Part I. Print media

Unit 1

MASS MEDIA: GENERAL NOTION

Communication can be regarded on two levels:

- personal communication (sharing information by speaking, writing, or other methods);

- sending messages to a large audience. That type of communication is called m a s s c o m m u n i c a t i o n. Books are one of the oldest methods of mass communication, and television is one of the newest. Newspapers and radio are the other ways to send information to many people. Mass media, thereby, denotes a section of the media specifically designed to reach a large audience. The term mass media was coined in the 1920s with the advent of nationwide radio networks, mass-circulation newspapers and magazines.

Mass media exists in the followingf o r m s:

- print media (newspapers, magazines and journals);

- broadcast media (radio and television);

- electronic media (electronic papers and other publications posted in the Internet).

The f u n c t i o n sof mass media are:

- to inform a wide audience about the current events,

- to suggest and often to impose their possible interpretation of the event,

- to share an opinionabout them with a contemporary.

Mass media, thereby, plays a crucial role in forming and reflecting public opinion, connecting the world to individuals and reproducing the self-image of society.

A newspaper is a publication devoted chiefly to pre­senting and commenting on the news. Newspapers have certain advantages over the other major news media – television, radio, and news maga­zines. For example, newspapers can cover more news and in much greater detail – than can television and radio news bulletins.

There are two major sizes of newspapers – standard and tabloid.

A standard-sized newspaper has pages that measure about 60 cm by 38 cm. It is also called a b r o a d s h e e t (or a qualitypaper). The major United Kingdom quality papers are The Times, The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, The Guardian, The Observer, The Independent, The Financial Times. The main US quality papers are The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The USA Today. The Globe and Mail, The National Post are the major Canadian broadsheets (or heavies). In autumn 2010 The Indepenent launched The I – a quality paper of a tabloid format.

The pages of a t a b l o i d are about half the size of a quality paper – at 38 cm by 30 cm. They are The Sun, The Daily Mirror, The Daily Expres, The Daily Mail, The Sunday Express, The Sunday Mirror (in the United Kingdom), The National Enquirer, The Star Magazine, The New York Post (in the USA). In Britain tabloids are known as popular papers (or pops).

There is also a B e r l i n e ror midi format: 47 cm by 31,5 cm. European papers such as Le Monde (France), La Stampa (Italy), El Pais (Spain) and, since 2005, The Guardian (the United Kingdom).

The standard and tabloid sizes are both used in pub­lishing all types of newspapers.

The three main kinds of papers are:

- daily newspapers,

- weekly newspapers,

- special-interest newspapers (they print news of concern to particular groups).

The papers may also be national (all of the mentioned above) or international (such as The International Herald Tribune) that always focus on international issues.

Newspaper style may be defined as a system of interrelated lexical, phraseological and grammatical means which is perceived by the community speaking one language as a separate unity that serves the purposes of informing and instructing the reader.

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