We live in the world of information. It is everywhere and sometimes it is even more valuable than money.
Mass media, that is newspapers, magazines, radio, television and the Internet, play a big role in our society. They inform, educate, entertain and give us any kinds of information.
Television plays an important part in our life too and many people prefer watching television to reading a newspaper.
There are also a lot of educational programs, children's programs, films and soap operas on TV. Talk shows are also very popular with people nowadays. I usually watch news and films on television. My favourite TV program is ….
Radio is less popular than newspapers and television. People listen to the radio in cars and at work.
Nowadays there are daily, weekly and monthly newspapers and magazines. My family is subscribed to Komsomolskaya Pravda which is one of the most famous Russian daily newspapers.
I read it sometimes just to know what is happening in the world. My mother buys women's magazines and my father reads sports magazines. There are also a lot of children's magazines. They are colourful and full of pictures.
The Internet is the newest kind of mass media. The Internet is the greatest source of information. Almost everything can be found there. If you have the Internet, you may not read newspapers or listen to the radio. You may not watch television either. All main newspapers and television companies have websites, so you can read news and watch television without turning on a TV-set.
I use the Internet very often.
There are advantages and disadvantages of mass media.
The advantages are the following: mass media educate and entertain people. However, you need to have a TV-set to watch television, a radio set to listen to the radio. To look for information in the Internet you will need a computer and the Internet connection and they both cost a lot. Another disadvantage is that sometimes this or that information is not reliable. The Internet is full of sites with wrong information.
In spite of all disadvantages, people still watch TV, listen to the radio and browse the Internet.
