Modern life is hardly possible without information. Of course friends & relatives keep us informed about what is happening in the world, but such information is second-hand, & therefore is not at all reliable

MASS MEDIA.
Modern life is hardly possible without information. Of course friends & relatives keep us informed about what is happening in the world, but such information is second-hand, & therefore is not at all reliable. It is the mass media that provide us with first hand & reliable information.
The mass media plays an important role in our life. Millions of copies of newspapers are printed in our country every day. The role of the press can hardly be overestimated, particularly at present. It keeps you informed in the latest news, different events, home and foreign affairs, news of culture, science and engineering development. But publishing news is not the only purpose of the press. There are many other purposes, which can be achieved by the press. It enriches our knowledge and broadens our outlook. The press shapes public opinion, influences governmental policy, gives citizens a view of our country and foreign countries as well. It performs a few functions: informative, entertaining, commercial & is addressed to people of different political views & different stations in life. What is printed & what is not, largely depends on the publishers’ concert of news. There is a well-known joke circulating among the publishers, which exactly defines their idea of news: “If a dog bites a man, that’s not news, but if a man bites a dog, that is news”. In other words, news must be something unusual, unexpected, and sensational. But with many papers & magazines there exits a funny tradition to mystify their regular readers with sensational & incredible stories, published on their pages.
Everyone knows that we get a great amount of information by mass media, especially TV. TV now plays an important part in many people’s life. It is an immensely powerful medium, as it uses the most important from of communication, the visual image, it is essential for us to try to decide whether it is a blessing or a curse. It demands complete & silent attention. It is death to conversation & normal two-way contact between individuals. It makes passive non-participating spectators of us all. We begin to forget how to occupy our spare time. Now all our free time is given to television. Obviously TV has both advantages & disadvantages. But to the former outweigh the latter. Really if there is a TV set in your home all you’ve got to do is to turn a knob, or to turn over to another channel or to turn the sound up & down, &you see plays, films, operas & shows of every kind, not to mention political discussions & the latest exciting football matches. TV, it is often said, keeps one informed about current events, allows one to follow the latest developments in science & politics &offers an endless series of programmes, which are both instructive & stimulating. The most distant countries & the strangest customs are brought right into our sitting room. You can hardly find a corner where one cannot receive radio or TV broadcasts. Hundreds of stations speaking in every language of the world fill the air. Radio & TV-n are undoubtedly, the quickest means of spreading news & information. What a great amount of information we get! We watch TV to be well informed. It gives wonderful possibilities for education. There are considerable variety of programmers & we can select what we want to see: a film or a play, sport programmes, the latest news and so on. We find it pleasant to sit in our armchairs and glue to our sets & little by little people get accustomed to this mode of life & are cut off from the real world.
Another kind of link between the public & the media is advertising. The mass media helps us with information about new goods & services. But some people are tired of advertisements & don’t like to see their favourite films or programmes interrupted by them. I hope some way will be found to solve this problem. For example, there are 2 organizations providing TV & radio services in Great Britain. The BBC is state-funded & there is ABC on lately no advertising in BBC programmes, & in the programmes of the Independent Television, the advertising is also restricted.
As for me & my family, we like the programme “My family”, I think it is a very useful one, because it gives us many examples how to live, how to act in different situations. I watch this programme with admiration.
So to my opinion, I’ll be quick right to say that the volume of information in the modern world is tremendous, that is why we should decide for our selves what is really necessary & what may some day appear to be useless.

Radio Independent radio programme companies operate under licence to the Radio Authority and are financed mainly by advertising revenue. There are three independent national services: Classic FM, broadcasting mainly classical music; Virgin 1215, playing broad – based rock music; and Talk Radio UK, speech – based service. About 200 independent local radio services are also in operation. Stations supply local news and information, sport, music and other entertainment, education and consumer advice. Teletext, Cable and Satellite Services The BBC and independent television both operate a Teletext service, under which information is displayed as “pages” of text and graphics on receivers equipped with the necessary decoders. Cable services are delivered through underground cables and are paid for subscription. Cable franchises have been granted covering areas comprising 83 per cent of all homes and nearly all urban areas in Britain. In mid – 1999 there were about 12.1 million homes able to receive such services, and 3 million subscribing homes. Digital technology is being introduced which will support up to 500 television channels. Cable also has the capacity for computer – based interactive services, such as home shopping

and email. Many British – based satellite television channels have been set up to supply programmes to cable operators and viewers with satellite dishes. Some offer general entertainment, while others concentrate on specific areas of interest, such as sport, music, children’s programmes and feature films. The largest satellite programmer is BSkyB (British Sky Broadcasting) which, with around 7 million subscribers, dominates paid – for television in Britain. It launched its digital satellite service in 1998, carrying more than 140 channels. Satellite television and cable services are funded mainly by subscription income. The Press National newspapers have an average total circulation of over 13 million on weekdays and about 14 million on Sundays, although the total
readership is considerably greater. There are 10 national morning daily papers and 10 national Sundays – five “qualities”, two “mid – market” and three “populars”. There are about 1,350 regional and local newspapers, and over 7,000 periodical publications. There is no state control or censorship of the newspaper and periodical press, which caters for a range of political views, interests and level of education. Where they express pronounced views and show obvious political leanings in their editorial comments, these may derive from proprietorial and other non – party influences. A non – statutory Press Complaints Commission deals with complaints by members of the public about the content and conduct of newspapers and magazines, and advises editors and journalists. In 1995, the Government rejected proposals for statutory regulation of the press and for legislation to give protection to privacy. Instead, it endorsed self – regulation under the Commission and recommended tougher measures to make self – regulation more effective. Working practices throughout the newspaper industry have become more efficient with the widespread used of advanced computer – based technology. Publishers have been able to reduce production costs by using computer systems for editing and production processes.