The role of mass media in our life
The role of mass media in our life
Radio & television
A majority of people cannot imagine life without these mass media. These programmes are spread all over the world and foreign broadcast can be found in many countries. People use radio and television to get the latest news from the world.
Broadcasting in Britain is controlled by the British Broadcasting Corporation and the Independent Broadcasting Authority. The BBC is financed by the Government, but the private stations controlled by the IBA get money from advertising. The BBC has two TV channels – BBC1 and BBC2. BBC1 broadcasts programmes for the public in the area of entertainment, sport and commentaries on current affairs. BBC2 has more serious news. There exist many commercial TV-companies that are intent on special groups of people – there also exists one television programme, which shows only cricket, a very popular British sport.
The National radio is controlled by the BBC. Listeners can choose from four stations, which include news, sports, pop music, drama, etc… In Great Britain there are many local stations (private or controlled by the BBC).
In the USA television is very popular. There exist more than 1300 commercial and 370 non-commercial television programmes. Over 98% of American households have a television set. There are three big private national networks: ABC, NBC and CBS. Each day at 6 o’clock a number of people sit in front of their televisions and follow one of the many soap operas, which are broadcast at that time.
There is no national radio station in the USA, but every large city has a lot of independent stations. There are about 10,000 of commercial and 1500 non-commercial stations.
In the Czech Republic there are not as many television stations as in other countries. There are four all-area stations: state ČT1 and ČT2 and private NOVA and PRIMA. Czech Television (ČT) gets money from people by charges. NOVA and PRIMA get their money only from advertising.
Czech radio broadcasting is ensured by the Czech Radio (ČRo). It has six stations and they have different programmes. ČRo1-Radiožurnál is mostly a reporting station. Other stations broadcast for example classical music, or other programmes specially prepared for a certain group of people.
