Mass media = includes all the "tools" we have for communicating with large numbers of people: television, radio, film, on-line services, magazines and newspapers. All carry messages that reach masses of people in contrast to letters, telephone calls and one-to-one conversations known as interpersonal media. Nowadays mass media have a big influence on our lives. They are very important because they distribute information.

Magazines and newspapers are types of readable materials. We can learn news about political situations and cultural events, details about new discoveries or results of sport matches. Newspapers and magazines are published daily, weekly or monthly, some can be bought in the morning or evening, then there are so called weekend issues. You can buy also regional or local newspaper.

Newspapers are the oldest kind of media. People like reading newspapers to get more information or sometimes just for relax. In Britain people read newspapers more than in any other European country. Some people buy press every day when they go to work at newsagents.  We can buy daily press or periodicals.

The newspapers are divided into two groups - broadsheets and tabloids.

The first type is tabloids - these newspapers bring short reports mainly about life of celebrities and they are often full of gossips (drby). There are short articles with big headlines and many photos. Tabloids are usually colourful. For example in the Czech Republic there are Blesk, Šíp, Aha...

The second type are serious newspapers also called broadsheets - in these newspapers there are long articles with details and lots of information about world news, economy, culture, sport or weather. The main sections of the newspapers are usually devoted to hot current news. On the front page there are hottest news usually political ones from home and abroad completed with some documentary photo. Headlines and photos are smaller than in tabloids.  In some newspapers there are so called editorials often written by the Editor – in – Chief. longer articles about a special subject are called features and concentrate on either a famous person or a current political issue. In newspapers can be also found: culture information, book, music and theatre reviews, sport section with matches’ results, weather forecasts, TV and radio programmes. Once a week there are various supplements in some newspapers (eg.: magazines with TV programmes). From time to time there are some topics and details which are in the centre of readers’ attention in a given period e.g.: information about universities, taxes, elections.

In the Czech Republic you can buy for example Mladá fronta dnes, Lidové noviny or Právo. In Great Britain the best known is The Times and The Gurdian, in the USA it is New York Times.

Magazines are another kind of press. They are printed on better paper then newspapers and they are issued weekly or monthly. They are more expensive than daily newspapers.

There are many types of magazines - magazines for women, men, children and young people. We can buy special ones focused on different topics - about fashion, cars, animals or pets, computers... Magazines for children content puzzles, stories, fairy tales, pictures, colouring pages etc. There are also some magazines for children and teenagers interested in science. Journals are magazines specializing in one particular field – medicine, architecture, engineering etc. All magazine articles come with a number of photos which make the text more attractive and interesting.

Our lives are closely connected with radio and television as sources of information, knowledge, entertainment or just for pleasure and relaxation. From the general point of view there exist two main categories of radio and TV: there are commercial or non-commercial. The commercial stations are supported by charging money to companies that would like to advertise their goods or services on their programmes. Non-commercial stations are paid from a state budget (people have to pay a yearly fee to the state)

Those who don′t like reading can listen to the radio. It was invented in 1914. It can broadcast 24 hours a day; it has no screen, but a lot of people turn on their radios when working, cooking, driving a car or simply want to relax.

Except for regular news we can listen to music or other programmes on various topics. Before the TV was invented people had listened to radio more often. The main advantage of listening to the radio is that we can listen to it nearly (any) everywhere - at home, at work or in a car... There are public and private stations. Public is for example Czech broadcasting (Český radiožurnál) and private is Evropa 2. There are music stations or informative stations. The most famous radio station in GB is the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), operating 4 national and 32 local radio stations.

A more comfortable type of media is television. It plays a very important role in our lives. It brings us relaxation, entertainment, education. Many people prefer watching TV to listening to the radio. It is easier to imagine what they are talking about because you can see it.

There are some public service stations: ČT 1, ČT 2, ČT 4 sport, ČT 24 (about news), and commercial stations: Nova, Prima, Barandov.

Public stations don’t interrupt films and shows with advertising. But you have to pay concessionary charge for public stations. For this charge they guarantee high quality programmes.

On private channels there are many commercial breaks. Advertising is the main source of income for TV. The programme of television differs to a radio programme.

On TV we can watch the news, weather forecast and sport matches but there are also some series, talk shows, soap operas and mores, reality shows, comedies, morning and breakfast shows, quizzes, wildlife programmes, environmental and nature films, plays, dramas or language courses.

A special and the youngest form of mass media is the Internet. People can do on the Internet almost everything - buying, chatting with friends, finding some interesting information, writing e-mails or watching movies. Nearly all of the main newspapers and magazines now have their websites as do TV and radio stations. The Internet is becoming the necessary part of our everyday lives.