Mass Media

The press, the radio and TV play an important role in our life. 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. Millions of people in their spare-time read newspapers. It is impossible to imagine our life without newspapers. Millions of copies of them appear every day. Many people subscribe to newspapers, others buy newspapers on the news-stands. There are national daily newspapers such as "The News" and "The Economic newspaper", "The arguments and the facts". Most national newspapers express a political opinion and people choose them according to their political beliefs. Most newspapers contain news, detailed articles on home and international affairs, reviews of book, sport events. One can also find newspapers for teenagers and children, for sports fans and people of different professions.

There are local newspapers in every city and town of Russia. For example “Kemerovo” is the most popular local newspaper in my town. It is a local paper, because it is circulated only in our city. It is a weekly paper because it is issued once a week. It gives a full coverage of the events at my native place.

Also there are popular papers or so-called “yellow press” which concentrate on more emotive stories about sensations, violence, film and pop stars and sport. The popular press is much more popular than the quality press.

Millions of people watch TV. In our technological age TV has become a part of daily life. It broadens our horizons and enriches our mind because there are different programs on the arts, history, archeology, technical inventions. TV pleases most tastes. But a peculiar feature of modern TV is a soap-opera. It is s sentimental serial drama dealing with domestic problems. Most people find soap-operas boring. There is a lot of advertising on TV. The same advertisements are repeated dozens of times every day which bores the viewers. But many of the TV programs are excellent, they are made in a good taste and with a great professional skill.

The radio is also very popular. You can listen to the radio while doing some work about the house, reading a book or driving a car. On the radio one hear the music, plays, news and various commentaries and discussions. Radio and TV bring into millions of homes not only entertainment and news but also cultural and educational programs. For instants you can take a TV course in history, political, economy, management and many other subjects, learn a foreign language by radio.

But of the Mass Media I prefer the Internet.