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Mass Mеdia

Here are definitions for the requested words and expressions: Publisher - The person or company that owns a newspaper/magazine and is responsible for its production and marketing. Editor (in chief) - The person responsible for the entire content and operations of a newspaper/magazine. They assign stories, edit content, and oversee production. Reporter/journalist - A person whose job is to research, write, and distribute news stories and articles for newspapers, magazines, or television/radio. Daily/weekly newspaper - A newspaper that is published each day or once a week. Popular/quality newspaper - A popular newspaper focuses on entertainment and human interest stories for mass appeal. A quality newspaper provides more in-
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
142 views47 pages

Mass Mеdia

Here are definitions for the requested words and expressions: Publisher - The person or company that owns a newspaper/magazine and is responsible for its production and marketing. Editor (in chief) - The person responsible for the entire content and operations of a newspaper/magazine. They assign stories, edit content, and oversee production. Reporter/journalist - A person whose job is to research, write, and distribute news stories and articles for newspapers, magazines, or television/radio. Daily/weekly newspaper - A newspaper that is published each day or once a week. Popular/quality newspaper - A popular newspaper focuses on entertainment and human interest stories for mass appeal. A quality newspaper provides more in-
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Pre-reading task
Do a quick survey in your class:
 Where do you look for the news? How often do you read/watch the news?
 What paper or magazine do you read and what do you like about it?
 What sections of a newspaper are you most interested in?
 What do you look for in a newspaper: entertainment, human-interest stories or
comment and analysis?
 How often do you watch TV? Describe the main purpose of watching it.

“What the mass media offers is not popular


art, but entertainment which is intended to
be consumed like food, forgotten, and
replaced by a new dish” (W.H. Auden)

Mass Media
The role of mass media in the life of the present society is difficult to
overestimate. The mass media in many countries are privately owned and help
businesses to earn an extra buck, which they do mainly by selling space or air time to
advertisers. Both print and electronic media determine which events are newsworthy,
a determination made on the basis of audience appeal. The rise of mass-circulation
newspapers in the 1830s produced a politically independent press in the United States
and Europe. In their aggressive competition for gripping readers` attention, those
newspapers often engaged in sensational reporting, a charge sometimes leveled at
today's media.
The broadcast media operate under technical, ownership, and content
regulations set by the government, which tend to promote the equal treatment of
political contests on radio and television more than in newspapers and news
magazines.
The major media maintain staffs of professional broadcasters, newscasters,
anchors,newsgathers,journalists, reporters, correspondents and even hacks in major
cities across the world. They all recognize rules for citing sources that guide their
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reporting. What actually gets reported in the media depends on the media's
gatekeepers, the publishers, editors, subeditors and continuity persons.
The mass media transmit the immediate information to large, heterogeneous,
and widely dispersed audiences and cater simultaneously for people of different
interests. The main function of the mass media is entertainment, but the media also
perform the political functions of reporting news, interpreting news, influencing
citizens` opinions, setting the political agenda, and keeping citizens posted about topical
political issues.
Printed media or published mediaprovide information through the publication
of written words and pictures. Prime examplesare newspapers and magazines. There
are popular (tabloid)and quality papers, which come out daily, weeklyandfortnightly
and can be presented byglossies, periodicals orserials, fashion-papers, etc.Magazines
do not focus on daily, rapidly changing events. They provide more profound analysis
of events of proceeding week. Magazines are designed to be kept for a longer time so
they have cover and binding and are printed on better paper. Magazines can be
distributed through mail, through sales by newsstands,bookstores, newsagentsor other
vendors or through free distribution at selected pick up locations. Sometimes the
subscriber gets a better editionof the one being sold, because they have either
postersor something extra to add. Many magazines are available both on the Internet
and in hard copy,usually in different versions, though some are only available in the
internet version (known as online magazines).
Broadcast media provide information electronically through sounds or sights.
Prime examples of broadcast media are radio, television and the Internet. People can
start their day listening to live broadcasts on favouriteFM
channels: news, music programs, radio translation of
sports events and others. However, nowadaysradio is not
as popular as it used to be some 50 years ago but it is still
popular due to its portability: it can be easily carried
around. People like to listen to the radio in the park, at the
seaside, in the car while driving. With the appearance of
television it has become an essential part of our life. TV gives us food for thought,
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introduces us to new ideas and activities. It helps us to relax after a hard day`s work
and to escape from reality. Can we imagine a day without TV news,current affair
programs, special reports, live footage, quizzes, chat shows (talk shows), panel
discussions,vox-pop, interviews, educational and children program, weather forecasts,
sports programs, music programs, variety shows, sitcoms, slapsticks , soap operas,
reality shows and even all those commercials. People severely criticize the “one-eyed
monster”, grumble at the poor quality of programs and the appearance of presenters.
They are annoyed and irritated by frequent commercials interrupting their favourite
films and programs. Still they cannot live without it.
The youngest kind of mass media is the Internet.The Internet is, indisputably, the
most amazing phenomenon of the 21st century, a new generation of mass media.
Gradually it replaces all other means of communication and mass media. This global
computer network embraces hundreds of millions of users all over the world and helps
us to communicate with each other due to its e-enables. Various documents and other
services such as chat-rooms (newsgroups), live communication through Skype, e-
mail, e-learning, e-signatures, interactive forums, online shopping, e-commerce,
online hotel and ticketbooking, "googling", blogging,social networks.
The Internet gives access to so many interesting information resources and
newsflashes practically in no time. Thanks to the Internet, we can use the resources of
electronic/digital libraries, online dictionaries and encyclopedias, academic
repositories and archives. Moreover, unique archive documents are now digitized and
are available to be studied by everyone through the Internet. All this allows us to save
time and make out work resultant and efficient.

Exercise 1. Give Ukrainian equivalents.


Earn an extra buck; continuity persons; topical political issues; profound analysis;
mass-circulation newspapers; sensational reporting; commercial; e-signature;
broadcaster; quiz; widely dispersed audiences; newsstand.

Exercise 2. Give English equivalents.


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Обкладинка; заволодіти увагою читачів; передплатник; опит суспільної думки;


гідний висвітлення в пресі; палітурка; телеконференція; друкована копія;
зйомка наживо; різнорідний; політичне змагання; естрадний концерт; архив;
журнал на глянцевому папері; невідкладна інформація; обслуговувати когось;
ексцентрична комедія, фарс; екстренне повідомлення.

Exercise 3. Explain in English.


subscriber overestimate fortnightly
newsflash privately owned sitcom
mass-circulation portability disperse audiences
newspaper
live footage profound analysis

Exercise 4. Find the antonyms for the following words from the text.

1) influence a) impossible, inappropriate


2) prime b) minor, needless, unimportant
3) available c) ugliness, retraction
4) essential d) disliked, unpopular, hated
5) annoyed e) alike, connected, similar
6) independent f) diminish, lessen
7) frequent g) usualness, normality
8)favourite h) gratified, pleased
9) phenomenon i)neglect, prevent, discourage
10) various j) worst
11) overestimate k) inconsistent, irregular
12) appeal l) subordinate

Exercise 5. Distribute the following words and phrases in two columns and
define each of them.
Article, story, feature, scoop, editorial, exclusive, coverage,
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reporter, journalist, correspondent, political/ foreign/ education
etc correspondent, editor, fashion/ sports/ political etc editor,
hack.

What is written in newspapers People who work for newspapers

Exercise 6.Give definitions of the following words and expressions:


Publisher To be biased/ unbalanced
Editor (in chief) To obtain/gather/withhold information
Reporter/journalist To seek confirmation of something
Daily/weekly newspaper To interview somebody
Popular/quality newspaper To report on something
Tabloid Sensationalism
The yellow press To intrude on somebody’s privacy
The gutter press To inform/mislead the public
Periodical Freedom of the press
News service/wire service/ press A free press
agency The nationwide press
Investigative reporting/journalism To impose censorship
Source of information Subscription
Objectivity To subscribe to a newspaper
Bias Newsagent
To be objective/ balanced

Exercise 7. Newspaper Headline Language


Harmony seldom makes a headline.
Silas Ben
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1) Study the following examples of newspaper headline language.


A. Features of headline language
Here are some typical examples of headlines from tabloid newspapers with
comments on their use or language
EXPERT REVEALS NEW MOBILE DANGERS
 Articles, prepositions and auxiliary verbs are often omitted from headlines.
 This use of the present simple instead of the past tense makes the story sound
more immediate.
 The use of language is often ambiguous. It is not entirely clear, for example, what
mobilerefers to here. It is actually about the dangers of mobile phone use but it could
have referred to dangers that can move in some way. Readers have to look at the
story in order to find out.
 Words with dramatic associations such as danger are often used.
TV STAR TRAGIC TARGET FOR MYSTERY GUNMAN
This story is about how a well-known television actor was shot by an unknown killer.
 Tabloid newspapers like to use references to royalty or popular figures like film or
pop stars or sports personalities in order to attract readers' attention.
 Alliteration such as TV Star Tragic Target is often used to attract the eye in
headlines and to make them sound more memorable.
 Newspapers sometimes use 'shorthand' words such as 'gunman' in order to express
an idea or image as briefly and as vividly as possible.
B. Violent words
Violent and militaristic words are often used in newspaper headlines, especially in
tabloid newspapers, in order to make stories seem more dramatic.
EU acts to crush terror of the thugs
Palace besieged by journalists
Crackdown on soccer louts
Typhoon rips through town
C. Playing with words
Many newspaper headlines in English attract readers' attention by playing on
words in an entertaining way. For example, a story about the theft of traffic signs
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erected to help tourists coming to see a solar eclipse in the area was headlined Dark
deeds. In this collocation darkusually carries the meaning of wicked, but the headline
is cleverly playing with the word darkbecause at the time of an eclipse the sky goes
dark.
Another example is the use of the headline Ruffled feathers to describe an incident
where a wife was angry with her husband, a wildlife expert, for allowing a Russian
steppe eagle to sleep in their bedroom. We use the idiom to smooth someone's ruffled
feathers, meaning to pacify someone after an argument. It is apt to use it here as the
story is about a bird (although, of course, it was the woman's feathers which were
ruffled).

2) Read these headlines. What do you think the stories might be about?
1. MOSCOW BLAST TERROR
2. I’M TO REVEAL SOCCER LOUT PLANS
3. TOP MP IN LONE BATTLE
4. CRACKDOWN ON PORN
5. THUGS BESIEGE TEEN STAR
6. COPS TARGET LOUTS

3) These headlines were written in a pretend tabloid newspaper about Ancient


Greece. Match them with the subjects of their stories (a) to (e) below and
comment on the features of headline language they contain.
1. NUDE SCIENTIST IN BATHTUB SENSATION
2. KING PHIL'S MACEDONIAN MASH-UP
3. MARATHON MAN IN DROP-DEAD DASH
4. QUADRUPLE ROYAL MURDER SENSATION
5. IT'S CURTAINS FOR CORINTH

a) Mysterious death of four members of the royal family.


b) Philip of Macedonia wins battle against city states of Athens and Thebes.
c) Archimedes' discovery of the laws governing the displacement of water.
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d) Burning of city of Corinth to ground by the Romans.


e) Long-distance runner brings news of battle victory to Athens and then dies.

4) Match the newspaper articles with the headlines following them.


1. A girl fell from the top of a 50-metre high cliff at Southport and landed on a
sandy beach. After the call, she stood up and walked away with only a broken ankle.
2. Theodore Lee has left all his money to the Society for the Blind. He died in
April and his entire will of $ 460,000 goes to the Society.
3. Two men broke into a supermarket in Italy and walked off with 240 tins of dog
food, worth Lira 120,000. However, they did not take anything else from the shop.
4. Police yesterday began to look for thieves who stole 14 paintings from a
museum in Taipei. The paintings were among the best in the museum.
5. Two lorries crashed at the start of a new road system and caused a 7-mile queue.
It took drivers three times longer to travel the same distance as on the old road.
6. Ted Cornwall, aged 77, has started his own telephone service for unhappy
people. They can ring his home and listen to his choice of jokes.
7. Robert Tadley had a hard day with his three-year-old daughter. At last he asked,
"Why do you cry all the time?" Back came the answer: "But I don't cry when I'm
laughing, daddy."
8. An amazing voyage to outer space can at last help scientists to discover the
secrets of a mystery planet. The spacecraft Voyager 2 can reach the planet Neptune in
three years.
A. Lost art
B. Dial a smile
C. Traffic chaos
D. Girl underground
E. Girl's lucky break
F. Thieves with pets
G. Cats and Dogs
H. Picture of a city
I. Bad language
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J. Buying a car
K. Ringing the bells
L. Gift for the blind
M. Like a bird in the sky
N. Journey into space
O. Laughter and tears.

Exercise 8. Fill in the gaps in the sets of sentences below using the words given
with each set.
1) A. If you want to receive our organization`s free monthly …, please tick this box.
B. Harry is a big Kylie Minogue fan; he`s got all her CDs, and he subscribes to her
most popular … .
C. They published a two-page … for advertising purposes.
- fanzine - flyer - newsletter
2) A. The station wanted to broadcast the show in the morning, but the … insisted
that it be aired in the afternoon.
B. He has thorough knowledge of jazz music, but his voice is not good enough for
him to be a(n) … .
C. He`s been a(n) … with Radio Wales for years, but he`s just not as good on TV.
- newscaster - producer - announcer
3) A. He hosted a current affairs programmes which featured many heated …
between politicians.
B. During his … with Jonathan Stevenson, the Minister was unable to come up with
satisfactory answers.
C. In tonight`s programme, criminologist Ian Crown will attempt a thorough … of the
alarming rise in crime.
- interview - debate - analysis

Exercise 9. Take any recent story you`ve heard, seen or read, choose and
appropriate headline and make up a newspaper article.
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Exercise 10. Speak on the following topics.


1) What images spring to mind when you hear the word “media”?
2) Imagine that you are talking with your friend about the most popular mass media.
3) Do you always believe the media?
4) How is today`s media different from that of 30 years ago?
5) Does the media have the moral right to report on the private lives of film stars and
pop stars?Do you think that the private lives of these people are really news?
6) Give your arguments why you like/dislike reading tabloids (gutter press)?
7) Speak about the most popular magazines in your country?
8) Is there any censorship of the press in your country?
9) Speak about your television-watching habits.
10) Do you think TV violence makes people violent in real life?
11) Give your arguments for and against the Internet.

Exercise 11. Work in pairs. Read the information and discuss:


 Which surprises you the most
 Which is the most worrying
 Which is reassuring or is a good idea
 The average young person living in the USA watching television 25 hours a
week
 47% of nine-year-olds in Ireland have a TV in their bedroom.
 Some experts say that television helps children develop a richer vocabulary.
 A sociologist has stated that children who don`t watch TV have difficulty
relating to their schoolmates.
 Children`s television shows contain about twenty violent acts per hour.
 By the time the average child finishes elementary school, he or she will have
witnessed 8000 murders on TV.
 TV advertising aimed at children is banned in Sweden.
Exercise 12. Read the rubric below and answer the questions.

There is simply no way that we can get any kind of objective reporting anywhere.
Current affairs programmes are biased and uninformative. Newspapers are more
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interested in gossip than anything which can be called “news”. TV news
programmes are more concerned with showing sensationalist details than reporting
the facts. Where is this going to lead?
1) Say whether you agree or disagree with each point.
2) How could you support your views?
3) Suggest words and phrases that would be suitable to use in expressing your
opinion.

Exercise 13. Translate the following sentences into English using the vocabulary
from text A.
1) Якщо ви вважаєте, що матеріал не заслуговує на висвітлення у пресі, ви
можете спитати думки у колеги або іншої особи. 2) Щоб захопити читацьку
увагу, ви повинні переконатися, що читачі емоційно занурені у вашого
персонажа і його ситуацію. 3) Вибори, перша політична боротьба між
правлячою правою стороною і опозиційною лівою,почалися спокійно. 4)
Гетерогенні продукти – це продукти із складниками, які значно відрізняються
один від одного, що робить важким заміну одного продукту іншим. 5) За
винятком випадкової ситуації, яка трапилась з ним, коли він працював в
редакції глянцевого журналу, розмір фотографій може бути повторно змінений
на кольоровому ксероксі і це не вплинена їх корисність. 6) Іноді вдома для
обгортання книг ми використовуємо прозорі пластикові книжкові обкладинки –
обкладинки професійного рівня, які використовуються в бібліотеках. 7) У теле-
або радіомовленні, глядацьке голосування – це інтерв'ю з представниками
широкої громадськості. Глядацьке голосування – це латинська фраза, що
буквально означає голос народу. 8) Шутлива жорстокістьзавжди була
перевагою ексцентричної комедії (фарсу), і, належним чином, така форма
виступу отримала свою назву від однієї зі своїх основних зброй. 9) Екстренне
повідомлення повідомлює вам всі останні новини, які щойно трапились,
поєднуючи заголовки з багатьох джерел в єдиний потік новин. Екстренне
повідомлення дозволяє швидко сканувати і слідкувати за головними новинами
дня, які організовані по тематикам, які вас цікавлять, будь то новини, бізнес,
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спорт і навіть плітки про знаменитостей. 10) Ви можете не тільки купити


поточні видання одного з журналів в Інтернеті, ви можете одразу ж оформити
підписку на вибраний вами журнал з нашого величезного вибору наявних
публікацій. 11) Потік сенсаційних, контекстно-вільних повідомлень марно
попереджує громадськість про те, що відбувається в медичних страхових
ринках різних країн. 12) Газети з масовим тиражом, наприклад, такі, які
з’явились в 19 століттів Нью-Йорку, намагаються привернути увагу широкої
аудиторії і рекламного ринку. 13) Електронний підпис може бути таким же
ненадійним, як надруковане ім’я. Отже, електронні підписи можуть вважатися
проблематичними, коли мова йде про безпеку, бо ніщо не заважає одній людині
надрукувати ім’я іншої людини. 14) Мовні та електроні ЗМІ сьогодення – це
портативні джерела розваг та інформації, які поширюються за допомогою
дротових і бездротових радіо- і телестанції та мереж, звуковихта відеозаписів, а
також мобільного Інтернету. Вони пропонують пізнавальні та розважальні
програми як загальної, так і спеціальної тематики. Їх конкуренти
включаютьтрадиційні друковані засоби інформації: книги, газети, журнали та
розсилки новин. Однак, сьогодні багато радіо-і телестанцій та мереж
публікують цифрові електронні видання або версії в Інтернеті поряд з
видавцями книг, газет, журналів та розсилок новин.

Pre-reading task
1) Have you ever been in England? If yes, could you describe what sources of mass
media did you use?
2) Have you ever read any English newspapers or magazines? Where do you take
them from?
3) Do you read on-line English newspapers or probably do you watch on-line news
(for example, BBC)? Do they differ from our types of mass media?

Mass Media in England


London is in the eye of the British media, an industry comprising some of the
best and worst of the world`s TV, radio and print media.
13

There are many national daily newspapers, and competition for readers is
incredibly stiff; although some papers are printed outside the capital, they are all
pretty London-centric. There are two broad categories of newspapers, most
commonly distinguished as broadsheets (or ‘qualities’) and tabloids, although the
distinction is becoming more about content than physical size as most of the major
broadsheets are now published in a smaller, easier-to-use tabloid size.
The main London newspaper is the centre-right Evening Standard, a tabloid
that comes out in early and later editions throughout the day.
Free newspapers, distributed at tube stations and on the streets wherever
commuters can be stopped and a paper shoved in their face, also vie for the attentions
of Londoners – London Lite and Metro (both owned by the Daily Mail parent group
Associated Newspapers) are light-weight, easy-to-digest reads with a firm focus on
celebrity, and can be found littering buses or tube carriages all over London.
National newspapers in England are almost always financially independent of
any political party, although their political leanings are easily discerned. Rupert
Murdoch is the most influential man in British media and his News Corp owns the
Sun, the News of the World, the Times and the Sunday Times.
The Sunday papers are as important as Sunday mornings in London. Most
dailies have Sunday stablemates, and predictably the tabloids have bumper editions
of trashy gossip, star-struck adulation, fashion extras and main-spirited diatribes. The
qualities have so many sections and supplements that two hands are required to carry
even one paper from the shop. The Observer, established in 1791, is the oldest
Sunday paper and sister of the Guardian; there`s a brilliant Sports supplement with
the first issue of the month. Even people who normally only buy broadsheets
sometimes slip a copy of the best-selling News of the World (sister paper to the Sun)
under their arm for some Sunday light relief.

The BBC is probably the most famous broadcasting corporation in the world
and one of the standard bearers of radio and TV journalism and programming. Just as
the British Parliament has the reputation for being ‘the mother of parliaments’, so the
14

BBC might be said to be ‘the mother of information services’. Britain still turns out
some of the world`s best TV programs, padding out the decent home-grown output
with American imports, Australian soaps, inept sitcoms, and trashy chat and game
shows of its own. There are five regular TV channels. BBC1 and BBC2 are publicly
funded by a TV licensing system and, like BBC radio stations, don`t carry
advertising; ITV1, Channel 4 and Five are commercial channels. These regular
channels are now competing with the satellite channels of Rupert Murdoch`s BSkyB
– which offers a variety of channels with less-than-inspiring programmes – and
assorted cable channels. Many viewers feel that the investment in new technology is
damaging to the core channels and that the BBC is spreading itself too thinly, trying
to chase ratings and compete with the commercial channels rather than concentrating
on its public-service responsibilities. The entire country is gradually switching over
to digital TV.
The BBC broadcasts several radio stations, including BBC 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and
7, catering to young, mature, classical, intellectual, talkback, mixed and
comedy/drama audiences respectively. XFM is the best chance of hearing interesting
music these days. In 2007 the government announced Channel 4 was to be awarded a
license to broadcast 10 more national digital radio channels, a huge shake-up for an
industry in need of winning back loyal audiences.

Task 1. Give Ukrainian equivalents.


Lowdown of national and international news; bumper edition; star-struck adulation;
slip a copy; content; easy-to-digest reads; distinguish; agony column; chase ratings;
inept sitcom; Sunday stablemate; editorial; talkback; licensing system.

Task 2. Give English equivalents.


Розділ світської хроніки; конкуренція за читачів; бульварна преса; додаток;
лідер, вождь; жорсткий; широкоформатні газети та таблоіди; комікси;
15

стандартні та комерційні канали; цифрове телебачення; виходити, видавати;


некролог; змагатися за прихільність/увагу; непристойна розмова;різноманітні
кабельні канали;тематичні оголошення.

Task 3. Explain in English.


In the eye of the media; broadsheet; tabloid; commuter; supplement; advertising;
place emphasis; comic strip; agony column; editorial; celebrity; gossip.

Task 4. Study the material and learn the vocabulary units that you have been
unfamiliar with.

A. 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."

B. Some types of printed material

Name Description/ definition Example sentence


pamphlet small book with a sort cover, The Conservative Party published

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
16
dealing with a specific topic, often a pamphlet on the future of
political private education.
leaflet single sheet or folded sheets of I picked up a leaflet about the
paper giving information about museum when I was in town.
something
brochure small, thin book like a magazine, Do you have any brochures
which gives information, often about Caribbean holidays?
about travel, or a company, etc.
prospect small, thin book like a magazine, Before you choose a university,
us which gives information about a you should send away for some
school college or university, or a prospectuses.
company
flyer single sheet giving information I was given a flyer about a new
about some event, special offer, nightclub which is opening next
etc, often given out in the street month.
booklet small thin book with a soft cover, The tourist office has a free
often giving information about booklet of local walks.
something
manual book of detailed instructions how This computer manual is
to use something impossible to understand!

С. Without looking at the text, test your memory for 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
Task 5. Almost every sentence below contains a mistake (a
vocabulary, grammar or spelling one). Correct the mistakes or put
a tick if a sentence is correct.
17
1. By giving substantial coverage to environmental issues, the mass
media calls attention to them. __________
2. The circulation of a local paper multiplied in 3 times since last __________
year.
3. Large newspaper chains usually subscribe to great news-reporting __________
servises.
4. This tabloid devotes considerable place to celebrity photos. __________
5. CNN collects news items from every corner of the earth. __________
6. Nowadays most newspapers try to include human-interest stories
to caption an ever-wider reading public. __________
7. You definitely played the violin better than Paul did. You outdid
him at his own game. __________
8. The more articles written in a “catchy” style a newspaper
contains, the more it appeals to the general reader. __________
9. I dislike many modern newspapers for their exessive __________
sensationalism.
10. The fact that newspapers begin to be printed in greater numbers
and for lower costs can be explained by publishers’ desire to attract
the largest possible number of readers. __________
11. Mass circulation is stimulated by the rapidly developing art of __________
advertizing.
12. The special success of this newspaper rests on the ability of its
feature writers to get the most sensational news before anyone else
and play them up for all they are worth. __________

Task 6. Complete the sentences with the expressions below.


1. Heat caused a lot of environmental damage in central parts of Russia in the
summer of 2010: wildfires, polluted rivers and lakes, _____________________
smog.
18

2. _____________________ over whether men and women are equal in the rights.
3. Japanese cars account for 30% of the U.S. car market. In other words, they have
_____________________.
4. For many people success _____________________ money, power and social
standing.
5. ‘Popular papers’ _____________________ as the gutter press. They
_____________________ and sensational headlines.
6. I enjoy reading newspapers _____________________.
7. The value of Russia’s export of wheat has been cut down
_____________________.

a) with a high standard of reporting gained about one third of the market
b) There have always been controversies for the sake of a higher national interest
c) rely on eye-catching layout are often referred to
d) has become synonymous with and one doesn’t speak of

Task 7. Read the text, mark the key ideas and make a summary of it. Write
down an article with your attitude to the points mentioned in the text.

A chill over British press


A prime minister says a newspaper has damaged national security and calls for
its editor to be brought before Parliament; his government tells the same paper there
has been "enough" debate on an issue and sends its security officials into the paper's
offices to smash discs containing journalistic material; lawmakers call for the editor's
prosecution and accuse the paper of treason; the paper is forced to spirit its stories out
of the country to ensure publication overseas.
This is Russia, right? Or Turkey.One of those countries that the Committee to
Protect Journalists is always highlighting in its reports on press freedom violations.
No, this is the United Kingdom.
19

The grilling this week by a House of Commons select committee of Guardian


Editor Alan Rusbridger crystallized the problems of an independent press trying to
serve the public interest in a country that lacks robust legal safeguards of press
freedom.
Britain is home to a diverse and fiercely competitive press, but the climate for
journalists, particularly those covering national security issues, began to grow chilly
after the WikiLeaks revelations three years ago. The temperature plunged, however,
in July, when the Guardian  started publishing stories based on classified material
leaked to it by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.
The leaks revealed the scale of surveillance of ordinary citizens by the NSA
and Britain's Government Communications Headquarters, and their ability to store
mountains of data for mining at leisure. The NSA alone stores five billion phone
records a day, according to The Washington Post.
The pushback against the Guardian began immediately and the tone was set
from the very top with Prime Minister David Cameron issuing veiled threats and
exhorting the Guardian to show "social responsibility." He also urged MPs to
question the paper, which they duly did on Tuesday as part of a broader investigation
into counterterrorism by Parliament's home affairs select committee.
Some of the MPs seemed less concerned that their constituents were being
spied on than that the Guardian had refused to take the government on trust and shut
up. The hearings are supposed to investigate surveillance, but some members sought
to turn the session into a trial of the Guardian.
The questioning, particularly from members of Cameron's Conservative Party,
was intimidating and laced with innuendo that the paper had harmed "national
security" and, in the opinion of one MP, even broken the law.

"It's not about what you published but about what you communicated," said
Tory MP Mark Reckless, referring to the fact that the Guardian had shared the
Snowden material with U.S. outlets The New York Times and ProPublica. Snowden
himself gave material to The Washington Post.
20

Rusbridger has said many times that he shared the data because he feared an
injunction in the U.K. could have gagged his paper. U.S. outlets, which are
constitutionally protected against prior restraint by the First Amendment, would
ensure that the Snowden stories were published.
In a clear attempt to intimidate journalists, at least two other MPs besides
Reckless have said the paper has likely broken the law.
Rusbridger told the committee he had published only 1 percent of the more
than 50,000 Snowden files and despite government bullying would continue to write
stories critical of government spying.
"We're not going to be put off by intimidation, but nor are we going to behave
recklessly," he said.
Indeed Rusbridger was at pains to assure his audience that the paper had not
disclosed information that could harm intelligence operations or operatives. The
paper consulted government and intelligence officials more than 100 times before
publishing stories, he noted. He quoted Norman Baker, the British Home Office
minister; a member of the U.S. Senate intelligence committee, who asked not to be
named; a senior Obama administration official; and a senior Whitehall official all
saying the paper's disclosures had not damaged national security. He said the
information from Snowden was in safekeeping and had been given securely to the
U.S. news organizations.
He said the Guardian had been put under pressures that were unheard of in
many democracies.
"They include prior restraint; they include a senior Whitehall official coming to
see me to say: 'There has been enough debate now'. They include asking for the
destruction of our disks. They include MPs calling for the police to prosecute the
editor. So there are things that are inconceivable in the U.S.
"I feel that some of this activity has been designed to intimidate the Guardian,"
he said.
At one point during the hearing, committee chairman Keith Vaz, asked
Rusbridger if he loved his country.
21

"I'm slightly surprised to be asked the question, but yes, we are patriots and one
of the things we are patriotic about is the nature of democracy, the nature of a free
press, and the fact that one can in this country discuss and report these things,"
Rusbridger said.
The whole episode was chilling and in stark contrast to the treatment that
Britain's three spy chiefs received when they appeared before another parliamentary
committee last month. Most MPs did not probe assertions by the heads of GCHQ;
MI5, Britain's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency; and MI6, the Secret
Intelligence Service that focuses on foreign threats, that the Guardian had
harmed national security.
In fact, MPs and others charged with oversight of Britain's intelligence
agencies have probably learned more from the Guardian than from their own efforts.
As the terms "national security," "social responsibility," and "patriotism" enter
the public debate, the government can deflect attention from the creeping tentacles of
U.K. and U.S. spy agencies and onto the mechanics of the journalistic processing of
whistleblower material.
The Guardian and its former correspondent Glenn Greenwald, who broke
many of the Snowden stories, have served the public interest. They may have
embarrassed governments and thwarted attempts by securocrats to keep the
maximum amount of information secret, but no one has demonstrated that they have
acted recklessly or negligently. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has said he has no
plans to prosecute Greenwald, a U.S. citizen living in Brazil.
British authorities, however, showed their hand in July by using terrorism
legislation to detain Greenwald's partner, David Miranda, who was in transit at
Heathrow Airport and seize the journalistic materials he was carrying. The use of
Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 runs the risk of putting investigative journalism
on par with terrorist activity. Press groups have brought a legal challenge in the
Miranda case, which the court should uphold. And David Anderson QC, the
independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, has updated hisadvice to the British
government on the use of Schedule 7 after the Miranda case, requiring grounds for
suspicion of involvement in terrorism before a person can be held at a border. 
22

Following Rusbridger, the select committee interviewed Metropolitan Police


Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick, who confirmed journalists' suspicions that
the authorities had lifted information from Miranda's files. Dick, the head of Scotland
Yard counterterrorism, said it was "possible that some people may have committed
offences."
The Miranda material was being examined to see if Official Secrets Act or
terrorism offenses had been committed. "We are continuing with that inquiry. We are
taking that carefully. There is a lot of difficult material to find our way into. We will
go where the evidence takes us," she added.
Many British journalists I've interviewed doubt that in the end members of the
Guardian's staff will be hauled into the Old Bailey to face criminal prosecution. But
that's not the point. The threats and posturing by political leaders and officials are
having an effect. The British press generally has been far less zealous than their
American counterparts in covering the implications of the Snowden revelations and
the debate over national security and freedoms. Indeed, some of the strongest defense
of the Guardian this week has come from U.S. press organizations and journalists,
including Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame.
The intimidation of journalists and news organizations covering the fall-out
from the Snowden files is troubling for many reasons, not least because of the signal
it sends to authoritarian and repressive regimes around the world. If the editor of a
national newspaper in a country with a functioning democracy and 300-year-old
tradition of a free press can be threatened and bullied, what more does an autocrat
need to do except invoke national security and cite the British example?
In accepting CPJ's Burton Benjamin Memorial Award for a lifetime
commitment to press freedom a year ago, Rusbridger told attendees in New York's
crowded Waldorf-Astoria ballroom: "Tonight is inspiring because it forces us to stop
and remember what journalism can do. It asks us to remember colleagues all around
the world who are so brave in the pursuit of truth. And to recognize how,
increasingly, bravery is required: what a dangerous thing it often is now to be a
journalist."
23

Task 8. Use additional sources of information and make a review of the majority
of British press. Make a report.

Task 9.
1) Різниця між таблоїдами та широкоформатними газетами дуже велика. Вони
виглядають по-різному, вони містять різні новини, вони мають різний стиль
написання, і вони прагнуть привернути увагу різних читачів. Однак,
конкуренція за читачів дуже жорстка; таблоїди і широкоформатні газети
можуть викрадати хитрощі один одного, щоб виграти війну за тираж. 2)
Досягненням пана Мердока було розширення тематики бульварної преси від
висвітлення скандалів відомих людей до виконання злочинних діянь. Деякі з
останніх, наприклад, злом телефонів жертв злочинів та їх сімей, були жахливі.
3) Рекламодавці та групи активістів борються за найбільший вплив на медіа-
каналах. 4) Зміст веб-сайту включає питання розсилки новин. 5) Він сказав, що
підозрював щось недобре, коли він побачив його некролог в газеті.6) Здавалось,
що навіть колонка редакції газети Дейлі Телеграф, майже піддалась масовій
тенденції друкувати таку інформацію. 7) Цифрове телебачення є передовою
технологією мовлення, яка пропонує найкращу якість зображення і звуку. 8) І
якщо говорити з досвіду, я знаю, що написання колонок про розшук людей цє
надзвичайно складна річ. 9) Коли конкуренція за читачів стала жорсткою серед
цих журналів, романи з продовженням стали ефективною стратегією ринку для
симбіотичних відносин між журналами для жінок та популярною фантастикою.
24

Mass media in the USA


Mass communication has revolutionized the modern world. In the United
States it has given rise to what social observers sometimes call a media state, a
society in which access to power is through the media. Since a democracy largely
depends on public opinion, all those involved in communicating information
inevitably have an important role to play. The print and broadcasting media not only
convey information to the public, but also form and
influence public opinion and are considered to be
abundantly confident.
Mass media in the USA is an enormous network of
television, film, radio, print and web broadcasters. The organization Reporters
Without Borders compiles and publishes an annual ranking of countries based upon
the organization's assessment of their press freedom records and undeterred activities
of journalists and publishers. In 2010 USA was ranked 20th of 178th countries, which
was an improvement from the preceding year (Sweden is ranked number 1 along with
Norway, Finland, Iceland, Switzerland and the Netherlands).
Television, with access to virtually every American household, is a powerful
influence. Nowadays Americans consider television the highly reliable source of
news, and a majority ranks television as the most reliable news source. On average,
American viewers watch TV about six hours a day, usually tuned to one of the
25

national commercial networks: ABC (the American Broadcasting Corporation), NBC


(the National Broadcasting Company), CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) or Fox
Broadcasting Company. These stations attract about 98 per cent of TV audiences.
Theoretically, anyone in the United States can start a newspaper or a magazine,
but to become a radio or television broadcaster one must be granted a portion of the
limited radio-television spectrum by the government’s licensing board, the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC), an independent agency of the United States
government with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current
President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition,
the spectrum, the media, public safety and homeland security, and modernizing the
FCC. The FCC is directed by five Commissioners appointed by the President and
confirmed by the Senate for 5-year terms, except when filling an unexpired term. The
President designates one of the Commissioners to serve as Chairperson. Only three
Commissioners may be members of the same political party. None of them can have
a financial interest in any Commission-related business. The Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) regulates ‘indecent’ free-to-air broadcasting
(both television and radio). Satellite, cable television, and Internet outlets are not
subject to content-based FCC regulation. It can issue fines if, for example, the
broadcaster employs certain profane words, libel, obscenity or blasphemy.
For the most part, the American broadcasting system has always been a
commercial system. It is supported by money from businesses that pay to advertise
goods or services to the audience. Advertising messages are usually presented as 15,
30 or 60-second commercial announcements before, during and after programs.
During a sixty-minute TV program you can expect to see about twelve minutes of
commercials.
Commercial broadcasting is a huge industry bringing in profits of about 1.8
billion dollars annually with lots of pay-per-view channels. The commercial networks
broadcast a variety of shows: news, drama, soap operas, comedy, sports, music,
movies, children’s programs, game shows and talk shows. There are a lot of
competitions for viewers, especially during prime time, from 7 to 11 pm.
PBS (Public Broadcasting Service), supported by
26

government and private funding, is the only noncommercial network. It broadcasts


more serious drama, performing arts, science, public-affairs documentaries and
educational children’s programs. Sesame Street, the most popular children’s show on
PBS, appears on TV stations all over the world. All five networks broadcast twenty-
four hours a day.
Viewers whose tastes are not satisfied by the many offerings of network and
local programs are now increasing their options by subscribing to cable television.
About 35 million Americans pay a monthly fee for greater selection. There are up to
500 cable stations. Two well-known ones are HBO (Home Box Office), which shows
movies, and CNN, which specializes in news.
Satellite TV was originally designed to offer a greater selection of programs to
people in rural areas that could not easily be connected to the cable system. It now
provides anybody who is ready to have a satellite dish installed in his or her backyard
with the same programming as cable TV. Conventional television has had to struggle
to retain its audience as people switch over to cable viewing or satellite TV.
Across the United States there are more than nine
thousand radio stations. Almost all of them are
commercial, except for National Public Radio stations.
Listeners can tune into all kinds of stations: pop or
classical music, news, sport, or community radio. Talk radio shows are very popular.
Listeners call in and ask the talk-show host or guest’s questions about anything from
cooking or car repair to politics or health. Callers often get a chance to give their
opinion on the air.
Newspapers have to cope with competition
from radio and television. There’s something worthy
of note for everyone with 1,700 daily and 6,300
weekly newspapers. Eight out of ten Americans read a
tabloid or standard newspaper every day. Often
newspapers are delivered early in the morning so people can read them before leaving
home. Most newspapers are regional rather than national, although some are
distributed all over America. The New York Times, for example, is available in New
27

York and in most big cities. The paper with the largest circulation is The Wall Street
Journal, which specializes in business news.
In general, freedom of speech is considered an integral American value, as
protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. This freedom
has caused controversy at times. For instance, it is legal to express certain forms of
hate speech so long as one does not engage in the acts being described or urge others
to commit illegal acts. However, more severe and hurtful forms of hate speech have
led to people or groups, such as the Westboro Baptist Church, being successfully
sued.
The mass media has been referred to as ‘the new parent’. Television and
Internet now displace parents as the chief source of information as children get older.
Governments throughout the world use the schools in their attempt to instill a
commitment to the basic values of the system. Both democratic and authoritarian
governments want students to learn positive features about their political system
because it helps ensure that youth will grow up to be supportive citizens. The media
is an intricate part of American government, intertwined with the practice of
democracy, but to what extent does the media influence public opinion? To answer
that several aspects of media coverage have to be explored. The media is America’s
basic resource for all the news concerning American politics. Also, the opinion
expressed by the fourth estate influences the opinion adopted by the public. Lastly the
issues the media deem important help set the national agenda and to affect the
public’s opinion of voting. The most basic way the media influences public opinion is
by offering knowledge about government decisions and access to government
information.

Exercise 1. Give Ukrainian equivalents:


Media state;to convey information to the public; undeterred activities of journalists
and publishers;with access to virtually every American household; the most reliable
news source;‘indecent’ free-to-air broadcasting; to issue fines; to employ certain
profane words;supported by government and private funding; pay-per-view channels.
Exercise 2. Give English equivalents:
28

Комерційні оголошення; суспільно-політичний документальний фільм; платити


щомісячну плату за більший вибір; традиційне телебачення; невід’ємна
американська цінність; жорстокі та образливі форми агресивної промови;
вселяти зацікавленість до основних цінностей; бути переплетеним; вважати
важливим.

Exercise 3. Explain in English:


broadband conventional television prime time
homeland security freedom of speech worthy of note
libel national agenda circulation
fourth estate coverage commercial
announcement

Exercise 4. Fill in the chart with different parts of speech.


Verb Noun Adjective Adverb

observer
abundantly
designate
profit
conventional
broadcast
inevitably
voting
integral
subscribe

Exercise 5. Choose any newspaper or newsmagazine you like and prepare a talk
29

about its history.

 the Wall Street Journal


 the USA Today
 the New York Times (NYT)
 the Los Angeles Times
 the Washington Post
 the International Herald Tribune
 Time
 Newsweek
 U.S. News & World Report

Exercise 6. Answer the questions:


1. What are the peculiarities of the media market in the USA?
2. Which type of mass media do
Americans consider the most reliable?
3. Is it difficult to launch a radio station or
a TV channel in the United States? Why
or why not?
4. Is freedom of speech taken for granted
in the US? In your country?
5. Freedom of expression may be subject to certain restrictions. Do you agree with this
statement?
6. What is the role of media in American political campaigns?
7. How do the American media differ from the media in
most other countries?
8. How do the media influence public opinion in
America? Do you think that the government should
control the media?

Exercise 7.
30

a) Read the article about printed and broadcst media in the US. Elaborate.
Radio in the USA
National Public Radio is the nation’s primary public radio network, but most
radio stations are commercial and profit-oriented.
American radio broadcasts in two bands: FM and AM.
AM has shifted mainly to all-news format. Talk radio usually features a host, a
celebrity or an expert on some subject, and the opportunity for listeners to call in and
ask questions or express opinion on the air.
The call-in format is now heard on nearly 1 000 of the 10 000 commercial
radio stations in the US.
FM came to dominate the music side of the programming. Besides the 10 000
comercial radion stations, the USA has 1 400 public radio satations. Most of these are
run by universities and other public institutions for educational purposes and are
financed by public funds and private donations.
Television in the USA
There are three basic types of television in the United States: broadcast, or
“over-the-air” television, which is freely available to anyone with a TV in the
broadcast area, cable television, and satellite television, both of which require a
subscription to receive.
Broadcast television. The three major commercial television networks in the
U.S. are NBC and CBS, which date to the early days of television (in fact, they both
began in the 1920s as radio networks), and ABC, which began its life as a radio
network spun off from NBC in 1943.
Major network affiliates run very similar schedules. Typically, they begin
weekdays with an early-morning locally produced news show, followed by a network
morning show, such as NBC’s Today, which mixes news, weather, interviews and
music. Syndicated programming, especially talk shows, fill the late morning,
followed often by local news at noon (Eastern Time). Soap operas dominate the early
afternoon, while syndicated talk shows such as The Oprah Winfrey Show appear in
the late afternoon. Local news comes on again in the early evening, followed by the
national network’s news program at 6:30 or 5:30 p.m., followed by more news.
31

Saturday mornings usually feature network programming aimed at children


(including animated cartoons), while Sunday mornings include public-affairs
programs that help fulfill stations’ legal obligations to provide public-service
programming. Sports and infomercials can be found on weekend afternoons,
followed again by the same type of prime-time shows aired during the week.
Cable and satellite television. Until the 1970s, cable television was used only to
rebroadcast over-the-air TV to areas that had trouble receiving signals. But in that
decade, national networks dedicated exclusively to cable broadcasting appeared,
along with cable-TV systems that provided service to major cities. Today, most
American households receive cable TV, and cable networks collectively have greater
viewership than broadcast networks.
Unlike broadcast networks, most cable networks air the same programming
nationwide. Top cable networks include USA Network, ESPN and Versus (sports),
MTV (music), Fox News (news), Sci Fi (science fiction), Disney Channel (family),
Nick and Cartoon Network (Children’s), Discovery Channel and Animal Planet
(documentaries), TBS (comedy), TNT (drama) and Lifetime (women’s).
Today Direct broadcast satellite television services, which became available in
the U.S. in the 1990s, offers programming similar to cable TV. Dish Network and
News Corporation’s DirecTV are the major DBS providers in the country. Satellites
were originally launched and used by the Television networks as a method of
distributing their programs from headquarters to local affiliates. In the 1970s
individuals in remote locations, without access to Terrestrial television broadcasts,
found they could get free television by installing large satellite dishes and aiming
them at the various satellites owned by the networks. This had the additional benefit
of providing channels that others could not receive. This included programs without
commercials, live feeds not intended for broadcast, broadcasts from other countries
and eventually cable television programming. To prevent people from receiving pay
content for free, satellite transmissions are now scrambled. Newer transmission
technology enabled satellite dishes to be much smaller and subscription services were
developed.
Non-commercial television. Public television has a far smaller role than in
32

most other countries. There is no state-owned broadcasting authority. Instead, the


federal government subsidizes non-commercial television stations through the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The income received from the government is
insufficient to cover expenses and stations rely on corporate sponsorships and viewer
contributions.
American public television stations air programming that commercial stations
do not offer, such as educational, including cultural, and public affairs programming.
Most public TV stations are affiliates of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS),
sharing programs like Sesame Street and Masterpiece Theatre. Unlike the commercial
networks, PBS does not produce its own programming; instead, individual PBS
stations create programming and provide these to other affiliates. New York City’s
municipally-owned broadcast service, NYCTV, creates original programming that
airs in several markets. Few cities have major municipally-owned stations.
Newspapers in the USA
Early in the 20th century, newspaper editors realized that the best way to attract
readers was to give them all sides of a story, without bias. This standard of objective
reporting is today one of American journalism’s most important feature.
Another dominant feature of early 20th century journalism was the creation of
chains of newspapers operating under the same ownership. Nowadays all the
newspapers in the U.S., with a very few exceptions, are privately owned, either by
large chains such as Gannett or McClatchy, which own dozens or even hundreds of
newspapers; by small chains that own a handful of papers; or in a situation that is
increasingly rare, by individuals or families.
Most general-purpose newspapers are either being printed one time a week,
usually on Thursday or Friday, or are printed daily. The top five daily newspapers by
circulation in 1995 were the Wall Street Journal, the USA Today, the New York
Times (NYT), the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post. Weekly newspapers
tend to have much smaller circulation and are more prevalent in rural communities or
small towns.
There is also a global newspaper – the International Herald Tribune, which is
owned jointly by the New York Times and the Washington Post and is printed via
33

satellite in 11 cities around the world.


Magazines in the USA
Thanks to the huge size of the English-speaking North American media
market, the United States has a large magazine industry with hundreds of magazines
serving almost every interest, as can be determined by glancing at any newsstand in
any large American city. Most magazines are owned by one of the large media
conglomerates or by one of their smaller regional brethren.
The U.S. has three leading weekly newsmagazines: TIME, Newsweek and U.S.
News and World Report. Time and Newsweek are center-left while U.S. News and
World Report tends to be center-right, although all three (in theory, at least) strive to
provide objective news reporting and limit personal bias to the opinion pages. Time is
well-known for naming a “Person of the Year” each year, while U.S. News publishes
annual ratings of American colleges and universities.
The U.S. also has over a dozen major political magazines (the exact number is
debatable, of course), serving every part of the political spectrum from left to right.
Finally, besides the hundreds of specialized magazines that serve the diverse
interests and hobbies of the American people, there are also dozens of magazines
published by professional organizations for their members, such as Communications
of the ACM (for computer science specialists) and the ABA Journal (for lawyers).
b)Using the information above, characterize the mass media of the
US and indicate major titles in each group:

Mass Medium Characteristics Examples

Newspapers

Magazines

Radio AM

FM

TV Broadcast

Cable & satellite

Non-commercial

Exercise 8. Read the text about the history of American press. Make questions to
34

each paragraph and ask your group-mates to answer them.

The First American Newspapers. Britain's American colonies, because of


their sparse populations and strict governments, entered the world of the
newspaper relatively late. Public Occurrences, both foreign and domestic, was
printed in Boston on September 25, 1690. The first story in this the first newspaper
printed in America seems well chosen: "The Christianized Indians in some parts of
Plimouth, have newly appointed a day of thanksgiving to God for his Mercy..."
However, if survival was its goal, other items in this paper were less well
chosen. Publick Occurrences included an attack on some Indians who had fought
with the English against the French and an allusion to a salacious rumor about the
king of France. This sort of journalism was typical of the paper's publisher,
Benjamin Harris, who had published sensational newspapers in England before he
was thrown in jail and then forced to flee to America for printing a particularly
incendiary account of a supposed Catholic plot against England. Massachusetts
authorities quickly expressed their "high Resentment and Disallowance" of Public
Occurrences. The first issue of America's first newspaper was also the last. It
would be fourteen years before another newspaper was published in the colonies.
The Boston News-Letter, America's second printed newspaper, grew out of a
handwritten newsletter that had been distributed by the town's postmaster, John
Campbell. It was a much tamer affair than Harris's paper -- filled primarily with
reports on English and European politics taken from London papers. The Boston
News-Letter, which first appeared in print in 1704, survived for 72 years.
Campbell lost the position of postmaster in 1719, but he refused to give up the
newspaper. So, his replacement as postmaster, William Brooker, began printing his
own newspaper, the Boston Gazette, on December 21, 1719. A day later, the third
successful American newspaper, the American Weekly Mercury, appeared in
Philadelphia.

The Colonial Press. The Maryland Gazette appeared in Annapolis in 1727,


35
the Virginia Gazette in Williamsburg in 1736. By 1765, according to the American
journalism historian Frank Luther Mott, all but two of the colonies, Delaware and
New Jersey, had weekly newspapers. Boston had four; New York three; and
Philadelphia had two newspapers printed in English, one printed in German. There
were two newspapers in Connecticut, Rhode Island and each of the Carolinas.
These early newspapers were usually no more than four pages long. They were
filled primarily with short news items, documents and essays mostly taken from
other newspapers, particularly British and European papers.
New York City's first newspaper was the New York Gazette, founded by
William Bradford in 1725, but it was the city's second newspaper, John Peter
Zenger's New York Weekly Journal, which began printing in 1733, that was to
have a major effect on the history of journalism. The New York Gazette was a
typical colonial newspaper: It stayed out of trouble by supporting the policies of
the colony's governor. But New York's governor at the time, William Cosby, was a
particularly controversial figure, who had alienated many of the most respected
individuals in the colony. They wanted a newspaper that would express their point
of view, and Zenger, a young German-born printer, agreed to start one. Zenger's
Weekly Journal immediately began taking on the colony's administration.
Governor Cosby had Zenger arrested on November 17, 1734, charged with
seditious libel. (While he was in jail, the paper was printed by Zenger's wife,
Anna.)
There was no doubt that Zenger had printed articles critical of the governor, and
at the printer's trial in August 1775, the judge instructed the jury that, under the
common law definition of seditious libel, criticism of the government was no less
libelous if true. However, Zenger's lawyer, Andrew Hamilton, made an
impassioned call to defend the "cause of liberty...the liberty both of exposing and
opposing arbitrary power...by speaking and writing truth," and the jury ignored the
judge's instructions and found Zenger innocent. This case represented a major step
in the struggle for the freedom to print honest criticism of government, and it
would have the practical effect of discouraging British authorities from prosecuting
American journalists, even when their criticisms of the government grew intense in
36
the years leading up to the American Revolution. After the Zenger trial, the British
were afraid they would not be able to get an American jury to convict an American
journalist.
The Penny Press. On the morning of September 3, 1833, a paper printed on
four letter-size pages and filled with human-interest stories and short police reports
appeared on the streets of New York. Its publisher was a young printer named
Benjamin Day, and he sold his paper, the Sun, for one penny. The American
newspaper with the highest circulation at that time was New York's Courier and
Enquirer, a mercantile paper which sold 4,500 copies a day in a city of 218,000. In
1830, perhaps the most respected newspaper in the world at the time, the Times of
London, which was founded in 1785 by John Walter, was selling 10,000 copies of
day in a city with a population of two million. However, within two years, Day
was selling 15,000 copies a day of his inexpensive, little Sun.
The first cylinder press, invented by a German, Frederick Koenig and improved
by Napier in England, was first used in the United States in 1825. An improved
version of this press, using two cylinders, was developed by Richard Hoe in New
York in 1832. Steam engines had first been used to drive presses at the Times in
London in 1814. By 1835 Day was using a steam press to print his rapidly growing
New York Sun. These new presses made it possible to push circulations much
higher. The old Gutenberg-type printing press could print perhaps 125 newspapers
an hour; by 1851 the Sun's presses were printing 18,000 copies an hour.
James Gordon Bennett, one of the most creative forces in the history of
journalism, began his own penny paper, the Herald in 1835. Within in two years it
was selling 20,000 copies a day, despite a price increase to two cents. A number of
penny newspapers had failed in Boston, a couple even before Day started his Sun.
That city's first successful penny paper was the Daily Times in 1836. Philadelphia
had the Daily Transcript, begun in 1835, and the Public Ledger, in 1836;
Baltimore's Sun was first published in 1837 – all selling for a penny.

Exercise 9. What changes have there been in the newspaper industry since the
37

beginning of the 20th century in Europe, the U.S. and Ukraine? Prepare a short
report about changes in the newspaper industry since the beginning of the 20th
century in these countries. Follow the steps.

Step 1. Brainstorm some ideas in pairs. Consider the following:


 diversity of newspapers;
 quality of newspapers;
 newspaper circulation;
 the choice of information for newspapers;
 the way how news is presented; etc.

Step 2. Decide whether the changes in the newspaper industry have been
mostly positive or negative, in your opinion. Then, join the students who hold the
same opinion.

Exercise 10. Here are some examples of American newspapers. Which of them
would you like to read? Why? Which of them are similar? In what ways
are they similar?
38

Exercise 11. Using some additional sources, take any American


newspaper/magazine and write a short description of it.

Exercise 12. Translate:


1) Інтернет може бути використаний як засіб передачі інформації загального
інтересу. Для державних установ важливе значення має використання
електронних мереж для гарантування доступу до всієї інформації та послуг, які
мають суспільний інтерес. 2) Підписка на послуги, що пропонуються в мережі
Інтернет, повинна бути добровільною. 3) Якщо компанія має встановлені й
загальновідомі правила поведінки під час роботи, які забороняють
використання нецензурної лексики, працівник може бути звільнен за
порушення дисципліни, якщо він або вона проігнорували це правило і
неодноразово використовували ненормативну лексику або наклеп. 4) Якщо ви
знайщли в Інтернеті статтю, яка надає відповідну інформацію для вашої теми
дослідження, переконайтесь, що джерело дієве і надійне. 5) Ви можете назвати
людей близькими, якщо вони мають тісні стосунки один з одним, наприклад,
вони зв’язані сімейними або дружніми відносинами. Така єдність може бути
метафоричною одруженню, бо нитки ваших життів надовго зв’язані разом. 6)
Доступ громадськості до урядової інформації був обмеженим, а в деяких
випадках повністю забороненим. 7) Кандидати можуть надати інші допоміжні
матеріали, які вони вважають важливими. 8) Журналістська етика зазвичай
простежується в публікаціях і, в більш широкому сенсі, в понятті «четверта
39

влада». 9) При наявності каналів, які працюють за системою плати за перегляд,


більше не треба їздити по відео магазинах чи турбуватися щодо штрафу за
невчасне повернення дисків або касет, залишається лише відпочивати та
насолоджуватися улюбленим фільмом або програмою вдома. 10) Неможливо
отримати відкрите телемовлення, якщо воно транслюється через супутник, а
людина не має супутникової антени, адже дуже мало програм чи станцій
використовують старі методи трансляції. 11) На відміну від багатьох інших
розвинених країн, в Америці пропаганда ненависті охороняється відповідно до
Першої поправки, яка є чинною і класифікується як свобода слова. Але у
випадках, коли вона є образливою, можуть бути прийняті певні заходи.

VOCABULARY

1. abbreviated names - скорочені назви


2. advertisement - оголошення; реклама; анонс
3. advertiser - рекламодавець
4. article n - стаття (в газеті, журналі)
5. baffling - важкий для розуміння, який збиває з пантелику
6. banner headline - газетний заголовок, "шапка"
7. box head - заголовок в рамці
8. brief statement - коротка заява
9. broad-sheet format - великий лист паперу, формат A2
10. caricature - карикатурнее зображення, шарж
11. circulate - розповсюджувати
12. circulation - тираж (газет, журналів); розповсюдження
13. classified advertisements - класифіковані (рубричні) рекламні оголошення;
дошка рекламних оголошень
14. colour magazine supplements - кольорові додатки
15. coloured cover - кольорова обкладинка

16. column - відділ, розділ, рубрика, шпальта (у газеті); огляд; колонка


40

постійного коментатора в газеті


17. columnist - журналіст-коментатор, який постійно веде яку-небудь рубрику;
оглядач
18. comment - коментар, пояснювальна примітка
19. contents of papers - основний зміст газет
20. copy - екземпляр, копія; дублікат
21. correspondence column ("Letters to the Editor") - рубрика листів у редакцію
22. cover - висвіт лювати в пресі
23. crime stories - оповідання про злочини
24. critical review - критичний огляд
25. current events - новини, поточні події
26. daily - щоденна газета
27. dispute - ставити під сумнів, сумніватися
28. domestic news - новини щодо подій в країні
29. edition - видання
30. editor - редактор
31. editorial column - колонка редактора
32. employ old-fashioned words - вживати старомодні, застарілі слова
33. entertaining - розважальний
34. evening paper - вечірня газета
35. expansion - розповсюдження, рост, розвиток
36. eye-opener - приголомшлива новина; сенсаційне повідомлення; викриття;
розвінчання
37. feature - стаття, нарис (у газеті, журналі); сенсаційний або такий, що набрав
розголосу, матеріал (про статтю, повідомлення); постійний розділ (у газеті,
журналі)
38. freedom of the press - свобода, незалежність преси, друку
39. front page - титульний аркуш, заголовний аркуш, титул; перша смуга,
перша сторінка (у газеті)

40. front-page news - новини, надруковані на першому аркуші, сенсаційні


41

новини
41. gloss - глянець
42. gossip column - отдел светской хроники (в газете или журнале; помещает
сведения, основанные на слухах и сплетнях, о жизни аристократии,
политических деятелей, актёров)
43. high standard of reporting – высокий стандарт подачи информации,
сообщения новостей
44. highly reliable – сверхнадёжный
45. house magazine n– фирменный журнал (журнал, издаваемый компанией и
освещающий последние новости из ее жизни; существуют два типа фирменных
журналов: предназначенный для персонала, акционеров и т. п. и
предназначенный для потребителей, потенциальных партнеров и т. п.)
46. human interest story - душещипательный рассказ, рассчитанный на
сочувственное отношение читателя
47. illustrated announcement
48. illustrated edition - иллюстрированное издание
49. in black type - жирным шрифтом
50. independent - независимый
51. issue - выпуск, издание
52. journal n – газета, журнал (обычно научно-популярный, общественно-
политический)
53. journalism n - 1) профессия журналиста 2) журналистика 3) пресса, печать
54. latest news - последние новости
55. lay-out - макет (книги, газеты), схема; расположение
56. leading article (leader) - передовица
57. libel n ['laɪb(ə)l] – клевета
58. libellous adj ['laɪb(ə)ləs] – клеветнический, очерняющий, порочащий
59. literary supplement – литературное приложение
60. local interest stories
61. local news
62. local paper – местная газета
42

63. magazine - журнал, периодическое издание


64. makers of headlines – создатели заголовков
65. marginalia - заметки
66. morning paper – утренняя газета
67. national newspapers – национальные газеты
68. news agency n –информационное, новостное агентство
69. news coverage - освещение последних событий
70. news items (news stories) - информационный сюжет
71. news pages -газетная полоса с текущими событиями
72. news presentation - подача информационного материала
73. newsbook n – новостник, вестник
74. newsletter n – информационный бюллетень
75. newspaper industry – газетное производство
76. newspaper/paper n – газета
77. obscenity n [əb'senətɪ] – непристойность
78. outside contributor –сторонний сотрудник газеты, журнала
79. overlook - не заметить, просмотреть, пропустить
80. pamphlet n – брошюра, злая сатира, памфлет, проспект
81. periodical press, periodicals – периодическая пресса, периодические издания
82. personal column - колонка частных объявлений
83. pictorial manner – манера подачи (информации, новостей)
84. pictorial matter - иллюстративный материал
85. politics - политические события
86. popular (populars) – массовая газета
87. postal service – почтовая служба
88. press n – 1) а) печать, пресса б) журналисты (теле-, радио-, прессы) в)
средства массовой информации 2) отзывы в прессе (на что-л.) 3) а) типография;
издательство б) печатание, печать
89. principal feature - главная особенность
90. print v – печатать
91. provincial paper – провинциальная газета
43

92. publication n [ˌpʌblɪ'keɪʃ(ə)n] - 1) издание, печатание, публикация (книги,


фотографии, статьи и т. п.), 2) опубликованное произведение, публикация
93. publish v – издавать, публиковать
94. publisher n– издатель
95. quality (qualities) – «солидная» газета
96. quarterly n– издание, выходящее раз в квартал
97. quotation – цитата
98. reader’s query (queries) ['kwɪərɪ] - вопросы читателей
99. readership n– круг читателей, читательская масса
100. record n – запись; отчёт; records – архивы,
101. regional paper – областная газета
102. report v [rɪ'pɔːt] - сообщать, описывать, рассказывать;
103. reporting staff - штат, отвечающий за предоставления информации
104. review n– критическая статья
105. scrap - вырезка из газеты
106. sensation - сенсація, сенсаційний матеріал
107. slang - сленг
108. sledge-hammer headlines - сокрушательные, громкие, кричащие заголовки
109. sobsister (woman-columnist) - журналистка, пишущая сентиментальные,
душещипательные репортажи, статьи, "выжимательница слезы"
110. stationer n – книгоиздатель, книготорговец
111. streamer - газетный заголовок во всю ширину страницы, шапка
112. strip cartoon - рассказ в картинках, комикс (публикуется в газетах или
специальных журналах комиксов; юмористический или приключенческий;
рисунки сопровождаются краткими надписями)
113. strip cartoons – комиксы
114. style - стиль
115. sub-editor - помощник редактора
116. subscriber n - передплатник
117. Sunday newspaper – воскресная газета
118. tabloid - бульварная газета
44

119. the newsvendor’s bills - афиши газетчика, продавца газет


120. the fourth estate – пресса; четвёртое сословие
121. typographic – типографический
122. viewer – зритель, наблюдатель
123. weather forecast - прогноз погоды
124. weekly newspaper (weeklies) - щотижневик; щотижневе періодичне видання
125. women’s magazines - жіночі журнали

SUPPLEMENTARY SECTION

Exercise 1. Comment on the following quotations. What attitude to the mass


media do they reveal? Do you have a similar attitude to the mass media? Why
(not)? Discuss it with the group.

 Newspapers are unable, seemingly, to discriminate between a bicycle accident and


the collapse of civilization. George Bernard Shaw, 1931
 Journalism is the ability to meet the challenge of filling space. Rebecca West
 If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed. If you do read the
newspaper, you are misinformed. Author unknown, commonly attributed to Mark
Twain or Thomas Jefferson
 Journalism is organized gossip. Edward Egglestone

Exercise 2. Do you know the parts of a newspaper? What information can you
45

find on the following pages?

agony
featur
column
es
s

commen
busine t and
ss analys
is

overse
obitua
as
ry
news

classi
letter
s page
fied
ads
review
s

Exercise 3. Here is the article from the Washington Times. Write a short essay
based on its main points.

Healthy media habits make for a healthy family


In today’s health-conscious culture, the saying “you are what you eat” is
generally regarded as gospel truth. We know it’s important to eat well because it’s
obvious that our lives are deeply affected by the quality of our diets. How much more
important is it to watch what we put into our minds and pay attention to how it affects
us?
If you want a healthy family, it is essential to step back from time to time to
evaluate whether the media messages we and our family members are consuming are
supporting — or harming — the hopes and dreams we have for our family unit as a
whole, and for each individual.

We must spend some time analyzing our own habits, and stepping into our
46

kids’ worlds to find out which messages are being pumped into their still-developing
brains and how much pressure they are under from manipulative marketers trying to
get their cash. Greedy companies (note: not all companies, just the greedy ones) will
do anything to get you and your kids hooked on, and spending money pursuing the
adrenaline high that comes with viewing sexualized and violent media.
The mass marketers are after your children 24/7. They attempt to slam their
inboxes with pornography. They prominently display products and a lifestyle of
betrayal, moral relativism and sex, sex, sex in television programs. They are never
too busy or too tired from a long day’s work to “talk” to your children. And they
know how to get teens to spend money: Take advantage of the fact that they are
already on hormonal roller coasters by feeding them adrenaline-pumping, nonstop
messages of sex, violence and rebellion.
The reality is that most of us don’t want to pause and consider whether or not
the media that we are consuming is good for us. Why? Because if we find
objectionable media habits, then we’re faced with either having to do something
about them, or live with the guilt of being hypocrites.
Put simply: It’s easier to remain ignorant or complacent. We often choose an
uneasy peace over principle. We value a quiet home with wary smiles more than we
value developing the character of our sons and daughters, risking possible conflict, or
even worse, risking having to give up our own bad habits along the way.
The ugly truth is that in many cases the American home has become a septic
tank for the culture’s toxic sewage. After all, it’s often in the privacy of their own
bedrooms — or sitting in the living room with their moms or dads — that teens
consume hour upon hour of the sludge that is perverting their views of sexuality,
relationships and life in general. It’s time for us to pay attention to the messages we
are sending when we simply accept the messages the media sends us. The minds of
children are like sponges. They’re ready to be filled with good things or with bad
things, and it’s up to moms and dads to provide a healthy mental diet. We’ve heard it
said, “Garbage in—garbage out.” Children will largely become what they consume.

It’s up to parents to provide their children with the materials that will build
47

courage, fortitude, fidelity, sound judgment and strong character. But if you are
consuming garbage, or if you have no idea what others are pumping into their
developing minds, how on Earth are you going to protect them?
After honestly evaluating and adjusting your own habits, walk one week in
your child’s tennis shoes. What is your daughter listening to, watching and reading?
Have you ever actually sat down and played one of your son’s video or online
games? Take a trip to the mall and look at the posters that scream out to them from
the music and clothing stores — what do the images portray? My guess is that in
many cases, your heart will break over what you find.
According to a Kaiser Family Foundation’s report on media usage, teenagers
consume 7.5 hours to 10.5 hours of media each day due to multitasking (such as
listening to music while surfing the Internet or playing a video game while watching
television). “Children’s bedrooms have increasingly become multi-media centers,
raising important issues about supervision and exposure to unlimited content. 71
percent of all 818-year-olds have a TV, while one-third have Internet access in their
bedrooms. Outside of their bedrooms, in many young people’s homes, the TV is a
constant companion: nearly half say the TV is on ‘most’ of the time, even if no one is
watching.”
Even while many polls show that parents are concerned about what their
children watch and learn from the media, according to the Kaiser report, over two-
thirds of all 8- to 18-year-olds say their families have no rules about how much TV-
watching they’re allowed. The same goes for time spent playing video games and
time spent on the computer. Yet, studies indicate that parents who do impose rules
and enforce them actually end up reducing the amount of time their children devote
to media.
So the good news is: You may not have full control of your children’s media
consumption, but you do have a lot of influence. The question is: Will you use it to
create a healthier diet or not?
(By Rebecca Hagelin and Kristin Carey – Tuesday, October 14, 2014)

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