Mass Media

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.

The press:
Every day we need information which we could take from TV, radio, newspapers, magazines. 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:
1) broadsheet or quality papers which bring serious news and an independent view on politics, e. g. Sme, Pravda. We have only one sports daily called Šport.
2) Tabloids or popular papers which are relatively poor, they contain a high number of features about stars and celebrities, they are full of gossips and colourful pictures e. g. Nový čas

Typical sections you can find in newspapers are: news reports (domestic and international), political commentaries, sports news, weather forecast, crossword, fun, culture, TV quide, adds and cartoons.
There are also issued magazines specialized on different human activities:
For sport fans – Futbal, Victoria
For car fans – Stop, Auto Moto
For women – Cosmopolitan, Miau, Eva
There are a lot of magazines for children, fishers, magazines about communication technologies, crossword magazines and many others.
Almost every town or region has its own local newspapers e. g. Trnavsky hlas, Bratislavský večerník.

Radio:
The first radio was discovered  by German physicist Henrich Herty. In our country we have approximate 20 radios and there are 3 types of them:
1. state radios – Slovensko 1
2. private independent radios – Fun Radio, Okey, Twist
3. local radios – Tatry, Trenčan
Radios are broadcasting a lot of different programmes e. g.: the news, education and entertainment programmes, quizes, discussions, music charts or competitions.
Some programmes consists only of music that the listeners wish to hear. The radios are broadcasting every day. The private radios have got a lot of advertisements, the state radios do not broadcast so much advertisement.

Television:
A Scotsman John Logie Baird transmitted the first TV in 1925. Since then television has played an important role in our society because it can inform us what is going on in our country and the rest of the world.
Watching TV is very popular. Many people spend their free time by watching TV and they enjoy every single programme. On the other hand many people say it is waste of time and some adults also say that TV has a bad influence on kids – there are a lot of films about people who are killing each other, cartoon for children are sometimes full of violence e. g. Tom and Jerry. There are many programmes you can watch on TV.
Programmes which are broadcast on TV entertain viewers of different age groups, interest, educational background. Programme quide helps you to make your own choice between the programmes whose aim is to:
1. entertain – talk shows, quiz shows, comedies, soap operas, sitcoms, serials, breakfast shows or morning shows
2. inform and educate people – documentaries, travelogues, wildlife progremmes, the news with weather forecast, plays, dramas.

I like newspapers, which give us true informations, but I read newspapers only when my parents buy them. I read TV komplet every week, because we become them by post.
I like reading regional newspapers for their adds and I read all lieflets, because I like shopping and I want to find the cheapest goods.
Also I like reading of magazine Eva, because it is about beauty, fashion, problems. I listened to radio only when I am at work. I always listened to Funradio, because there are funny competitions, it is full of good music and there are the funniest speakers.
I like watching TV. I watch TV every day, when I study, when I fall asleep…
I watch news every day and then I watch sitcom. The best sitcom is Friens.
I like watching comedies and entertain shows. Every morning I watch breakfast shows.

I watch Varí vám to, Páli vám to and Riskuj every day.
And now I watch superstar, the best realityshow full of music.