapers focuses more on sensation than real news whereas a quality newspaper professes (zavazují se) to be more interested in real news than in sensation. A tabloid usually has a smaller format than a quality paper, it has larger headlines and shorter stories and it prefers stories about film stars, violent crimes and famous people.

A journal is the name usually given to an academic magazine. A colour supplement is a magazine which comes out once a week as an addition to a newspaper. Comic is a magazine, usually for children or teenagers, with lots of picture stories or cartoons.

Mass media versus fame

Celebrities have become more important with mass media. But they can\ t escape from the press, the mass media try to publish scandals, shameful photos and any details from lives of famous people. On one hand, it brings them an amount of popularity, but their lives have become more stressful, it has destroyed their lives and relationships and in some cases, behaviour of paparazzi (photographer who follows famous people around in order to get interesting photos of them to sell to a newspaper) causes injury or even death of these people (for example Princess Diana). It is also quite stressful because the mass media try to abolish their right to primacy, which is very important for everybody.

Control of TV

            Usual broadcasting in TV isn\ t restricted nor influenced by censorship (except "programme with a star" after 10 p.m.). But I think that not every film or programme is suitable with its amount of violence or vulgarisms suitable for viewers of all ages. It should be parents who control the programmes which their children watch. But today, even the juvenile programmes (džu:venail – určený pro mládež) are so violent and rude that children are adversely (negativně) affected by watching them. It coheres (souviset) with an instant lifestyle. Children spend more time in front of TV and it influences them so much, that they often consider situations and lives shown in television as normal, so they become more violent. Other disadvantage of watching is less reading the books which takes more time. But TV isn\ t absolutely bad, it can indoctrinate us, give us new information, news and knowledge. It also a means which enables (i\ nejbl – umožnit) accost (oslovit) big amount of people. This advantage is suitable for charity programmes or volunteer campaigns.

Quality of programme

            Reality shows, soap operas, quizzes, sitcoms, documentaries (BBC)