Mass media

Mass media Is a comprehensive term embracingtelevision, radio, motion pictures, and large-circulation newspapers andmagazines. It refers to much more than the journalistic aspects of theinstruments of popular communication. The mass media often function as the locusof social control and the source of popular culture.They help createhistorical events, teach values, and by virtue of the huge commercialenterprises they represent, affect the viability of free societies. There are five major fields of journalism newspapers, news services, periodicals, radio and television.

Radio andtelevision perform information only briefly, but quickly. Newspapers includefull reports on different topics. News agencies provide them with the latestinformation.NEWS AGENCIESNews agencies are local, national,international, or technical organizations that gathers and distributes news,selling theyr services to newspapers, periodicals, and broadcasters reportsare also available as part of some on-line computer services.

The major newsorganizations in the U.S. are the Associated Press AP , founded in 1892 asthe Associated Press of Illinois, which adopted its present name in 1900 theUnited Press Association, called the United Press UP , founded in 1892, whichbecame an affiliate of the Scripps-Howard newspaper chain and theInternational News Service INS , founded by W.R. Hearst in 1906 in IInternational UPI . Two majorEuropean news agencies are the Reuter Telegram Company of London, founded in1851 and known simply as Reuters and Agence France-Presse, founded in 1835 asAgence Havas of Paris. Some countries have government-owned and -controlledagencies.

News agencies transmit copy through the use of the telegraph, telephonewires, underwater cables, and communications satellites.Many offer theirclients photographs, news analyses, and special features. NEWSPAPERNewspaper is a publication issuedperiodically, usually daily or weekly, to present information about currentevents.

The Roman Acta diurna c.59 B.C posted daily in public places, wasthe first recorded newspaper . The invention and spread of printing in the 15thcent. was the major factor in the early development of the newspaper. The firstdaily paper in England was the Daily Courant 1702 . English newspapers beganto reach the masses in the 19th cent. Important English newspapers of today areThe Times of London founded in 1785 and the Manchester Guardian.One of theoldest continental newspapers, Avisa Relation oder Zeitung, appeared in Germanyin 1609 the Nieuwe Tijdingen was published in Antwerp in 1616 and the firstFrench newspaper, the Gazette, was founded in 1631. India Delhi . The first newspaper to appear in the American colonies was anewssheet, Publick Occurrences, which was issued in Boston in 1690. During the19th cent. many famous U.S. newspapers appeared the New York Evening Post 1801 the New York Sun, founded 1833 by B.H. Day the New York Herald 1835 and the New York Times 1851. Other important American newspapers arethe Washington Post Los Angeles Times Christian Science Monitor Boston Atlanta Constitution Chicago Tribune USA Today, a national paper and WallStreet Journal N.Y.C which in 1980 became the best-selling daily newspaperin the U.S. In the 20th cent. great newspaper empires were built in England andin the U.S. By 1980 the Australian magnate Rupert Murdoch was publishingnewspapers in Australia, Britain, and the U.S. Since the invention of thetelegraph, which facilitated the rapid gathering of news, the great newsagencies have sold their services to many newspapers.

Improvements intypesetting and printing especially the web press have made possible thepublication of huge editions at great speed.

During the 1970s suchtechnological developments as photocomposition and the use of communicationssatellites to deliver news and photographs revolutionized the newspaperindustry.

The advent of computer technology has allowed many newspapers tooffer information through commercial on-line computer services. but they areable to spare more attention and space to each problem.

The newspaper articlesgive much more information about events. That is is the main advantage ofnewspapers.Newspapers cover more stories than anyather news media does. They also cover stories in great detail.However, thenewspapers present information later then radio or TV. The great advantage ofnewspapers over radio and TV is that they can report stories in depth.

Readerscan skip items that doesn t interest them. Newspapers also can print certainmaterial that appeals to only a small percentage of readers. PERIODICALSPeriodicals are publications issuedregularly, distinguished from the newspaper in format, in that its pages aresmaller and usually bound, and in that it is published weekly, monthly, orquarterly, rather than daily.Periodicals range from technical and scholarlyjournals to illustrated magazines for mass circulation.

The French Journal desscavans 1665-1791 is considered the first periodical, whereas the Englishmonthly Gentleman s Magazine 1731-1868 was the first to use the word magazinein the sense of a periodical for entertainment.Famous American periodicalsinclude Godey s Lady s Book 1830-98 , edited by Sarah J. Hale and famous forits colored fashion prints the Atlantic Monthly 1857- and Harper s Magazine 1850 both noted for serious essays and fiction the extremely popularSaturday Evening Post 1821-1971 and Ladies Home Journal 1883- McClure sMagazine 1893-1928 , which published many articles by the Muckrakers and TheNew Yorker 1925- known for its urbane humor and high literary standards.

Specialized magazines include the news magazines Time 1923- and Newsweek 1933- the National Geographic Magazine 1888 devoted to natural historyand anthropology Ebony 1946 a picture weekly directed toward AfricanAmericans Playboy 1953- and other periodicals devoted to sex and sexuality Ms. 1972 a forum for the women s liberation movement and the zany,satirical National Lampoon 1970 Computer advances have made possible thedelivery of magazine articles through on-line services and have begun to spawnentirely electronic periodicals, such as The Online Journal of Current CriticalTrials 1992 a professional medical journal.

RADIOThe first regularly scheduled radiobroadcasts in the U.S. began in 1920. The sale of advertising began in 1922,establishing commercial broadcasting as an industry.

A coast-to-coast hookupbegan early in 1924, and expansion of both audience and transmission facilitiescontinued rapidly. Radio is generally the first of news media to report a localstory or a news service bulletin.A radio announcer can interrupt a programmewith a news flash as soon as the report comes in. Most stations present regularnews bulletins every half-hour or hour.The national radio broadcast major news events.

However, most radio newsbulletins do not report the news in detail. In a five minute broadcast the storiesaverage less then 30 seconds each. Radio also provide weather forecasts andtraffic information. TELEVISIONExperiments in broadcasting televisionbegan in the 1920s but were interrupted by World War II. By 1992 the U.S. had1,505 television stations, and cable television systems in the U.S. served over56 million households.Television signals are also now transmitted fromsatellites direct to household satellite dishes.Television is the main source of news formany households around the world.

TV does what none of the other media can itbrings the sight and sounds of some important news events by means of filmed,taped or live reports. Like regular radio news bulletins, daily TV newsprogrammes provide only brief accounts of relatively new stories.But thevisual aspect of TV news story can often help viewers understand the story. Inaddition to daily news reports, television covers special news events.

Coverageof such an event may replace many hours of regular TV shows. Television alsobroadcasts in-depth programmes that help explain a story or subject. Such programmes, which run from halfan hour to three hours, include docummentaries and interview programmes. Mostdocummentaries are filmed or taped. They may perform such subjects as crime,foreign policy, or race relations.Interview programmes, which are usuallybroadcast live, may consist of a panel of journalists who ask questions of amajor figure in the news.The importance of mass media and journalismhas greatly increased in recent years.

In democratic countries, people dependon the news media for the fair and truthful reporting of current events.Freedom of the press encourages the exchange of ideas among citizens.Ingovernmet-controlled countries, however, the news media serve as an instrumentof the state. The struggle against censorship began in England in the 16th-17thcent.

In the American colonies it began in 1734. Only 20 of the world s peoplelive in countries that have a free press. But in government-controlledcountries journalists can still broadcast or write only what national leadersallow. Media forms public opinion now. Alot of politicians strive to possess mass media. Media carries greatpossibilities for society, but they are not only good ones. Nobody shouldforget, that media- is the fourth power.