1. Mass media

1. Mass Media. Television. The Internet.

2. Advertising. The History of advertising.

3. The influence of advertising on children.

4. National mass media.

1. Mass Media. Television. The Internet.

• Read the extracts and do the tasks that follow them. Retell them.

Mass Communication

Our society is constantly changing. The mass media supported by society are also changing. In some part, the process is reciprocal. That is, the society influences its media, but the media, once in place, sometimes modify the society. These facts make the search for stable generalizations about the personal, social, political, and cultural influence of mass communication a difficult one.

Since the media first arrived, each succeeding decade has brought a different set of economic conditions, new technology, changing political demands, and a continuously developing culture. In this dynamic milieu, the media continued to change their form, content; and distribution. This, in turn, modified the influence that they had on the people who attended to them. The process continues, and it will go on into the foreseeable future.

Exercise 1. Answer the questions.

1. What relationship is there between the changes in the society and in the mass media?

2. What kind of influence do the mass media exert?

3. How do the mass media change?

Media studies

It is necessary to understand that the media present a version of reality that is constructed; the information we receive is only a representation of the actual event. The media can influence our perceptions of gender, race, family, violence, policy, and society itself. By means of media we can recognize the consumerism behind products and identify implications (analyze advertising). Media helps us examine the techniques used to organize and construct images.

Information in our society is gained from many communications media, ranging from the obvious, such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines, films, and increasingly, the Internet, to the less obvious, such as clothing. Much of this information is transmitted repeatedly, which can result in our absorbing these messages implicitly. This is how media can easily shape values and behaviours.

The ability of the media to communicate information to us is important and valuable, but there is also a business side to media. As businesses, media organizations need the support of a large audience and sponsors. For instance, when we buy a magazine, some money goes to the publisher. Companies also pay the publisher to print the advertisements that we see in the magazine. Similarly, companies pay networks to play the commercials that we see on television.

To reach as many people as possible, magazines and television programs (and all forms of media) are carefully planned to be captivating and entertaining. As a result, our attitudes and ideas about events and products can be affected by the way the “pictures” are put together.

For good and bad, media is a part of our everyday lives, but most of us do not know the “rules of the game”. If we learn the strategies, skills, and the techniques used we can better understand it. Media literacy means knowing some of the techniques used to make media messages, learning what is behind the media messages and recognizing that the media want to attract and influence us, the audience, with their messages.

Media accounts of sports events are carefully put together to create suspense, drama and excitement to keep the viewers’ attention. One production technique used to create these effects is camera angles. Through various camera angles, the audience receives different impressions about the events.

Advertisers and sponsors want as many people to see their products as possible. The Olympics attract a lot of attention and draw a large audience. This is why broadcasting the Olympics and World Cup can make a lot of money for television networks, sponsors and advertisers. In order to keep the viewers interested, much planning is done to make the Games exciting, suspenseful and dramatic. This may include production techniques such as replays and slow motion to highlight actions, close ups and music to build drama and tension, stories about athletes, and colourful commentary and statistics.

Mass media

Mass Media – radio, television and press are justly considered to be the fourth power in human society. Their role in shaping the public opinion can hardly be overestimated.

They also play an important role in keeping people well informed in current events occurring all over the world.

The most popular is television. What makes TV so popular in many countries? It provides information, education and entertainment. With the help of TV you can learn about interesting and important events at home and abroad, the latest news, sport news. We can say that radio performs this service just as well, but on TV everything is much more living, much more real.

Is TV a blessing or a curse? On the one hand it’s a great comfort to many elderly and lonely people. On the other hand, it makes people passive – they don't dance, they don’t do things, they don’t play games. They prefer to watch professional singers, dancers and athletes on TV.

A hundred years ago people knew how to entertain themselves much better than they do now. Most people could sing a little, or play a musical instrument, so they could entertain each other. Conversation was an art, amusing conversation could keep people happy for hours. As for games, such as football, tennis, people played them more often than they do now.

Nowadays we are entertained by professionals. Why listen to your friends singing when you can hear the greatest singers of the world on the radio? Why play football with player’s who are not very good at it, when you can just sit comfortably at home and watch the game without having to go outside at all? Television also displays the cinema and the theatre.

Does TV corrupt and instruct our children? TV in itself is neither good nor bad. It all depends on the quality of TV programmes. Many protest against violence and sex on TV. Television is a ‘violent form of entertainment’. Violence on television can lead to aggressive behaviour by children and teenagers who watch the programs.

Most people prefer watching TV to reading newspapers. Newspapers cover information on home and foreign affairs, they carry serious editorials, arts and literary reviews; they provide up-to-date political and financial information and much professional advertising. Some newspapers have supplements which may be very different from the newspaper itself. They publish stories to be continued, discuss most typical issues, give analysis of important political events. There are also other kinds of newspapers that offer light reading.

Exersise 2. Answer the questions.

1. What role do mass media play?

2. Which media are the most popular?

3. What does TV provide?

4. Is TV a blessing or a curse? What do you think?

5. Does TV displace the theatre or the cinema?

6. What information do newspapers cover?

Exersise 3. Agree or disagree with the following statements.

1. Mass Media are considered the fourth power in human society.

2. They are directed at shaping public opinion.

3. The most popular is television.

4. Television is a great comfort for elderly and lonely people.

5. Television corrupts our children.

6. Newspapers exert a devastating impact on all the people irrespective of their age.

Exersise 4. Characterize the mass media influence on public political awareness. Use the following word-combinations.

to shape public opinion; to keep people well informed; the representation of urgent events; to construct images; to provide up-to-date information.

TV’s disastrous impact on children

/by Neil Postman, Professor of Communication/

Watching television over a long span seriously damages children's ability to think clearly. Exposure to TV sensationalism robs youngsters of childhood. Television is turning out to be a disastrous influence at least as far as we can determine at present. Television appears to be shortening the attention span of the young as well as eroding, to a, considerable extent, their linguistic powers and their ability to handle mathematical symbolism.

It also causes them to be increasingly impatient with deferred gratification. Even more serious is that television is opening up all, society's secrets and taboos, thus erasing the dividing line between childhood and adulthood and leaving a very homogenized culture in the wake.

Television has a transforming power at least equal to that of the printing press and possibly as great as that of the alphabet itself.

Television can never teach what a medium like a book can teach, and yet educators are always trying to pretend that they can use television to promote the cognitive habits and the intellectual discipline that print promotes. In this respect they will always be doomed to failure. Television is not a suitable medium for conveying ideas, because an idea is essentially language – words and sentences.

Television does have a valuable capacity to involve people emotionally in its pictures. Certainly, there are instances when television presents drama in its fullest and richest and the most complex expression.

Exersise 5. Answer the questions.

1. Is TV good or bad influence on the way children learn?

2. How does TV hurt a child’s linguistic ability?

3. Television molds intelligence and character of youth, doesn’t it?

4. What positive influence can TV exert on children?

• Express your point of view on positive and negative aspects of TV in general.

• Analyse the text about one of the media, i.e. print.

The media: print

Typical sections found in newspapers and magazines

“One thing I always read in the paper is the obituaries¹; it’s so interesting to read about the lives of well-known people. I also usually read the leader² (or editorial); it helps me form my opinion on things. Although national newspapers give you all the important news, I find that if you just want to sell your car or something, the classified ads³ in a local paper is the best place. But at the weekend I just love the Sunday papers. Most British Sunday papers have supplements⁴ with articles on travel, food and fashion and so on, and that keeps me occupied for hours. Last week there was a feature⁵ on new technology in one of them; it was fascinating. My teenage daughter prefers magazines, especially the agony columns⁶. I just can’t imagine writing to an agony aunt⁷. It amazes me how people are prepared to discuss their most intimate problems publicly.”

Exercise 6. Match the phrases numbered in the text above with the following equivalents.

1. descriptions of the lives of famous people who have just died

2. an article giving the newspaper editor’s opinion

3. pages of advertisements in different categories

4. separate magazines included with the newspaper

5. an article or set of articles devoted to a particular topic

6. sections in a paper or magazine that deal with readers’ private emotional problems

7. person, typically a woman, who answers letters in the agony column

• Study some types of printed material.

name	description/definition	example sentence
pamphlet	small book with a soft cover, dealing with a specific topic, often political	The Conservative Party published a pamphlet on the future of private education.
leaflet	single sheet or folded sheets of paper giving information about something	I picked up a leaflet about the museum when I was in town.
brochure	small, thin book like a magazine, which gives information, often about travel, or a company, etc.	Do you have any brochures about Caribbean holidays?
prospectus	small, thin book like a magazine, which gives information about a school, college or university, or a company	Before you choose a university, you should send away for some prospectuses.
flyer	single sheet giving information about some event, special offer, etc., often given out in the street	I was given a flyer about a new nightclub which is opening next month.
booklet	small thin book with a soft cover, often giving information about something	The tourist office has a free booklet of local walks.
manual	book of detailed instructions how to use something	This computer manual is impossible to understand!

Exercise 7. Say the words that mean …

1. the small advertisements in different categories found in newspapers

2. a person you write to at a magazine to discuss intimate emotional problems

3. the section of a newspaper which has tributes to people who have just died

4. an article in a newspaper which gives the editor's opinion

5. a separate magazine that comes free with a newspaper

6. an article or set of articles devoted to a special theme

• Speak on the pros and cons of the Internet.

The media: Internet and e-mail

The pros and cons of Internet use

Here is a list of some possible advantages (pros) and disadvantages (cons) of the Internet.

pros	cons
e-mail, instant messaging^1, chat rooms^2, newsgroups^3	ISP^9 charges can be high for heavy users
e-commerce^4 (e.g. Internet banking, travel booking)	downloading^10 and uploading^11 times can be slow
ability to send files as attachments^5	spam^12 can be annoying
fun of just browsing^6 and surfing the Web^7	cookies^13 track your activities on the Web
ability to transmit graphic images^8 and sound files	many sites contain pornography and other offensive material^14

Exercise 8. Match the phrases numbered in the table with the following equivalents.

1. a kind of e-mail where both people are online at the same time

2. an online conversation between a group of people on topics chosen by them, where you can enter or leave the ‘room’ at any time

3. a website where people with shared interests can get news and information

4. all kinds of business done on the Internet

5. files you send at the same time as e-mail messages

6. looking at different websites, with no particular goal

7. moving from one website or one web page to another, usually looking for something

8. technical term for pictures, icons, diagrams, etc.

9. (pronounced I-S-P) Internet Service Provider: a company that offers users access to the Internet and services such as news, e-mail, shopping sites, etc., usually for a monthly fee

10. bringing files to your computer from the Internet

11. sending files from your computer to the Internet or to another Internet user

12. unwanted advertisements and other material sent to you bye-mail from companies

13. a kind of program that is sent from the Internet to your computer, often without your knowledge, which can follow and record what you do, which websites you visit, etc.

14. material such as pornography, or extreme political views, or material that encourages hate and violence against people

• Study some collocations on Internet communication.

E-mail and Internet communications

I’ve bookmarked the CNN home page as I use it regularly to get the latest news. [pur it in a list of websites I can access immediately]

If you subscribe to newsgroups, you often get hundreds of messages. [become a member on

Some ISPs allow you to screen out unwanted mail. [prevent from reaching you]

Our server [central computer that distributes e-mail and other services to a group of users] at work was down [not working] yesterday so I didn’t get your message till today.

Someone hacked into our company server and destroyed all our files. [accessed it illegally]

Do you have good anti-virus software? It’s worth updating it frequently. [protection against computer viruses]

She must have changed her e-mail address – the e-mail I sent her bounced. [came back to me]

That file you sent me as an attachment was unreadable. The text was completely garbled. [just a series of meaningless letters and numbers]

Exercise 9. Look at these expressions taken from magazine articles and advertisements for computers and Internet services. Paraphrase the sentences.

1. A new law has given e-signatures the same legal status as handwritten ones.

2. E-learning will become more and more common as an alternative to traditional learning.

3. We have e-enabled everything you need to study on the Internet.

4. E-books are beginning to seriously compete with traditional books.

5. The dotcom economy has attracted hundreds of new businesses hoping to make a fortune.

• Make sure you know how to read web addresses aloud. For example. for BBC news you can access http://news.bbc.co.uk/ which is read as H-T-T-P, colon, double-slash. news-dot-BBC-dot-co-dot-UK, forward-slash. Note that ‘co’is read as [kɔu], ‘org’ and ‘com’ are normally read as [ɔ:] and [kɔm].