Define the item and who writes it

Report –

Column-

Forecast-

Editorial-

Crossword-

Horoscope-

Review-

Letter page-

Outlook for Tuesday: more rain in the South, sunny in the west.

McKellan's portrayal of Richard III was memorable.

Elections were held in Angola yesterday. A high turnout was reported.

The government should think very hard before it raises interest rates again.

I can't agree with the view expressed in your editorial (9 February) that our railway system needs more subsidies from the Government.

Take care that your fiery temper does not lead you to say anything you might regret.

Ex.2. With your partner, choose two of the words below and write sentences (true or false) about them, as in the exercise above.

a headline a scandal a broadsheet a column

Show your sentences to another pair. Do they think they are true or false?

Ex.3. Find a suitable word for each of the following definitions.

1. A paper that circulates all over the country.

2. A paper which circulates in a region.

3. A man who writes articles to papers and magazines.

4. A paper which is issued every day.

5. A paper which comes out once a week.

6. A magazine which is published once in three months.

7. A magazine which comes out at regular intervals.

8. A man who writes articles for newspapers or magazines

9. A man who comments on some events.

10.A man who delivers papers, magazines or letters to our houses

11.A man who sells newspapers and magazines.

12. A person who writes reviews of drama, films, etc.

13. A man who is responsible for publishing a newspaper or a magazine.

14. A man who makes reports for the newspaper.

Ex.4. Read, translate and retell the text.

THE BRITISH PRESS

Mass media are the means of communication including tel­evision, radio, newspapers and magazines that reach very large numbersof people. The media can influence the way people look at almost everything in the world. The main purposes of the media are to inform, to educate, to entertain and to make a profit for the owners.

When speaking of British newspapers we refer to Fleet Street, the center of British journalism, where all the great national newspapers are produced.

Britain is a nation of newspaper readers: 77 out of every 100 people over 15 years old read or look at a newspaper every day. In this country there are 11 national daily papers and many local and regional daily, evening and weekly newspapers. The total daily circulation of the 11 national dailies is about 15 mln.copies. Here is some basic information about the major British daily newspapers.

The oldest national newspaper is The Times which was found­ed in 1785, then at the end of the 19th century the Daily Mail, the Daily Express and the Daily Mirror appeared.

British newspapers differ greatly in their way of presenting news. The papers are divided into two groups: the heavy, or the quality, and the popular, or the tabloid, press.

The first group includes 5 papers: The Times (with a circulation of 0.5 mln copies), The Guardian (over 0.5 mln), The Daily Telegraph (1.5 mln), The Financial Times (0.3 mln), The Independent (0.2 mln). These concern themselves, as far as possible, with factual reports of major important political, economic, financial and other news at home and abroad. Read­ers of the heavies may expect in their papers serious articles on different subjects as well as reviews of films, music, books, dra­ma and TV. The Times, for example, does not publish the strip cartoons that take a lot of space in popular and tabloid papers. The style is clear-cut and the language is free from slang.

The group of popular papers - tabloids- so-called because of their smaller size, is represented by The Sun (4 mln copies), The Daily Mirror (over 3 mln), The Daily Express (over 2 mln), The Daily Mail (2 mln), The Daily Star (1.5 mln) and Today (0.2 mln). Popular newspapers are meant for those who prefer entertainment to information. In such papers a lot of space is given to major sports, sensational crime, accidents, the private life of the royal family and film stars. The front-page news is presented in a sensational manner, it is not always the most important news, it is the news that may be interesting to the common reader. The popular papers have more photos and strip cartoons.

The language of the popular papers is much easier to under­stand and it is more emotional through the abundant use of colloquialisms and slang. The headlines are bigger, their purpose is to attract more readers.

In some countries, newspapers are owned by government or by political parties. This is not the case in Britain. Newspapers here are mostly owned by individuals or by pub­lishing companies, and the editors of the papers are usually allowed considerate freedom of expression. This is not to say that newspapers are without political bias. Papers like The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Express and The Sun, for example, usually reflect Con­servative opinions in their comment and reporting, while the Daily Mirror and The Guardian have a more left-wing bias.

Newspapers have to make a profit as a single copy costs more to produce than the price paid by the reader. Therefore editors must sell space for advertisements. In order to attract more readers newspapers may offer more sensational news, more photos of nudes, competitions with large prizes and other trivial entertainments.

Both heavy and popular papers often try to influence their readers' attitude by selecting and editing news. Almost every news item can be looked at in several ways and newspapers can choose the way that suits them. They can write articles with any political, social or other bias. They would not tell deliberate lies but they can bend the truth in their own interests.

In addition to the 12 national daily newspapers there are nine national papers which are published on Sundays. Most of the "Sundays" contain more reading matter than daily papers, and several of them also include ''colour supplements" — separate colour magazines which contain photographically-illustrated feature articles. Reading a Sunday paper, like having a big Sunday lunch, is an important tradition in many British house­holds.

Besides, nearly every area in Britain has one or more local newspapers

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(Vertogradova L.A., Fastovskaya T.B., Stepanova E.N. Practical English, 3 Year, 1998.)

Mind the use of the definite article with the names of British and US newspapers.