The mass media in the life of Society.
     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.