BBC Television

NEWS AGENCIES

News agencies are local, national, international, or technical organizations that gathers and distributes news, selling their services to newspapers, periodicals, and broadcasters; reports are also available as part of some on-line computer services. The major news organizations in the U.S. are: the Associated Press (AP), founded in 1892 as the Associated Press of Illinois, which adopted its present name in 1900; the United Press Association, called the United Press (UP), founded in 1892, which became an affiliate of the Scripps-Howard newspaper chain; and the International News Service (INS), founded by W.R. Hearst in 1906; in 1958 INS was merged with UP, forming United Press International (UPI). Two major European news agencies are the Reuter Telegram Company of London, founded in 1851 and known simply as Reuters; and Agence France-Presse, founded in 1835 as Agence Havas of Paris. Some countries have government-owned and -controlled agencies. News agencies transmit copy through the use of the telegraph, telephone wires, underwater cables, and communications satellites. Many offer their clients photographs, news analyses, and special features.

NEWSPAPER

Newspaper is a publication issued periodically, usually daily or weekly, to present information about current events. The Roman Acta diurna (c.59 B.C.), posted daily in public places, was the first recorded newspaper. The invention and spread of printing in the 15th century was the major factor in the early development of the newspaper. The first daily paper in England was the Daily Courant (1702). English newspapers began to reach the masses in the 19th cent. Important English newspapers of today are The Times of London (founded in 1785) and the Manchester Guardian. All the newspapers whether daily or Sunday, totalling about twenty, can be divided into two groups: quality papers and popular papers. Quality papers include “The Times’, “The Guardian”, “The Daily Telegraph”, “The Financial Times”, “The Observer”, “The Sunday Times” and “The Sunday Telegraph”. Very thoroughly they report national and international news.

In addition to the daily and Sunday papers, there is an enormous number of weeklies, some devoted to specialised and professional subjects, others of more general interest. Three of them are of special importance and enjoy a large and influential readership. They are: the “Spectator” (which is non-party but with Conservative views), the “New Statesman” (a radical journal, inclining towards the left wing of the Labour Party) and the largest and most influential – the “Economist” (politically independent). These periodicals resemble one another in subject matter and layout. They contain articles on national and international affairs, current events, the arts, letters to the Editor, extensive book reviews. Their publications often exert a great influence on politics.

The distinction between the quality and the popular papers is one primarily of educational level. Quality papers are those newspapers which are intended for the well educate. All the rest are generally called popular newspapers. The most important of them are the “News of the World”, “The Sun”, the “Daily Mirror”, the “Daily Express”.

The two archetypal popular papers, the “Daily Mail” and “Daily Express” were both built by individual tycoons in the early 20^th century. Both had a feeling for the taste of a newly-literate public: if a man bites a dog, that’s a news. The “Daily Express” was built up by a man born in Canada. He became a great man in the land, a close friend and associate of Winston Churchill, and a powerful minister in his War Cabinet. The circulation of “The Daily Express” at one time exceeded four million copies a day. Now the first Lord Beaverbrook is dead, and the daily sales are not much more than half of their highest figure. The history of the “Daily Mail”, with its conventional conservatism, is not greatly different.

The first newspaper to appear in the American colonies was a newssheet, Public Occurrences, which was issued in Boston in 1690. During the 19th century many famous U.S. newspapers appeared: the New York Evening Post (1801); the New York Sun, founded (1833) by B.H. Day; the New York Herald (1835); and the New York Times (1851. Other important American newspapers are the Washington Post; Los Angeles Times; Christian Science Monitor (Boston); Atlanta Constitution; Chicago Tribune; USA Today, a national paper; and Wall Street Journal (N.Y.C.), which in 1980 became the best-selling daily newspaper in the U.S. In the 20th century great newspaper empires were built in England and in the U.S. The power of press in the USA is enormous. The U.S. Constittion guarantees freedom of press and the press media act as a check on governmental action. The largest daily newspapers published in the USA are The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times (which was published in 1851 by Henry Raymond), The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune and many others. All these are serious „quality papers“ or broadsheets, which offer more serious information’s about politics, home and national news, also information about sport, art, music...But it does not offer only government information’s as some foreigners believe.

The most popular are tabloids, which are more popular than broadsheets. Articles in these papers are not very long and serious, they usually have huge pictures, and they use strip cartoons and humorous drowning’s and reacting for some political events. They have a big sport page and offer information’s about TV-programmer, pop-stars, competitions, advertisements and brings some home news. The most popular tabloid in US is USA Today’s. But they are able to spare more attention and space to each problem. The newspaper articles give much more information about events. That is the main advantage of newspapers.

Newspapers cover more stories than any other news media does. They also cover stories in great detail. However, the newspapers present information later then radio or TV. The great advantage of newspapers over radio and TV is that they can report stories in depth. Readers can skip an item that doesn’t interest them. Newspapers also can print certain material that appeals to only a small percentage of readers.

PERIODICALS

Periodicals are publications issued regularly, distinguished from the newspaper in format, in that its pages are smaller and usually bound, and in that it is published weekly, monthly, or quarterly, rather than daily. Periodicals range from technical and scholarly journals to illustrated magazines for mass circulation. The French Journal des Scavans (1665-1791) is considered the first periodical, whereas the English monthly Gentleman's Magazine (1731-1868) was the first to use the word magazine in the sense of a periodical for entertainment. Famous American periodicals include Godey's Lady's Book (1830-98), edited by Sarah J. Hale and famous for its colored fashion prints; the Atlantic Monthly (1857-) and Harper's Magazine (1850-), both noted for serious essays and fiction; the extremely popular Saturday Evening Post (1821-1971) and Ladies' Home Journal (1883-); McClure's Magazine (1893-1928), which published many articles by the Muckrakers; and The New Yorker (1925-) known for its urbane humor and high literary standards. Specialized magazines include the news magazines Time (1923-) and Newsweek (1933-); the National Geographic Magazine (1888-), devoted to natural history and anthropology; Ebony (1946-), a picture weekly directed toward African Americans; Playboy (1953-) and other periodicals devoted to sex and sexuality; Ms. (1972-), a forum for the women's liberation movement; and the zany, satirical National Lampoon (1970-). Computer advances have made possible the delivery of magazine articles through on-line services and have begun to spawn entirely electronic periodicals, such as The Online Journal of Current Critical Trials (1992-), a professional medical journal.

RADIO

The first regularly scheduled radio broadcasts in the U.S. began in 1920. The sale of advertising began in 1922, establishing commercial broadcasting as an industry. A coast-to-coast hook up began early in 1924, and expansion of both audience and transmission facilities continued rapidly. Radio is generally the first of news media to report a local story or a news service bulletin. A radio announcer can interrupt a programed with a news flash as soon as the report comes in. Most stations present regular news bulletins every half-hour or hour. The national radio broadcast major news events. However, most radio news bulletins do not report the news in detail. In a five minute broadcast the stories average less than 30 seconds each. Radio also provides weather forecasts and traffic information.

Voice of America (VOA) is the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. It is one of five civilian U.S. international broadcasters working under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast on radio and TV and the Internet outside of the U.S. in 43 languages. VOA produces about 1,500 hours of news and feature programming each week for an estimated global audience of 123 million people, "to promote freedom and democracy and to enhance understanding through multimedia communication of accurate, objective, and balanced news, information and other programming about America and the world to audiences overseas. Its day-to-day operations are supported by the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB).

A 1976 law signed by President Gerald Ford requires VOA to "serve as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news. «The VOA Charter states: "VOA news will be accurate, objective and comprehensive."VOA radio and television broadcasts are distributed by satellite, cable and on FM, AM, and shortwave radio frequencies. They are streamed on individual language service websites, social media sites and mobile platforms. VOA has more than 1,200 affiliate and contract agreements with radio and television stations and cable networks worldwide.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcasting corporation.^[2] Its main responsibility is to provide impartial public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man. It is the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees, with about 23,000 staff. The BBC is headquartered at Broadcasting House in London and has major production centers in Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff and Glasgow, London and Salford and smaller production centers throughout the UK.

The BBC is a semi-autonomous public service broadcaster that operates under a Royal Charter and a License and Agreement from the Home Secretary.^[8] Within the United Kingdom its work is funded principally by an annual television license fee, which is charged to all British households, companies and organizations using any type of equipment to receive live television broadcasts; the level of the fee is set annually by the British Government and agreed by Parliament. Outside the UK, the BBC World Service has provided services by direct broadcasting and re-transmission contracts by sound radio since the inauguration of the BBC Empire Service in December 1932, and more recently by television and online. Though sharing some of the facilities of the domestic services, particularly for news and current affairs output, the World Service has a separate Managing Director, and its operating costs have historically been funded mainly by direct grants from the British government. These grants were determined independently of the domestic license fee and were usually awarded from the budget of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. As such, the BBC's international content has traditionally represented – at least in part – an effective foreign policy tool of the British Government. The recent BBC World Service spending review has announced plans for the funding for the world service to be drawn from the domestic license fee.

The Corporation's guaranteed income from the license fee and the World Service grants are supplemented by profits from commercial operations through a wholly owned subsidiary, BBC Worldwide Ltd. The company's activities include programme- and format-sales. The BBC also earns additional income from selling certain programme-making services through BBC Studios and Post Production Ltd., formerly BBC Resources Ltd, another wholly owned trading subsidiary of the corporation. Most of the BBC's magazine and book publishing activities were sold in 2011.^[12] The BBC is sometimes referred to by other British media as "Auntie" or "the Beeb".

TELEVISION

Experiments in broadcasting television began in the 1920s but were interrupted by World War II. By 1992 the U.S. had 1,505 television stations, and cable television systems in the U.S. served over 56 million households. Television signals are also now transmitted from satellites direct to household satellite dishes.

Television is the main source of news for many households around the world. TV does what none of the other media can: it brings the sight and sounds of some important news events by means of filmed, taped or live reports. Like regular radio news bulletins, daily TV news programmers provide only brief accounts of relatively new stories. But the visual aspect of TV news story can often help viewers understand the story. In addition to daily news reports, television covers special news events. Coverage of such an event may replace many hours of regular TV shows. Television also broadcasts in-depth programs that help explain a story or subject. Such programs, which run from half an hour to three hours, include documentaries and interview programs. Most documentaries are filmed or taped. They may perform such subjects as crime, foreign policy, or race relations. Interview programs, which are usually broadcast live, may consist of a panel of journalists who ask questions of a major figure in the news.

The importance of mass media and journalism has greatly increased in recent years. In democratic countries, people depend on the news media for the fair and truthful reporting of current events. Freedom of the press encourages the exchange of ideas among citizens. In government-controlled countries, however, the news media serve as an instrument of the state. The struggle against censorship began in England in the 16th-17th cent. In the American colonies it began in 1734. Only 20% of the world’s people live in countries that have a free press. But in government-controlled countries journalists can still broadcast or write only what national leaders allow. Media forms public opinion now. A lot of politicians strive to possess mass media. Media carries great possibilities for society, but they are not only good ones. Nobody should forget, that media- is the fourth power.

BBC Television

The BBC has a powerful television service. It owns two channels: BBC1 and BBC2. Practically all the population of the country lives within the range of the TV transmission. With the exception of a break during the Second World War, the BBC has been providing regular television broadcasts since 1936. All BBC2 programmes and the vast majority of those on BBC1 are broadcasted on the national network. The aim of the Government is that at least 25 per cent of programmes on all channels should be made by independent producers.

The BBC television programmes are designed for people of different interests. BBC1 presents more programmes of general interest, such as light entertainment, sport, current affairs, children’s programmes, as well as news and information. BBC2 provides documentaries, travel programmes, serious drama, music, programmes on pastimes and international films.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14