Mass media

1. Vocabulary list

B1 - the Internet, radio, television, newspaper, to inform, to entertain, influence,

though, follow, allow, to educate, provide, advertising, series, soap opera,
impact, prevent, audience, TV channel, current news, daily contact, tabloid,
influential, contain, quality, report, broadsheet, widely read, via the e-mail,
present, search, download, upload, watch, entertainment, access, concern,
relevant, information, intend.

B2 – to advertise, apart from, breaking news, to broadcast, data, to destroy,

feature, to be obsessed with, a negative impact, selected, right-wing, search
engine, state-owned, to increase the competition, via the Internet,
announcement, censorship, newsflash, to proceed, reliable, radio waves,
resident, to spread through, varying, to sweep across, to tune in, to give a
speech, an article on.

2. Visuals

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3. Main topic

Mass media means all technology that reaches the mass audience. It is the
means of communication used to reach the wide range of the general public. The
most common platforms for mass media are television, radio, newspapers and
the Internet. The general public typically relies on the mass media to provide
information regarding political issues, social issues, entertainment, and news in
pop culture.

The main role of mass media:

- to inform
- to entertain
- to educate
- to have relax and fun

TELEVISION

Different people like to watch different programmes. There are cartoons for
children, reality shows for teenagers and soap operas for older ladies. If the film
is not in Slovak language, there are other possibilities such as dubbed or

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subtitled movies. Through watching TV, we can relax or gain some information.
On the other side, watching TV for several hours a day can damage our eyesight.
It also keeps people away from doing sports or being outside. Violence in films
influences people in a bad way. Advertising helps finance TV channels and has
a great impact on people.

On TV we can watch:

 news
 weather forecast
 talk shows
 quiz shows
 documentaries
 educational programmes
 soap operas
 films – such as comedies, horror stories, science fiction, romantic,
thriller, action movies, fairy tales, animations, series etc.
 cartoons
 sitcoms
 reality shows

In Slovakia we have:

a) Public television is our national television. It is called RTVS and has three
channels. They usually broadcast news, educational programmes and films
without commercials. There is an evening program for children regularly
every day. You can also watch documentaries and stories about famous
people or sport programmes there.
b) Private televisions broadcast a lot of films, shows and entertaining
programmes. There are also many advertisements (adverts) which interrupt
movies. Commercial stations are e.g., TV Markíza or TV JOJ.
c) Regional televisions they usually broadcast news about the region and
events around, e.g., TV Poprad, TV Kežmarok.

RADIO

In Slovakia we have:

a) public radios – Radio Slovensko, Radio Regina – they usually broadcast

information in general such as: news, political discussions, mass service (church

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service) usually broadcast on Sundays at noon. They sometimes broadcast some
musicals and cultural programs. Slovak radio broadcasts important live matches
especially when Slovak football and ice hockey national team plays against
other country.

b) private or commercial radios – such as Radio Express, Radio Vlna, Radio

Europa 2, Fun Radio, Jemné Melódie, and so on … They usually broadcast
commercial stuff such as music of different kinds, news about celebrities, sex
scandals of pop stars and generally about tabloid. Typical for commercial radios
is that they broadcast music most of the day and they usually provide short news
about politics, weather and sport.

Radio and television broadcasting in Britain is provided by BBC (British

Broadcasting Corporation) which has a very good international reputation. In
the USA hundreds of radio stations broadcast in foreign languages for
minorities.

NEWSPAPERS

Most of newspapers are daily newspapers. The most popular Slovak newspapers
include SME, Pravda which are broadsheet (printed on large sheet of paper).
Both of them are widely read and influential. They contain sections such as
politics, weather forecast, finances, sport, business, international news and offer
serious information. They are printed daily.

Nový Čas and its supplement Nový Čas pre Ženy are also very famous and
popular but they are tabloids. They offer people such topics as sensational crime
stories, astrology, celebrity gossips, television programmes, recipes and many
different tips on everything. They are mostly printed weekly.

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There are also many weekly and monthly lifestyle magazines for men, women,
teenagers, children, people who are interested in gardening, sports, cars,
cooking, science, etc.

 men’s magazines: Playboy, Penthouse, TopGear, Speed, Autobild,

 women’s magazines: Báječná Žena, Nový Čas pre Zeny, Slovenka,
Zdravie, Žena a Život,
 Children’s magazines: Kamarát, Fifík, Rebrík, Šikovníček, Včielka.

The most famous daily papers in Britain: The Times, The Guardian, The
Financial Times, The Independent and The Daily Telegraph. The most popular
tabloid is THE Daily Mirror and The SUN.

The most famous daily newspapers in the USA: The Wall Street Journal, The
New York Times, The Washington Post and The New York Post.

These days we can recognize printed form and electronic form of newspapers.
Many people use the Internet so they prefer reading e-form of magazines and
newspapers.

THE INTERNET

The Internet is one of the most revolutionary and the quickest source of
information recently. We do not depend on typical sources of mass media like
our parents used to. There are sources of information such as encyclopedias,
dictionaries, letters, books in libraries. Via the Internet we send documents, buy
things, book hotels, reserve tickets, transfer our money, communicate, study,
watch/download films, listen to/download music or find life partners.

Negative impact of Mass Media on people

- “brain washing”,
- not real/true information,
- following pseudo idols,
- unwise/senseless spending money on products from commercials,
- bad mental development/health,
- neglect/leave out/miss out healthy movement,
- gaining bad habits (eating in front of TV),
- crime,

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 - violence,
- loss of face-to-face communication.

Social media are also source of information but we have to choose and check
reliability of info they provided.

My opinion about the mass media:

I like watching TV programs such as action films and documentaries because I

like criminal stories and I don´t like boring plots. I like getting new information.

I don´t buy newspapers because all information that I need is on the Internet. I
sometimes buy magazines about cars; it is my favourite topic and hobby.

I use the Internet every day for studying, watching films, shopping online,
communicating.

I listen to the radio only in my car, sometimes at home and sometimes in the
gym when I´m doing my workout.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RRyX9mI5Lw&ab_channel=khanacadem
ymedicine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fp45l7Wdcw&ab_channel=SamiaHabli

4. Simulation

Your grandma keeps buying several types of newspaper and magazines. Try to
explain to her what other ways of gaining information do exist nowadays.

Hi, grandma, I want to talk to you about the newspapers. You do not need to buy
only them. There are many different ways how to get new information. I know
that you read current affairs and what´s new in the world. And also, TV
programme, I know. But you can find all the news on TV and on the radio.
We´ve got the Internet, too. You are not so old and I know that you are
technically advanced so it is not problem for you. You can read all world affairs,
current news, politics, business news, sport competitions and much more. There
is also TV programme for thousands of TV and radio channels and you can
choose exactly the one that you need. Do you realise how environmentally

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unfriendly it is to buy 10 types of papers every week? Do you know how many
trees have to be cut down for your pleasure? Yes, maybe I exaggerate. But we
have to consider everything. If you listen to the radio, you can do something else
while listening, for example cook, bake or knit. In the summer you can also do
your beloved gardening. You can combine pleasant and useful things. Songs in
the radio are mixed with information from our country and abroad and also
gossips from showbiz. I will talk about the Internet next time when I come to
have some cake and coffee. It´s a long story.

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 WORKSHEET

Questions:

1. What kind of mass media do the pictures represent?

2. What do you understand by the term “mass media”?
3. What is the easiest way of communication for you?
4. What is the mail role of mass media?
5. Which types of programmes do people like watching to relax/to educate/to
be informed/to entertain?
6. How do social networks play an important role in our society?
7. In what ways has the Internet changed your life?
8. What is the difference between tabloids and broadsheets?
9. Name 5 ways how you can be misused through the Internet.
10. What is the best way of getting information for children/young
people/adults/pensioners?
11.What disadvantages of using mass media can you see in the pictures?
12. Do the online exercise:
https://www.liveworksheets.com/worksheets/en/English_as_a_Second_Lang
uage_(ESL)/Mass_media/Teens_and_the_Media_iy191061kk
13. Match the definitions below with the words in the box:
Channel newspaper/paper television sitcom magazine
tabloid radio the Internet broadcast
a) Weekly or monthly publication with pictures, stories and articles
_______
b) To send out signals to a wide area _______________________________
c) A publication printed daily or weekly containing news _______________
d) A machine which receives broadcast sounds _______________________

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 e) A machine which can show pictures on a screen
_____________________
f) The electronic network of connected computers
_____________________
g) A station which sends out TV programmes
_________________________
h) A newspaper with stories, scandals and entertainment
________________
i) A situation comedy in episodes (for example Friends)
________________
14. Talk about the negative impacts of television on health of young people.
You can talk about:
- time spent in front of TV vs. doing sports, reading books, creative
activities
- problems with eyesight
- violence and crime films
- crating pseudo-idols
- lack of communication among the family members and friends
- developing the habit of eating in front of TV

For B2 level only:

15. Fill in the gaps in the text with suitable words:

The story of television started ______ 1873 when it was realised that light could
________ converted into electrical signals and _______transmitted like radio
waves and later converted back ______ light signals of varying strength.

In 1908 Campbell-Swinton showed _______ the cathode ray tube was the best
method for this. JL Baird gave the first practical demonstration in London in

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 1926. He also gave _______ demonstration of colour television as early ______
1928, but colour systems did ______ come into use until 1953.

In recent years, digital broadcasting _______ begun. These transmissions are

much _________ reliable and allow many more channels within ______ same
bandwidth as analogue broadcasts. People are gradually changing o digital
televisions, or to use systems which convert the digital signal to _______
analogue one for use with older televisions. As for the future, _______ knows
how televisions will develop?

16. Match the words to their meaning:

a) worshipper aa) a lesson shown by story
b) broadcast bb) a discussion
c) adaptation cc) a member of a religious group
d) production dd) to pretend to be something
e) simulate ee) to put on television or radio programmes
f) debate ff) to stop things from being shown (on TV)
g) censor gg) a new version of an old story
h) moral hh) a TV or radio programme

Correct answers for B2 level:

12. Be, then, into, that, a, as, not, has, more, the, an, who; 13. a-cc, b-ee, c-gg, d-hh, e-dd, f-bb, g-ff, h-aa

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