Mass media (topic, essay, vocabulary)

Mass media (topic, essay, vocabulary)

In modern society we are in daily contact with different types of mass media. We watch television, read newspapers or magazines, listen to the radio or surf the Internet. These are the media that reach large numbers of people that is why they are called mass media.

The mass media serve, first of all, as sources of information. Apart from that, the role of mass media is to educate and entertain. Watching TV is most people’s favourite way of relaxation. They watch football or hockey matches, films, sitcoms, soap operas or series; some prefer discussions or reality shows.

Press: 
1.Newspaper: Some people buy newspapers every day at the newsagents, some people subscribe them. There are national (SME, Pravda), regional (Korzár), local (Spišské hlasy). Newspapers have different size and format. There can be large sheet which is called “broadsheet” and small sheet, which is called “tabloids”. Broadsheets are known as “quality newspaper” and the tabloids are called “popular”. Quality papers are read by those readers who expect to find serious news. The popular papers have worse quality of paper and there are articles mainly about stars, sports and celebrities. They are illustrated and headline sometimes takes more space then the article itself.

- Broadsheetsthey are printed on large pages and are serious in tone => they bring information that is serious and 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 are usually published daily, and so we call them dailies.
- The tabloids(bulvár) - they have a smaller size and bring less serious news => they bring entertaining articles => these are usually “human-interest stories” and often discuss the personal lives of famous people – gossips from the famous’ people lives.
- Regional /local/ newspapers /Kysuce, Kysucké noviny, Žilinský večerník.../ - they are weeklies and they contain news of local events and sports, publish advertisements for local businesses and real estate agencies.

2. Magazines: they are more expensive than newspapers, but they have more pages and they are also more colorful. Magazines can be specialized for children, teenagers, men, women for people with special interest. Children magazines have many pictures; teenager magazines have lyrics of songs, problem pages, pictures and posters of pop-stars. Magazines can be about gardening, health, cars or computers. Magazines can appear weekly, monthly or one a fortnight. 

RADIO: This media became very important part of our life. It is distributed by radio waves. Radio is for people who do not like reading, think buying of a newspaper every day is expensive, listening to the radio at work, working at home, driving a car, good background during household works…), making good mood, music, entertainment & info (regularly news, sport, weather forecast, info about traffic…), many programs during the day (news, chat shows, educational programs, sport casts, quiz shows, morning shows, documentaries, phone-in programs, music charts)… There are many radio stations in our country; we can divide them into two groups – state and private. One of the state stations is Slovensko 1. I prefer private stations because I like music and relaxation. One of my

favourite ones is Radio Express or Europe 2.

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 and so on.
In Slovkia we have a national radio – Slovenský rozhlas - it has 5 channels /Slovenský rozhlas 1, Slovenský rozhlas 2, Rádio Regina, Rádio Devín, hudobné rádio/.

TV: the most popular source of information, way of spending free time, programs similar to radio programs, but also soap operas, sitcoms, films, talk shows, sport, cartoons, series, serials, travelogues, plays, documentaries… Nowadays wide selection of regional, national and international TV channels, foreign language channels – interesting way how to learn foreign language 

New broadcasts - with both national and international news
- Documentary programmes - about the achievements of economy, sciences, art, ...
- Discussions - about current affairs
- Interview - with prominent people
- Live sports programmes
- Educational programmes
- Children wait for their bedtime story in the evening and their fairy tale on Sunday morning
- Music lovers never miss any concert or recital
- Successful serials, various competitions and travel programmesare very popular too

Favorite film: A walk to remember

Favorite serial: Man don´t cry

Favorites TV station: Markíza and Joj

In Slovakia we have:
a) Public television /verejná TV/ is our national television. In Slovakia it is STV. It has two channels STV 1 and STV 2. It is a serious television. STV 1 usually broadcasts news programmes, educational programmes and films. There is an evening program for children regularly every day. STV 2usually broadcasts documentaries and stories about famous people.
b)Private television /súkromná TV/ – in Slovakia it is for example Markíza, TV JOJ… Private televisions are less serious than the national TV and broadcast many films, shows and entertaining programmes. There is a lot of violence shown on private televisions.
c) Regional televisions /regionálna TV/ – e.g. KTV - they usually broadcast news about the region and events that happened in the region. Sometimes there are interviews with people who are well-known in the particular region – e.g. the Mayor of a town, village, owners of local companies… 

INTERNET: the most modern mass media, world wide web of computers, whole world connected, sending emails, playing games, reading articles, booking holiday, buying some goods…

My notebook is on almost the whole day and if I don’t write something to school and listen to music, I am on internet. I like chat with my friends on ICQ, I watch some interesting and funny videos or read articles. It is also possible to watch TV news and other programmes through internet; you just need big speed of internet. First I used to listen to radio a lot but nowadays I listen to radio only for half an hour when it wakes me up in the morning. And I don’t like to watch TV; it is too boring for me. I used to watch only my favourite serials – Prison Break, Dr. House and Lost, but now I have them all on DVDs so I turn TV on only recently. In general I prefer the most modern way of mass media as well as many other young people in this generation.