Mass Media
The media is our source of information. Through newspapers, radio and television we learn about the
world around us, important evention, and new technologies. Our live usuld seen empty without media.
In the UK there are five quality dailies- The Times, The Guardian, The Financial Times, The
Independent, and The Daily Telegraph. These dailies publish national and international news, reports
from parliamentary debates, fashion, sport, business news. They are not connected to particular
political parties.
The Times is the most famous of them all. It has got three supplements: The Times Literary, The Times
Educational and The Times Higher Education Supplement. The Financial Times publishes business news.
The Daily Mirror and The Sun are popular papers or tabloids. These use picture, cartoon strips,
humorous drawings for political events. In the UK there is no censorship of the press, but the editors if
they write lies they can be forced to pay large fines.
The British Sunday newspapers publish articles with general information. The highly respected The
Economist is a political and literary journal.
Besides these there are many lifestyle magazines for different ages, men, women, and for people
interested of sports, hobbies.
The most important newspapers in the USA are The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The
Washington Post, New York Daily News, USA Today, and The New York Post. All of these are quality
papers. The New York Times is the world’s top daily.
The largest American newspaper sell news, photographs to other newspapers in the USA and also
to Slovakia. American newspapers have great international influence.
Reading the Sunday paper is an American tradition. There are two newspapers agencies in the USAAssociated Press, and United Press International.
There are over 11 000 magazines published in the United States. Some of them have also international
editions, e.g. National Geographic, Psychology Today or Vogue.
RADIO, TELEVISION and VIDEO
People who don’t like reading newspaper, they usually listen to the radio or watch TV, to be
informed. In Britain radio and television broadcasting is provided by the state-owned BBC (British
Broadcasting Corporation).The BBC has five radio programs, For example: Radio1—presents pop music,
Radio2-presentes light entertainment, Radio3, Radio4- different regional programs, Radio5 for sport,
children’s programs. The BBC has 2 TV channels (BBC 1 and BBC 2). Commercial independent TV
companies are financed by advertising. Independent television has 3 channels (Ch1, 2, 3) - These five
channels make a wide choice of programs. There are regional TV companies too, which broadcast their
region.
There are different types of radio and TV stations in the USA. There are non-commercial radio
stations which are operated by universities, religious groups. All the TV and radio stations must be
licensed by The Federal Communication Commission. It is an independent federal agency. There are
radio stations broadcast in different languages, For example French, Japanese, Polish, Chinese.
Smaller cities have one or two local TV stations, but larger cities ten or more. Cable TV is very popular,
because viewers can choose from many stations.
Slovakia- Television-there are two kinds of TV companies. There is one state TV called Slovak
Television, which broadcasts two changes, 1 and 2. Movies on this TV channels aren’t interrupted with
advertisements. Commercial television channels are: Markiza, which offers TV series, movies, news,
and competitions. The channel TA3 offers first news. Newspapers are the best known: Sme, Pravda,
Nový čas, Šport, Plus jeden deň. You can by newspapers at newsagents, markets or supermarkets.
Magazines are various: health magazines: Zdravie, Vitalita, lifestyle magazines: Plus7dní. Internet is
available in every city and village in Slovakia.