Mass Media
Mass media are one of the most characteristic features of modern civilizations. People are united into one global community with the help of mass media/ People can learn about what is happening in the world very fast using mass media.
The mass media include newspapers, magazines, radio, TV.
The earliest kind of mass media was newspaper. The first newspaper was Roman called «Acta Diurna» started in 59 B.C.
Magazines appeared in 18 century.
The most exciting and entertaining kind of mass media is television.
It brings moving pictures and sounds directly to people’s homes. So one can
see events in faraway places.
Radio is widespread for its portability. It can be easily carried around. People like to listen to the Radio in the park, on the beach, at the seaside, in the car, while driving a car, on the picnic. The main kind of radio entertainment is music, news, musical quiz.
Newspapers can present all comment on the news in much detail in compares on to radio and TV.
Magazines are designed to be kept for a long time. So it have cover and binding. They are printed on better paper then newspapers.
The youngest kind of mass media is global computer net called
Internet. I think that Internet is kind of mass media of the future.
People can find on word wild web whole information about all things from
sport to travel, from music to shopping. Internet is the most advanced and
fast-growing kind of digital media. It gives people the freedom of speech
and self-expression unavailable before, at the same time allowing many new
and unforeseen combinations of different media types. Internet is also the
foundation of new technologies that will impact the society in numerous
ways, such as e-commerce and virtual multi-user communities.
TV.
The name «Television» comes from Greek word meaning «far» and
Latin word meaning «to see» so it means «to see far».
There are commercial stations, they sell advertising time to pay for their operating costs and to make profit/ The public stations are nonprofit organizations.
Commercial TV stations broadcast mostly entertainment programs to attract lager number of viewers.
These programs include light dramas called situation comedies, action-packed dramas about life of detectives, police officers, lawyers and doctors, show dancers and singers, movies, quiz shows, soap operas, cartoons, talk shows. On talk shows a host interviews politicians, TV, movie stars athletes. There are also sport programs, brief summaries of local, national and international news.
Advertising is an important part of commercial TV. Commercials appear between and during most programs. They urge viewers to bye different kinds of products – from dog food to hair spray, from cars to insurance polices.
Public TV focuses mainly on education and culture. Public TV also broadcasts plays, ballets, symphonies as well as programs about art and history. It attract less viewers then commercial TV.
TV. Past and Future.
In just half a century, television has covered the planet. TV affects our daily life is a way that no other media can. It was simply an idea of a machine able to broadcast both sound and vision.
First TV-sets were in black and white.
Since 1980 there have been four major developments of TV. The first is video, which has given viewers the power to control what they watch and when they watch it. These days, fifty percent of homes have a video-cassette-recorder (VCR) and millions more are being sold every year.
The second is satellite TV. Thanks to direct broadcast satellites (DBS) dozens of new channels are now available to everyone who buys a receiving «dish». Many of these new channels specialize in one kind of program – only news, sport, cartoons, music, movies.
The third development is cable – a system of hi-tech wires.
Which provides even more channels.
So, TV has come a very long way in a very short time.