Mass Media

The term mass media is applied to all media that reach a mass audience. In fact mass media have existed as long as mankind itself. But it took quite a long time to reach their present hi-technology from. There has always been a need to exchange news and messages among people and the advance of new technologies enables us to deliver information very promptly and more efficiently. These technological developments have led us to colour broadcasting,stereo and quadraphonic wide-screen television, video-recorders and cameras are now commonplace.Compact disc, digital tape recorders, personal computers are all widely-available as affordable, mass produced, consumer goods.

At any newsagent“s counter you can notice the vast choice of newspapers of various size and format. In Britain they are referred to as broadsheets and tabloids. I tis interesting to note that the size of the newspapers reflects a difference in terms of style and content too: the broadsheets are known as quality newspapers and the tabloids are called popul.

Quality papers are read by those readers who expect to find serious news and are ready to spend a good deal of time in reading articles written in a serious manner.

The popular papers is relatively poor when compared to that of the quality paper. They contain a high number of features about stars, sports and celebrities. They tend to be heavily illustrated and the headline sometimes takes more space than the article itself.

Typical sections found in newspapers are leader or editorial, news reports, feature articles, international and domestic news, political commentaties, business news, cartoons, crosswords, sports reports, the letter page, classified adds, reviews, obituaries.
Modern life is closely connected with radio and television as sources of information, entertainment or just background noise. Radio and television stations can be divided into two categories: commercial and non-commercial. Commercial stations are supported by charging money to companies that would like their goods or services advertised on the station. Companies that pay large amounts of money to the stations for advertising will often try to control the content of the programme. Non-commercial stations, on the other hand do not advertise products, are either financed from state budget or supported by donations, grants, or private organizations.

Programmes which are broadcast on television cater for viewers of different age groups, interests, educational background. Programme quides help you to make your own choise between the programmes whose aim is to entertain and those which want to inform and educate people.