HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY OF ENGLISH ESSAY BRITISH CULTURAL II Topic : MEDIA HỌC VIÊN THỰC HIỆN: LÊ ANH TUẤN LỚP: ANH B2K6D Huế, tháng 3/2012 PART I. INTRODUCTION British people watch a lot of television, but this does not mean that they have given up reading. The British are the third largest consumers of newspapers in the world (after the Japanese and the Swedes). Each day about 80 % of all households buy one of the main national newspapers. Media of Britain consist of several different types of communications media: television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and Internet - based Web sites. In this assignment, I will present some contents about press, the BBC, television of Britain. PART II. DISCUSSION 2.1. The importance of the national press Newspaper publication is dominated by the national press, which is an indication of the comparative weakness of regional identity in Britain. The national papers always appear in the mornings. The morning newspaper is a British household institution; such an important one that, until the laws were relaxed in the early 1990s, newsagents are the only shops that were allowed to open on Sundays. The “Sunday papers” are so-called because that is the only day on which they appear. Some of them are sisters of a daily but employing separate editors and journalists. Another indication of the importance of “the papers” is the morning “paper round”. Teenager delivered to readers’s door their morning paper every day in order to earn a bit of extra pocket money. 2.2. The two types of national newspaper All newspapers in Britain, daily or Sunday ones, can broadly he divided into the quality papers and the popular press. 1 The ‘quality papers’, or ‘broadsheets’, cater for the better educated readers. They include The Star, The Daily Mirror, The Daily Mail, The Daily Express, The Sun The quality papers The ‘popular papers’, or ‘tabloids’, sell to a much larger readership. They include The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent, The Times , The Financial Times The popular papers Differences between tabloids and broadsheets: Tabloids Broadsheets Contain less print and far more pictures Contain more print and less pictures Uses larger headlines Uses normal headlines Write in a simpler style of English Write in a much higher level of English Concentrate on ‘human interest’ stories sex and scandal Devote much space to politics and other serious news Equal amounts of attention to sport Equal amount of attention to sport Different approaches and subjects Different approaches and subjects Twice as large 2.3. The characteristics of the national press 2.3.1. Politics The way politics is presented in the national newspapers reflects the fact that British political parties are essentially parliamentary organizations. Although different papers have differing political outlooks, none of the large newspapers is an organ of a political party. What counts for the newspaper publishers is business. All of them are in the business first and foremost to make money. The British press is controlled by a rather small number of extremely large multinational companies. One of notable features is its freedom from interference from government influence, which is virtually absolute. 2.3.2. Sex and scandal The other feature of the national press which is partially the result of the commercial interests of its owners is its shallowness. Some of the tabloids have almost give up even the pretence of dealing with serious matters. Apart from sport, their page are full of little except stories about the private lives of famous people. Some time their “stories” are not articles at all, they are just excuses to show pictures of almost naked women. This emphasis on revealing the details of people’s private lives has led to discussion about the possible need to restrict the freedom of the press. Many journalists now appear to spend their time trying to discover the most sensational secrets of well-known persionalities, or even of ordinary people. Complaints regarding invasions of privacy are dealt with by the Press Complaints Commission (PPC). This organization is made up of the newspaper editors and journalists. It follows a Code of Practice which sets limits on the extent to which new papers should publish details of people’s private lives. Many people are not happy with this arrangement and various governments have tried to formulate laws on the matter. However, against the right to privacy the press has successfully been able to oppose the concept of the public’s “right to know”. British adults never read comics, they are read only by children. Most people don’t use newspapers for “serious” news. For this, they turn to another source-broadcasting. For Viet Nam, after the war, presses were set up in Hanoi and the basis for the country's newspaper industry as it exists today was formed, with the main Communist Party organ, Nhan Dan, established in 1951. 2 Vietnamese newspapers for information on local issues, politics, events, celebrations, people and business. Looking for accommodation, shopping, bargains and weather then this is the place to start. Information about holidays, vacations, resorts, real estate and property together with finance, stock market and investments reports; also look for theater, movies, culture, entertainment, activities and events all covered in Vietnamese newspapers. The national press included publications intended for the general public as well as those aimed at specific audiences, such as women or trade union members. Separate journals and newspapers covered sports, culture, economics, social sciences, the military, and science and technology. Each of the thirty-six provinces and the three autonomous municipalities, as well as the special zone, published a newspaper and one or more journals dealing with culture, education, and science and technology. Local newspapers covered local events and did not compete with national publications. 3 2.4. The BBC Just as the British Parliament has the reputation for being “the mother of parliaments, so the BBC might be said to be ‘the mother of information services”. In theory, therefore, it would be easy for a government to influence what the BBC does. Nevertheless, partly by historical accident, the BBC began, right from the start, to establish its effective independence and it reputation for impartiality. This first occurred through the medium of radio broadcasts to peole in Britain. Then, in 1932 the BBC World service was set up, with a licence to broadcast first to the empire and then to ther parts of the world. During the Second World War it became identified with the principles of democracy and free speech. In this way the BBC’s fame became international. For Viet Nam, the first Vietnamese-language radio transmission was made on September 2, 1945 when Ho Chi Minh read out the Declaration of Independence. Prior to 1945, Vietnamese people were banned from owning radio receivers, and broadcasting was under control of the French colonial government, which established the first radio station in Vietnam, Radio Saigon, in the late 1920s. Vietnam's national radio station, now called the Voice of Vietnam (VOV), during the Vietnam War, Radio Hanoi operated as a propaganda tool of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam. Following Reunification, all of the radio stations were combined into the Voice of Vietnam, which became the national radio station in 1978. 4 VOV is assigned the task of managing the radio broadcasting system throughout Việt Nam. Its overall objective is to provide high-quality programming for its listeners, using the latest technology. By the year 2000 its programmes had reached more than 80 per cent of all households throughout the country. Since 1 July 1994 VOV has been broadcast on five channels for domestic listeners and one channel to overseas audiences in 12 different languages. 2.5. Television 2.5.1. Organization Television has long since taken over from radio as the most significant form of broadcasting in Britain. Its independence from government interference is largely a matter of tacit agreement. Independent Television (ITV), which started in 1954, get its money from the advertisements it screens. It consists of a number of privately owned companies, each of which is responsible for programming in different parts of the country on the single channel given to it. In practice, these companies cannot afford to make all their own programmes, and they generally share those they make. Most importantly for the structure of commercial television, ITV news programmes are not made by individual television companies. Independent Television News (ITN) is owned jointly by all of them. For this and other reasons, it has always been protected from commercial influence. Only about a fifth of households receive satellite and/ or cable, and so far these channels have not significantly reduced the viewing figures for the four main national channels. There are the channels which all viewers in the country receice: BBC1, ITV, BBC2, channel 4. 2.5.2. Style Although the advent of ITV did not affect television coverage of news and current affairs, it did cause a change in the style and content of other programmes shown on television. The amount of money that a television company can charge an advertiser depends on the expected number of viewers at the time when the advertisement is to be shown. Of particular importance in the ratings war is the performance of the channels’ various soap operas. The two most popular and long-running of these, which are shown at least twice a week, are not glamorous American production showing rich and powerful people. The British prefer this kind of pseudo-realism in their soaps. In the early 1990s, the BBC spent a lot of money filming a new soap called Eldorado, set in a small Spanish village which was home to a large number of expatriate British people. Viewers found the complicated storylines and the Spanish accents too difficult to follow, and could not identify with the situations in which the characters found themselves. It was all just too glamorous for them. It was abandoned after only a year. Vietnam Television, or VTV, is the national television broadcaster for Vietnam. Like all media of Vietnam, its programming is directly controlled by the government. The first television broadcasts in Vietnam were in the 1960s when the United States set up two channels (one Vietnamese language and one in English) in Saigon. VTV now is the largest television network in the nation, broadcast in nine FTA channels and available internationally via satellite. VTV also operates the largest cable network (VCTV) and a DTH satellite service. These carry the nine FTA VTV channels: VTV1 - VTV9 (no VTV 7, VTV8), fourteen Vietnamese subscription channels: VCTV1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (RealTV), 6, 7, 8 (BiBi), 9 (InfoTV), 10 (O2TV), 11 (TV Shopping), 12 (Style TV), 15 (Invest TV), sport TV, and about 45 local & international channels. 5 PART III. CONCLUSION In summary, media of the Britain consist of several different types of communications media: press, television, radio The Britain also has a strong music industry. The Britain has a diverse range of providers, the most prominent being principle public service broadcaster, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Regional media is covered by local radio, television and print newspapers. Media of Vietnam are tightly regulated by the Vietnamese government. First and foremost, the media are a tool for government information and propaganda. The government views the media as "the voice of the party and of the masses," and sees its main function as being "to propagate the party's lines and policies. Though market competition has caused the Vietnamese media to embrace popular culture, newspapers, radio and television are still compelled to reflect on the fundamentals of Marxism- Leninism and the ideals of Ho Chi Minh. 6 PART IV. REFERENCES 1. Dr Emma Hanna, An Introduction to researching New Media in Britain, University of Greenwich 2. James O’Driscoll (1995), Britain, Oxford University Press 3. Harcourt, Alison (2006), European Union Institutions and the Regulation of Media Markets. London, New York: Manchester University Press. 4. Natalya Predtechenskaya, 2002, Newspapers in Britain. 5. Perry Keller. Media Law in Britain 6. http://www.vietnamjournalism.com 7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_of_Vietnam 8. . http://eng.1september.ru/2002/08/1.htm 9. http://countrystudies.us/vietnam/64.htm 10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_of_Vietnam#Television . FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY OF ENGLISH ESSAY BRITISH CULTURAL II Topic : MEDIA HỌC VIÊN THỰC HIỆN: LÊ ANH TUẤN LỚP: ANH B2K6D Huế, tháng 3/2012 PART I. INTRODUCTION British people watch a lot of television,. 12 (Style TV), 15 (Invest TV), sport TV, and about 45 local & international channels. 5 PART III. CONCLUSION In summary, media of the Britain consist of several different types of communications. this assignment, I will present some contents about press, the BBC, television of Britain. PART II. DISCUSSION 2.1. The importance of the national press Newspaper publication is dominated by the