11. A. Study the list of the daily newspapers in the world by average circulation. The figures are compiled by the World Association of Newspapers and represent each paper’s average circulation.

Newspaper	Country	Circulation (thousands)	Owner
1.Yomiuri Shimbun	Japan	14,067	Yomiuri Shimbun Group
2. Asahi Shimbun	Japan	12,121	Asahi Shimbun Group
6. Bild	Germany	3,548	Axel Springer AG
7. Reference News	China	3,183	Xinhua News Agency
8. The times of India	India	3, 146	Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.
9. The Sun	United Kindom	2, 986	English News International
83. Komsomolskaya Pravda	Russia	735	Media Partner

B. Choose one of the newspapers form the list. Make a report using additional information from the Internet or any other sources.

Unit 12 From the History of Newspapers

A. The word “newspaper” is well known all over the world. What images do you associate with it?

B. Think of the possible meanings of expressions below. Give their Russian equivalent. Make up short stories centered around one of the expressions.

1. To know everything is to know nothing.

2. To pick one to pieces.

3. Bad news has wings.

C. Topic Vocabulary. Learn the words and phrases below.

1. to post – вывешивать, расклеивать

2. printing press – печатный станок (машина)

3. printed matter – печатная продукция

4. movable type – подвижная литера

5. pamphlet – памфлет, брошюра, буклет

6. broadsheet – листовка; большой лист бумаги с печатным текстом на одной стороне

7. to popularize – распространять

8. penny paper – дешевая, общедоступная газета (ценой в 1 пенс)

9. widespread readership – широкий круг читателей

10. literacy rate – уровень грамотности

11. populace – население, простой народ

12. daily newspaper – ежедневная газета

13. to merge - сливать, соединять

14. to coexist – сосуществовать

15. regional newspaper – местная (пригородная) газета

16. tabloid – малоформатная газета со сжатым текстом, большим количеством иллюстраций и броскими заголовками

17. printed page – печатная полоса

D. Read the text.

Text 12

Public officials in ancient Rome posted news of the day in a public space, but it was not until the invention of the printing press in the late Middle Ages that mass-produced printed matter became possible. One hundred fifty years after the invention of printing from movable type by Johann Gutenberg in 1447, the first regular newspaper, Avisa Relation oder Zeitung, appeared in Germany in the early 17th century. The first English-language newspaper, the Weekly Newes, began publishing in England in 1622. Over the next few generations, small pamphlets and broadsheets were the primary source of printed information in both England and the colonies of North America, although they were generally geared toward business matters.

One of the first newspapers in the U.S. was Publick Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestick, which began appearing in Boston in 1690. These early prototypes of the newspaper eventually developed into publications that appeared on a more regular basis in localized geographic areas. At the time of the American Revolution, 35 newspapers were published in the 13 colonies. Many of these papers and their successors over the next few generations were concerned with political issues of the day and were rather expensive. This changed during the 1830s, however, when technology and publicity popularized "penny papers." The New York Sun was one of the first of these to gain widespread readership. The development of quicker, more efficient printing methods led to a rapid growth of newspapers in the U.S. during the 19th century. As the country expanded and new metropolitan centers sprang up, so did newspapers that served the interests of the region. A growing literacy rate among the populace also helped make such printed matter more popular and profitable.

In the latter decades of the 20th century, papers such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal have become esteemed sources of news in the U.S. and have wide distribution outside of the cities where they are produced. Until the 1980s, many cities had more than one newspaper, and it was not uncommon for a large city to have three or four competing dailies. By the 1990s, many papers had disappeared or merged so that only one or two noncompeting papers coexisted in major cities. Smaller regional newspapers provide a mix of local news with national and international items. Such papers usually have correspondents in New York, Washington, D.C., and the major cities of the world. Tabloid newspapers, presenting more sensational news and features such as detailed crime stories, first appeared in the U.S. in the 1920s. The word tabloid refers to the size of the printed page, which is generally half the size of a standard newspaper.

(from “Newspaper in the classroom”)