Mass media: the press

Task 1. Read the text to review the vocabulary.

Traditionally mass media were subdivided into press, radio and television, in the recent years the humanity added electronic mass media to this list. So today mass media includes all the ‘tools’ we have for communicating with large numbers of people: television, radio, film, online services, magazines and newspapers. All messages that reach masses of people are known as interpersonal media.

The press includes newspapers and magazines. A newspaper is a written publication containing news, information and advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called newsprint. A tabloid is a newspaper of small format giving the news in condensed form, usually with illustrated, often sensational material. Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles, generally financed by advertising, or by pre-paid magazine subscriptions. They are published weekly, biweekly, monthly, etc.

Task 2. Fill in the gaps with the italicized words.

Ads, articles, captions, comics, copies, cover, daily, died, editorial, games, horoscope, in brief, media, newsagent, newspaper, opinion, popular, readership, reviews, sections, sentimental, small, subscribe, television, weather, weekly, world.

The radio, the television and the press constitute the (1) _______________.

In England newspapers fall into two categories: the (2) _______________ Papers (Tabloids) interested in scandals and the Quality Papers interested in more serious topics. A newspaper is different from a magazine.

‘The Independent’ is a British (3) _______________. It’s published every day, it’s called a (4) ________________. ‘Time Magazine’ is an American magazine; it’s printed every week, it’s called a (5) _______________.

‘Newsweek’ is another famous magazine which sells more than 3 million (6) ______________; it has a very large circulation. In fact, the number of people who actually read it — its (7) _______________ — is superior to this number.

Many people buy their papers from a (8) _______________, but others prefer to receive it at home, that’s why they (9) _______________ to their favourite paper.

The front page is covered with big headlines while the (10) _______________ of a magazine is often a colour photograph.

A magazine is divided into several (11) _______________: politics, sports, business, etc. It includes various things such as: a leader or (12) _______________ written by an editorial writer, international or (1 3) _______________ news to know what’s going on in the world, news items or news (14) _______________ about less serious topics (15) _______________ and stories about famous people, politicians, the fashion, etc., advertisements or adverts or (16) _______________ for various products or services, wanted ads or (17) _______________ ads for people who are looking for a job or people who want to buy/sell things, the (18) _______________ report or weather forecast for people who want to know whether tomorrow will be a rainy day, TV listings to know what’s on (19) _______________, film or book (20) _______________ to know about the latest movie to see or the latest book to read, the readers’ mail or letters to the editor, the obituary column with the names of celebrities who have just (21) _______________, (22) _______________ for children or for adults too, the (23) _______________ or the stars for superstitious people, the agony column or the lonely heart column for people who have problems in their (24) _______________ lives, crosswords and (25) _______________ to pass the time when travelling on buses or trains, surveys and (26) _______________ polls to discover what a majority of people think, many photos with (27) _______________ underneath to report on events, etc.

Electronic media include a blog (a contraction of the term ‘ Web log ’) and a Web site. A Web site is taken by one newspaper and usually contains the features of the printed version — the same sections, which are archived. Additionally, it may contain electronic polls, video reports to the articles and broader material on the article. A blog is a Web site usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. Blogosphere is a collective term encompassing all blogs and their interconnections. It is the perception that blogs exist together as a connected community (or as a collection of connected communities) or as a social network.

Task 3. Word Chains. Fill in the table to make a word chain. Explain the meaning of its ‘links’. Explain the difference between the following occupations.

Verb	Job	Product	Sphere of Work
		edition/editorial	editor-in-chief
—		column	political columnist or a sports columnist
		report	political reporter or a sports reporter
		blog	blogosphere

Task 4. Fill in the gap (1–7) with the correct form of the verb.

What’s the Difference Between Broadsheet Newspapers and Tabloids?

You may have heard the terms ‘broadsheet’ and ‘tabloid’ (1) _______________ (to be) thrown around to describe different kinds of newspapers. So what’s the difference?

Broadsheet refers to the most common newspaper format, which is typically 11*12 inches wide and 20 or more inches long. Many of the USA’s most (2) _______________ (to respect) newspapers — ‘The New York Times’, ‘The Washington Post’, ‘The Wall St. Journal’, and so on — are broadsheet papers. Broadsheet papers are usually six columns across.

Beyond their size, broadsheet papers tend to employ a traditional approach to news that emphasizes in-depth coverage and a sober tone in articles and editorials. Broadsheet readers often tend to be fairly affluent and educated, with many of them (3) _______________ (to live) in the suburbs.

In the technical sense, tabloid refers to a type of newspaper that typically measures 11*17 inches and is five columns across, narrower than a broadsheet newspaper. Since tabloids are smaller, their stories tend to be shorter than those (4) _______________ (to find) in broadsheets.

And while broadsheet readers tend to be upscale suburbanites, tabloid readers are often (5) _______________ (to work) class residents of big cities. Indeed, many city dwellers prefer tabloids because they are easy to carry and read on the subway or bus.

Tabloids also tend to be more irreverent and slangy in their writing style than their more serious broadsheet brothers. In a crime story, a broadsheet refers to a police officer, while the tabloid calls him a cop. And while a broadsheet might spend dozens of column inches on ‘serious’ news — say, a major bill (6) _______________ (to be) debated in Congress — a tabloid is more likely to zero in on a heinous sensational crime story or celebrity gossip.

In fact, the word tabloid (7) _______________ (to come) to be associated with the kind of supermarket checkout aisle papers — such as the ‘National Enquirer’ — that focus exclusively on splashy, lurid stories about celebrities.

But there’s an important distinction to be made here. True, there are the over-the-top tabloids like the ‘Enquirer’, but there are also the so-called respectable tabloids — such as the ‘New York Daily News’, the ‘Chicago Sun-Times’, the ‘Boston Herald’ and so on — that do serious, hard-hitting journalism. In fact, the ‘New York Daily News’ has won 10 Pulitzer Prizes, print journalism’s highest honour.

Task 5. Together with your friends you’ve decided to start a class newsletter. On a separate sheet of paper write a letter (en essay) expressing your ideas about:

· the name for your newsletter;

· the themes and the content;

· formatting and editing the newsletter.

Дата добавления: 2014-11-29