Урок №24-25. Современные средства массовой информации.

The mass media play an important part in our lives. Newspapers, radio, TV and especially Internet inform us of what is going on in this world and give us wonderful possibilities for education and entertainment. They also influence the way we see the world and shape our views.

Of course, not all newspapers and TV programmes report the events objectively, but serious journalists and TV reporters try to be fair and provide us with reliable information.

It is true that the world today is full of dramatic events and most news seems to be bad news. But people aren't interested in ordinary events. That is why there are so many programmes and articles about natural disasters, plane crashes, wars, murders and robberies. Good news doesn't usually make headlines. Bad news does.

Some people say that journalists are given too much freedom. They often intrude on people's private lives. They follow celebrities and print sensational stories about them which are untrue or half-true. They take photos of them in their most intimate moments. The question is — should this be allowed?

The main source of news for millions of people is television. People like TV news because they can see everything with their own eyes. And that's an important advantage. Seeing, as we know, is believing. Besides, it's much more difficult for politicians to lie in front of the cameras than on the pages of newspapers.

Still, many people prefer the radio. It's good to listen to in the car, or in the open air, or when you do something about the house.

Newspapers don't react to events as quickly as TV, but they usually provide us with extra detail, comment and background information.

The Internet has recently become another important source of information. Its main advantage is that news appears on the screen as soon as things happen in real life and you don't have to wait for news time on TV.

How do movies influence people's behavior?

Nowadays, Television has become popular with many undeniable advantages. With a TV, you can easily gain extensive knowledge in all areas. If you want to get some information about anything around the world, just turn on your TV and open any channel. Also, if you are a student and you want to be well-prepared for the coming entrance exam to university, pick up the remote control and switch to educational channel

Furthermore, through programs on TV, people can learn many practical skills to communicate with each other. The TV programs often stimulate cases happening in all aspects of real life. Therefore, people can draw their own lessons from those cases. For example, from movies shown on TV, people could come to know how to behave in certain cases then, apply that in their real lives to solve their own issues. Also, TV brings a huge source of entertainment, making people's lives more enjoyable. After a long working-day, tired from all the stuff you've done, you only need to stay at home lying on the sofa to enjoy interesting films of all kinds, from action, horror, to romantic films and so on. This helps you fell at ease and escape your tensions. In general, TV has clearly become an essential part in human life

On the other hand, TV brings with it serious problems. Watching TV could lead to a number of health issues. For example, in well developed countries where TV is popular, many children acquire obesity because of watching television too much without exercises. As a consequence, it leads to laziness and health deterioration. In addition, not only could TV harm people physically but it could impact on people mentally in main cases. More and more violent behavior is shown on TV today. As a result, they became persistent obsessions in people's minds and generally lead them to violence in real life. Especially young people's fledging brains are vulnerable to these stimuli. Many young criminals are found to commit crimes due to the fact that they simply imitate what they have seen on the screen. In short, if ignored, the impact of the TV would result in durable and painful problems in society

At the end, like a double-edged knife TV brings us both advantages and disadvantages, what people need to do is make use of its positive things and to hinder things.

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