Mass media are one of the most characteristic features of modern
civilizations. People are united into one global community with the help of
mass media/ People can learn about what is happening in the world very fast
using mass media.
The mass media include newspapers, magazines, radio, TV.Nowadays Mass Media plays a very important role in our life. The press, the radio and TV play an important role in the life of society. They inform, educate and entertain people. They also influence the way people look at the world and make them change their views. Mass media shapes public opinion.
The most exciting and entertaining kind of mass media is television.
It brings moving pictures and sounds directly to people’s homes. So one can
see events in faraway places. The name «Television» comes from Greek word meaning «far» and
Latin word meaning «to see» so it means «to see far».
There are commercial stations, they sell advertising time to
pay for their operating costs and to make profit/ The public stations are
nonprofit organizations.
Commercial TV stations broadcast mostly entertainment programs
to attract lager number of viewers.
These programs include light dramas called situation comedies,
action-packed dramas about life of detectives, police officers, lawyers and
doctors, show dancers and singers, movies, quiz shows, soap operas,
cartoons, talk shows. On talk shows a host interviews politicians, TV,
movie stars athletes. There are also sport programs, brief summaries of
local, national and international news.
Advertising is an important part of commercial TV. Commercials appear
between and during most programs. They urge viewers to bye different kinds
of products – from dog food to hair spray, from cars to insurance polices.
Public TV focuses mainly on education and culture. Public TV
also broadcasts plays, ballets, symphonies as well as programs about art
and history. It attract less viewers then commercial TV.


We can say that TV is our eyes because TV helps us to know more about the world, about the others counties, about the events that happened in the world. TV even helps you to know more about yourself. I like to watch TV very much. I can do that all day, that’s why sometimes my mother makes me turn off TV. I have about 12 Russian TV channels, they are: NTV, MTV, ORT, RTR, and others. I also have few KOSMOS TV’s channels, for example: Cartoon network, Discovery channel, TVE, and BBC. I like some of them and hate others. So here are some words about the channels that I like. So, my favorite channel is MTV. MTV is a music channel. 24 hours a day of music, can you believe it? I like to listen music very much, and sometimes I even make myself the music, that is why I enjoy watching MTV. I also like NTV. This channel has very interesting films, for example “ER” - my favorite film and a lot of sport programs. I like sport, especially football. NTV usually shows us two-football match a week (one Champion’s League match and one Russian national championship’s match). I also like several foreigner channels, especially Eurosport. And you know why! Cartoon network is not bad, but I think that it’s better for children - not for me. That’s all about me. I also want to tell you about my parent’s favorite channels. My father likes different channels with action films. His favorite actor is Sylvester Stalonne. My mother likes talk shows, for example “ Я сама ” on TV6, and information programs, like “Сегодня” on NTV, “Время” on ORT, and “Вести” on RTR. She also likes BBC channels, which is one of the best information’s channels in the whole world. The Bush house is a headquarters of the BBC World Service. Form this building the BBC broadcasts radio programmers to the whole world. The World Service used to be called “ The Empire Service ”. It started in 1932, broadcast only in English. At the first the announcers used formal English and used to speak very slowly and clearly. In the 1930s the BBC started broadcasting to the Middle East. And in the 1938 it started broadcasting in Arabic. Very soon the BBC was broadcasting to all countries occupied by the Nazis. The BBC got a reputation for honesty and accuracy. After the Second World War the BBC continued its foreign languages broadcasts, and to this day broadcasts the news in thirty-nine languages. In the Newsroom a hundred and twenty journalists work day and night, writing two hundred news bulletins every 24 hours. All news in the BBC are checked at least twice before it is broadcasting. That’s why the World Service is not always popular with governments. The bb is the world’s largest international broadcaster. Every week, one hundred and thirty million people listen to BBC World Service radio. In 1992 the World Service started broadcasting TV programs and today people in countries all over the world can see as well as hear the news from the BBC. Cause of our different tastes, sometimes my family has a problem with choosing channels. Somebody thinks that TV is bad, but I don’t think so. I believe that in the future TV will be better and everyone will like it.




TV has good and bad sides. First of all it keeps people informed, we can learn a lot of information watching TV. We can choose programs that appeal to us more, because TV provides programs for all interests. Sometimes we can relax, entertain ourselves when we are tired. Advertisement on TV gives us information about different products and it makes easier to choose things to buy. When we watch TV we learn about the world, famous people and global or recent news.
But TV has a lot of disadvantages. It takes a lot of time and it makes us lazy. And it's very harmful for our health, especially eyes. Some violent programs and films makes people violent. Violence become a vital problem. There is too much advertisement on TV. Sometimes it can encourage us to buy things we don't need at all. Watching TV takes all free time from almost all people. We just watch it, not concentrate, and waste time.
In my opinion we need TV inspire of it's disadvantages. People need something like information center. As for me I watch TV about one hour a day. I watch it when I want to learn news or relax and entertain myself. People need TV, but it can't be the main thing in their life. It's interesting, but not the main thing in our life.
I don't really know what we must do to make TV better. I think we can do nothing. We just should not sit hour by hour watching TV. I think we must watch only the most important and interesting things. Because if we see everything we'll become mad.
TV.
Watching TV is certainly the most popular adult leisure activity everywhere 83% of our citizens asked in the survey say they watch TV at least once a month. Most people regard TV as a form of recreation, they| just want to relax & get some thrills.
And the best thing for this is home.
TV offers a very diverse stream of information &
entertainment- news, documentaries, cartoons,
movies, sports, games.
Some people spend hours watching everything that is
shown.
I am not a TV addict, I prefer radio, because you
can do something & listen to it at the same time.
Mostly it’s music, which helps up to keep a good
spirits, the latest news & some useful information.
But what I like best is a good intelligent book.
Someone said that reading to the mind is what
exercise is to the body|
Books cannot be replaced by all the mass media in
the world|
Reading is a perfect combination of business &
pleasure, of intellectual work & entertainment
So, I switch off TV & open a book.
In just half a century, television has covered the planet. TV
affects our daily life is a way that no other media can. It was simply an
idea of a machine able to broadcast both sound and vision.
First TV-sets were in black and white.
Since 1980 there have been four major developments of TV. The
first is video, which has given viewers the power to control what they
watch and when they watch it. These days, fifty percent of homes have a
video-cassette-recorder (VCR) and millions more are being sold every year.
The second is satellite TV. Thanks to direct broadcast
satellites (DBS) dozens of new channels are now available to everyone who
buys a receiving «dish». Many of these new channels specialize in one kind
of program – only news, sport, cartoons, music, movies.
The third development is cable – a system of hi-tech wires.
Which provides even more channels.
So, TV has come a very long way in a very short time.