Lesson 27

Mass media in the USA. Reading comprehension

Aims and objectives:

•           developing sociocultural competence

•           developing basic skills

•           assessing students’ reading comprehension skills

Equipment: writing paper, handouts

Sequence

I. Warmingup

The teacher may either use the warmingup activities desrcibed earlier or invent the ones of his / her own.

II. Main part

1. Reading

Prereading

If possible, the teacher should either bring some US newspapers and magazines to class to show the students or print out some Internet pages of the most popular newspapers or, if a computer lab with the Internet connection is available, have the students go to their websites and have a brief discussion of the media contents based on the titles, pictures or rubrics. The students should come to the conclusion if the paper is a quality or a tabloid one and ground their opinions.

It would also be good if the students found the differences between British and American press as stated by Stephen Leacock in the home reading, prior to reading and discussing the text.

American press

Americans are surrounded by information from the time they wake up in the n time they sleep at night. A typical office worker, for instance, is awakened by music from an alarmclock radio. During breakfast he reads the local newspaper and watches an early morning news show on TV. If he drives to work, he listens to news, music and traffic reports on his car radio. In his office he reads business papers and magazines. At home after dinner, he watches evening news on tele­ vision. In bed he reads himself to sleep with a magazine or book.

Our typical office worker, like most Americans, takes all this for granted. This wide choice is the product of nearly 300 years of continual information revolution. Technological advance has speeded up the way information is gathered and distributed. And, because most of the news media in the United States are businesses which depend on adver

tising and sales, owners have always tried to appeal to the widest possible audience.

The "New York Times” is only one of many daily newspapers that have become significant shapers of public opinion. Other influencial publications are "The Washington Post”, "The Los Angeles Times”, "The Boston Globe”, and "The Christian Science Monitor”. Satellite technology has made possible the first genuinely nationwide newspapers — from the serious business paper, "The Wall Street Journal)) to the bright colours and personality orientation of the "USA Today”.

Another popular phenomenon is the appearance of supermarket tabloids, sold mainly at grocery stores. Although they look like newspapers, they carry little important news and pay much attention to gossip about celebrities, stories about children and pets, and diet and health tips. The leading tabloid, "The National Enquirer”, has circulation of more than 4 million.

Now the total number of daily newspapers in the USA is going down. There are several reasons for this. The movement of people from cities to suburbs led to growing popularity of local weekly newspapers. Working husbands and wives found they had less time to read. But the most important reason was probably the growing popularity of television including TV news like, for example, CNN, and also internet.

The same developments that have influenced newspaper circulation — faster printing methods, lower prices, advertising money — have also marked the beginning of mass appeal for American magazines. The most popular US magazines now are those which cater to Americans’ increasing leisure time and appetite for consumer goods. Some examples are "Cosmopolitan” and "The Saturday Evening Post”. The first weekly "Time” appeared in 1923 and was intended for people too busy to keep up with a daily newspaper. It was the first magazine to organize news into separate departments such as national affairs, business and science.

A basic characteristic of the American press is that almost all editors and journalists agree that, as much as possible, news should be very clearly separated from opinion about the news. Most newspapers are careful to give equally balanced comment, and thus to protect their reputation for impartiality.

There are no official or government owned newspapers in the USA, and no state censorship, no "official secrets act”, nor any law that says that government records must be kept secret until several years have passed (though some "top secret” documents are protected). Courts and judges cannot stop a story or newspaper from being printed. Someone

can go to court later, but then of course the story has already appeared.

Needless to say, some Americans are not very happy with newspapers publishing "hot news” about politicians and famous people. But the American press responds by quoting their constitutional rights. And every journalist knows that when something which has been hidden behind closed doors, appears on front pages, it can sell a lot of newspapers.

Afterreading

Match the names of the following American newspapers and magazines with their characteristics.

2. Speaking, writing

The students in groups or pairs compare the media in Ukraine, Great Britain and the USA and complete the table.

The students orally compare the media in the three countries using the structures "as ... as”, "not so ... as”, "much better (bigger, etc.) giving the reasons using "because” or "since”.

Example

Ukrainian newspapers are not as independent as American ones because in Ukraine newspapers cannot publish confidential government records.

or

Since Ukrainian newspapers cannot publish confidential government records, newspapers in Ukraine are not so independent as American ones.

III. Summary

IV. Homework

Compare the media in Ukraine, Great Britain and the USA in writing.

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