Mass media
What you think of mass media these types would probably run through your mind: newspapers, magazines, radio, television and the internet. It’s called mass media because it is aimed at masses.
Newspapers
The first form of mass media started after the printing press was invented in Germany in 1450. Many copies of simple newspapers and posters were quickly printed, which could then be distributed to many people. Newspapers are still one of the most important forms of mass media. Almost everybody reads newspapers.
There are two kinds of newspapers:
- Quality papers (serious ones):
This newspapers aim at the educated reader. They contain detailed news comment. Many topics are written by experts in their field. The USA (NY Times, USA Today, Washington Post), the UK (The Times, The Telegraph).
- TABLOIDS (popular ones):
They have a lot of gossip about famous people, etc. The news aren’t serious in many cases. The USA (Globe), the UK (The Daily Mirror, The Sun).
Radio
Print media was the only form of mass communication until the invention of the radio in about 1914. In the USA radio became popular at the end of the 20’s. The first radio stations were created by companies who made radios. In that time, the companies had enough many from selling radios so they didn’t need advertisements. Later, when other companies wanted to start station the only way they could pay for it was by selling advertisements.
In the UK the radio was paid for by charging a yearly fee to people who owned radios. This is called non-commercial or public broadcasting. Some stations: Radio One-Four, Classic FM.
Today, radio is in the shadow of television and the internet. People usually listen to radios because of music.
Television
The next mass medium was television. It started to be popular in 1940. Broadcast TV was important because people could see images and sounds.
By 1951, there were only three national stations in the USA: NBC, CBS and ABC. Around 1990, when people had cable TV with many channels, they needed to specialize: CNN, MTV. Advertising started to specialize too.
The main broadcaster in the UK is the British Broadcasting Corporation. Channels BBC One and Two are public broadcasting channels are paid for by license fees. Other channels can be received through cable TV.
In the CZ we pay for Czech Television One and Two by license fee. Other channels (NOVA, Prima, TV Prague) can be received through aerial.
The Internet
The number of Internet users has grown very fast through the 90’s. There is a huge variety of choice. It also gives you a chance to broadcast information to the whole world.
Problems of mass media
The first problem is that you can be given wrong information (especially on the Internet). And that can influence your actions. It is like mass media could make up their reality and many people would in fact believe it.
The next problem is advertising. It is very white-hot theme. Because advertising influence your making of choice when you are shopping. And advertisements can also give you bad features of advertised product (you gonna be beautiful, etc.). But media have to sell place/time for advertisements, otherwise they would have to rise up fees.