Mass Media

Maybe we can imagine our lives without newspapers and magazines, but it might be hard to imagine them without radio, television, and the Internet.

MASS MEDIA is a source of information. We learn about the world around us, important events, and new technologies.

MASS MEDIA has several principal functions:

to inform
to educate
to entertain
to influence
to advertise

TELEVISION

ADVANTAGES

TV offers a wide choice of TV channels, so everyone can choose what they want to watch.
It broadcasts 24 hours a day.
People can record their favourite TV programs and watch them later.
It provides programs for the general public and special programs for children, teenagers, adults, and seniors.
People can stay at home and watch live programs such as music, concerts, sporting events, and live entertainment programs, which saves time and money.
TV brings both entertainment and information.

DANGER OF WATCHING TV

ADDICTION – Watching TV can lead to addiction, which can result in psychical and mental health problems such as damage to eyesight, backache, and headaches. Moreover, it can ruin relationships, cause depression, and insomnia.
LESS SPORT – People do less sport and become lazy.
OVEREATING in front of the TV that can lead obesity.
HOBBIES and READING – People may give up on reading books and hobbies and, become couch potatoes.
IDOLS – Young people have their idols among movie stars and singers whom they see on the internet or TV. Famous stars have a massive influence on children, either in a good or bad way. It is hard for a child to differentiate between what is fake and what is real.
COMMERCIALS – Commercials have an impact mainly on older people. They buy anything they see on TV and spend a lot of money on useless things and junk. They can be easily deceived. Sometimes, you may feel like you are watching adverts instead of the movie.
LACK OF COMMUNICATION among family members and friends.
INAPPROPRIATE PROGRAMS – many programs are full of violence, blood, weapons, and sex, which can increase aggression in children. Parents must watch out for what their children watch.

TV offers many different channels. Films originally made in a different language can have subtitles, or they are dubbed. In our country, people pay a monthly fee for state television. There are COMMERCIAL STATIONS, such as TV Markíza, and TV Joj, as well as A PUBLIC TELEVISION CHANNEL: Slovak television – RTVS

POLITICAL NEWS (International or National News)
Most people follow national and international news regularly to stay well-informed. In the event of catastrophes such as earthquakes or terrorist attacks, many channels broadcast BREAKING NEWS – newly received information about an event that is currently occurring or developing. For example, “Breaking news: the missing child from York has been found safe and well.”

DOCUMENTARIES
The primary purpose of a documentary is to inform and educate. It provides a factual report on a particular subject.

ECONOMIC NEWS

DISCUSSIONS about current affairs

INTERVIEWS with prominent people

SPORTS PROGRAMS (life coverage or footage)

NATURE PROGRAMS

TALKSHOWS

SOAP OPERAS or “SOAPS” are romantic stories about people’s lives. They are often on TV every day. The stories are exciting, dramatic, and hard to believe.

SERIES (TV SHOWS) have many episodes where the same characters are in different situations.

TV BEDTIME STORIES

CONCERTS

REALITY TV SHOWS

COMPETITIONS and QUIZZES

COMMERCIALS/ADVERTS – advertising through TV commercials has become one of the most effective ways of selling products of different kinds. It helps finance TV channels, especially private ones.

PRESS/PRINT MEDIA

The printed media compete with electronic media. In spite of the fact, still, most people in our country buy a daily, a weekly or a monthly newspaper. They read it when having breakfast, at the bus stop, going by bus, train, or tram.

The newspapers can be divided into:

The quality newspapers = serious press = BROADSHEETS
The popular newspapers = TABLOIDS
LOCAL NEWSPAPERS
MAGAZINES

BROADSHEETS/THE QUALITY PRESS

Information here should be accurate, impartial, and reliable.
Its size is quite large and therefore a little bit impractical. But, no worries, now you can find its online version on the internet.
The front page of the quality paper offers the main political and economic news and there is always a leading article with a picture of the main event.
The following few pages contain home news, foreign news, current political events in the country, the main cultural events, economic news, and foreign news.
Other pages are devoted to TV guide, exhibitions, cartoons, competitions, crossword puzzles, sports events and results, and of course some advertisements.
If you have been to Britain, you indeed came across the most famous papers such as The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian.
Slovak’s popular papers are SME, Pravda, Hospodárske noviny.

TABLOIDS/THE POPULAR PRESS

Tabloids try to attract readers with detailed crime stories, domestic sensations, misfortune, scandals, and gossiping about well-known people.
The headlines are more prominent (easily seen because they are larger), and articles are short, neither serious nor reliable. A lot of big pictures are there to catch our attention and buy it. Advertising is a MUST.
A tabloid has a smaller format than a quality paper.
The names of widely read British tabloids are The Mirror and The Sun.
The best selling Slovak dailies are Plus 1deň and Nový čas.

LOCAL PRESS

It is a paper of a particular region of the country that focuses on local interests. It informs what happened in the last week.
E.g. My Orava, Naša Orava, Oravsko

MAGAZINES

A magazine is issued regularly – weekly, fortnightly, monthly or quarterly and
contains articles, stories, photographs, and advertisements.

TYPES OF MAGAZINES:
Home and Garden Magazines, Entertainment and TV Magazines, Lifestyle Magazines,
Children’s Magazines, Computer and Electronics Magazines, Auto Magazines,
Business and Finance Magazines, Men’s Magazines, Women’s Magazines, Sports
Magazines, Teen Magazines, Travel and Places Magazines, Psychology Magazines,
Health and Fitness Magazines, Cooking and Food Magazines

DISADVANTAGES OF READING NEWSPAPERS

a lot of adverts
small print
it´s more expensive than the internet news
a little bit impractical because of its size

RADIO

In comparison to TV, radio has more advantages. Here are some examples of why people like listening to the radio: radio is portable – you can listen anywhere, radio is free, radio is adaptable – it is now accessible through laptops, computers, phones, and even smart speakers so you can listen to your favourite station whenever you want, however you want, radio is a companion – it provides us with the morning news, good music, engaging talks on different topics, and it’s our weather guide at the same time. You just choose your favourite radio station with your favourite speakers and music.

We can divide the radio stations into two groups:

State = non commercial: Slovensko, Devín, Regina
Private = commercial: Fun Radio, Radio Europa, Radio Expres

Apart from music, radio also informs about accidents on the roads, traffic jams, tailbacks, diversions, police radar.

INTERNET

The Internet (also called The Net) is a global wide area network that connects computer systems across the world.
The Net began for military reasons in 1969.
In the 1980s, people started calling it the “INTERNET.”
It has changed how we study, work, entertain or communicate with family, friends, business partners, and other people.
We do not depend on encyclopedias or dictionaries to find information. You can find everything that you need in a few seconds using Google. You just google it!

Internet has: informative function, educative function, entertaining function

Based on a recent survey of Internet traffic, here are the ten most popular uses of the internet: (in descending order of use – electronic mail – the most popular)

Electronic mail
Research
Downloading files
Discussion groups
Interactive games
Education and self-improvement
Friendship and dating
Electronic newspapers and magazines
Job-hunting
Shopping (much cheaper and more comfortable than in the stone shops)

DISADVANTAGES OF THE INTERNET

unreliable information
computer viruses
fake news = hoax (in America, they call it “onion”)
a lot of spam mails
internet safety is being discussed – theft of personal information (your data can be easily misused)
social isolation – lack of communication among family members and friends because it prevents face-to-face communication
problems with mental and physical health – spending too much time on the net causes problems with eyesight, our spine and may cause depression and insomnia
developing the bad habit of eating in front of the PC
violence – growing cyberbullying
creating pseudo-idols who we think are better than we are and then we become insecure, and miserable

ADVANTAGES OF INTERNET

Fast and comfortable, immediate access to current information.
Distance learning through the time of a pandemic.
Unlimited communication – constant contact with people via social networking sites Facebook, Instagram.
It is TV, radio and newspapers in one.

Vocabulary

1. provide [prəˈvaɪd] skposkytnúť
2. entertainment [ˌɛntəˈteɪnmənt] skzábava
3. entertain [ˌɛntəˈteɪn] skzabávať
4. commercial [kəˈmɜːʃəl] skreklama v TV
5. ad [æd] / advertisement [ədˈvɜːtɪsmənt] / advertising [ˈædvətaɪzɪŋ] skreklama
6. dubbed [dʌbd] skdabovaný
7. subtitles [ˈsʌbˌtaɪtlz] sktitulky
8. breaking news [ˈbreɪkɪŋ njuːz] skmimoriadne správy
9. podcast [ˈpɒdkɑːst] skinternet.forma rádio vysielania
10. watchable [ˈwɒʧəbᵊl] skna čo sa dá pozerať (pozerateľný)
11. home/domestic news [həʊm / dəʊˈmɛstɪk njuːz] skdomáce správy
12. foreign/international news [ˈfɒrɪn / ˌɪntəˈnæʃᵊnᵊl njuːz] skzahraničné správy
13. announcer [əˈnaʊnsə] skhlásateľ v TV,rozhlase
14. presenter [prɪˈzɛntə] skmoderátor
15. broadcast [ˈbrɔːdkɑːst] skvysielať, vysielanie
16. remote control [rɪˈməʊt kənˈtrəʊl] skdiaľkové ovládanie
17. well-informed [wɛl-ɪnˈfɔːmd] skdobre informovaný
18. couch potato [kaʊʧ pəˈteɪtəʊ] sktelevízny maniak
19. mouse potato [maʊs pəˈteɪtəʊ] skPC maniak
20. tabloid [ˈtæblɔɪd] skbulvár
21. reliable source [rɪˈlaɪəbᵊl sɔːs] skspoľahlivý zdroj
22. viewer [ˈvjuːə] sktelevízny divák
23. spectator [spɛkˈteɪtə] skšportový divák
24. audience [ˈɔːdiəns] skobecenstvo, diváci v divadle
25. eyesight [ˈaɪsaɪt] skzrak
26. post [ˈaɪsaɪt] skuverejniť, pridať

27. broadsheets [ˈbrɔːdʃiːts] skseriózna tlač
28. local newspapers [ˈləʊkəl ˈnjuːzˌpeɪpəz] skmiestne noviny
29. article [ˈɑːtɪkl] skčlánok
30. influential [ˌɪnflʊˈɛnʃəl] skvplyvný
31. report [rɪˈpɔːt] skspráva
32. stay in touch [steɪ ɪn tʌʧ] skzostať v kontakte
33. abroad [əˈbrɔːd] skcudzina, v cudzine, do cudziny
34. efficient [ɪˈfɪʃənt] skúčinný , efektívny
35. appear [əˈpɪə] skzjaviť sa , objaviť sa
36. newsagent [ˈnjuːzˌeɪʤᵊnt] sknovinový stánok
37. Internet addiction [ˈɪntəˌnɛt əˈdɪkʃᵊn] skzávislosť na nete
38. influence [ˈɪnflʊəns] skvplyv, ovplyvniť
39. contain [kənˈteɪn] skobsahovať
40. documentary [ˌdɒkjʊˈmɛntəri] skdokumentárny film
41. latest news [ˈleɪtɪst njuːz] sknajnovšie správy
42. footage [ˈfʊtɪʤ] skzáznam (TV)
43. live coverage [lɪv ˈkʌvərɪʤ] skpriamy prenos (TV)
44. TV guide [ˌtiːˈviː ɡaɪd] skprehľad TV programov
45. publisher [ˈpʌblɪʃə] skvydavateľ
46. review [rɪˈvjuː] skkritika, recenzia
47. sitcom [ˈsɪtˌkɒm] sksituačná komédia
48. soap opera [səʊp ˈɒpərə] sktelenovela
49. channel surfing [ˈʧænl ˈsɜːfɪŋ] skprepínanie kanálov
50. current affairs [ˈkʌrənt əˈfeəz] skaktuálne udalosti
51. foreign affairs [ˈfɒrɪn əˈfeəz] skzahraničné udalosti

52. lack of [læk ɒv] sknedostatok…
53. series [ˈsɪəriːz] sktelevízny seriál
54. prime time [praɪm taɪm] skhlavný vysielací čas
55. quiz show [kwɪz ʃəʊ] skkvíz
56. update [ʌpˈdeɪt] skaktualizovať
57. violence [ˈvaɪələns] sknásilie
58. weather forecast [ˈwɛðə ˈfɔːkɑːst] skpredpoveď počasia
59. access to [ˈæksɛs tuː] skprístup k…
60. live stream [laɪv striːm] skživé vysielanie
61. biased [ˈbaɪəst] skneobjektívny
62. gift voucher [ɡɪft ˈvaʊʧə] skdarčeková poukážka
63. weekly [ˈwiːkli] sktýždenník
64. monthly [ˈmʌnθli] skmesačník
65. daily [ˈdeɪli] skdenník
66. pick up a signal [pɪk ʌp ə ˈsɪɡnl] skzachytiť signál
67. headlines [ˈhɛdlaɪnz] sknovinové titulky
68. the headlines [ðə ˈhɛdlaɪnz] skstručný prehľad udalostí
69. record [rɪˈkɔːd] sknahrať, nahrávka
70. gossip column [ˈɡɒsɪp ˈkɒləm] skspoločenská rubrika
71. gossiping [ˈɡɒsɪpɪŋ] skklebetenie
72. dot [dɒt] skbodka v mail adrese
73. @ [æt] skzavináč
74. We are on the same wavelength. skSme na rovnakej vlnovej dĺžke.
75. Theft of personal information. skKrádež osobných údajov.
76. I will keep you updated. skBudem Ťa priebežne informovať.