Средства массовой информации в Великобритании и США

Mass media in Great Britain and the USA.

In Great Britain there is no state control or censorship of the press, but it is subject to the general laws on publication.
The public’s right to know is one of the central principles of American society. The men who wrote the Constitution of the US resented the strict control that the American colonies’ British rulers had imposed over ideas and information they did not like. Instead, these men determined that the power of knowledge should be placed in the hands of the people. “Knowledge will forever govern ignorance”, asserted James Madison, the fourth president and an early proponent of press freedom.
Americans and British are surrounded by information from the time they wake in the morning until the time they sleep at night. A typical office worker, for instance, is awakened by music from an alarm-clock 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’s radio. At his office he reads business papers and magazines to check on industry developments. At home, after dinner, he watches the evening news on TV. Then he flips through the over 20 channels offered by cable TV to find his favourite show or a ballgame or a recent film. In bed he reads to sleep with a magazine or a book.

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   Newspapers
   

Newspapers appeared in many European countries in the 17^th century. The first English printed news book averaging twenty-two pages was the “Weekly News”. It appeared in London in 1621. By the 1640s the news book had taken the form of a newspaper. The first periodical was the “London Gazette”. It started as the “Oxford Gazette” in 1665 when the King and the court moved to Oxford because of London plague. The first English daily was “The Daily Courant” (1702-35). It was in 1771 that Parliament allowed journalists the right to report its proceedings.
Nowadays there are two kinds of newspapers in Britain. One is large and has many detailed articles about national and international events. These newspapers are called serious papers or quality papers. These are “Financial Times”, “The Times”, “The Guardian”, “The Daily Telegraph”. “Financial Times” contains a comprehensive coverage of industry, commerce and public affairs. “The Times” is the most famous newspaper. It represents the views of the establishment and is well-known for its correspondence column. “The Guardian” gives a wide coverage of news events and reports on social issues, the arts, education. “The Daily Telegraph” contains reports on national and international news, gives a full covering of sports and other topics.
The other kind, called the tabloids, is smaller in size, has more pictures and shorter articles, often about less important events or about the private lives of well-known people. Though some people disapprove of tabloids, they are quite popular. Many people buy tabloids like The Sun which is the biggest-selling newspaper in Britain. Other tabloids are “The Daily Express”, “The Daily Mirror”, “The Daily Mail”, “The Daily Star”. They have a national daily circulation and appeal mainly to the working and middle classes.
In all parts of the country there are also papers giving information about films, concerts and other things that are happening in the local area. Some local newspapers are free. They contain a lot of advertisements and also some news. National serious newspapers like The Times or The Daily Telegraph generally give information about events happening in London. Most national newspapers express a political opinion.
Daily newspapers are published every day except Sunday. Sunday newspapers are larger than daily ones. They often have two or three sections. All Sunday newspapers are national.

In the 17^th century newspapers, magazines and almanacs were published in America. The oldest printing press in America was set up as early as 1639 at Cambridge, and its activity was never interrupted. The first newspaper in the United States came out in Boston in 1690. But it was suppressed by the colonial governor after one issue. The weekly “Boston Newsletter” began publication in 1704. Independent newspaper publishing started with the “New-England Courant” in 1721. In 1776 on the eve of the Revolution Boston had five newspapers, and Philadelphia – three. Freedom of the press was achieved in the United States in 1791 by the First Amendment to the US Constitution.

Now there are about 1700 daily and 7500 weekly newspapers in the USA. The circulation of some weeklies is no more than a few hundred of copies per issue and the circulation of some dailies is over a million of copies.
There are daily newspapers and weekly newspapers. Daily newspapers print world, national and local news. Many dailies are morning papers, others are afternoon papers. Sunday issues of the dailies are usually larger than the weekly ones. They may include special sections on such topics as entertainment, finance and travel, a guide to TV programs, coloured comics. The major dailies in the US are “Christian Science Monitor”, “New York Times”, “USA Today”, “Wall Street Journal”, “Washington Post”.
In the USA daily newspapers are of two kinds: quality and popular. For example, “The Wall Street Journal” is a quality newspaper. It covers national and international news. “The Washington Post” contains full coverage of Congress.
Weekly newspapers serve usually for smaller areas. They are printed in small communities where people know each other and are interested in activities of their friends and neighbours. Weeklies report of weddings, births, deaths and news of local business and politics. Most weeklies do not print world or national news.

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