The British press consists of several kinds of newspapers. The national papers are the ones sold all over the country, with a large circulation, giving general news. There are two main types of national paper – the “popular” papers and the “quality” papers. The popular papers are smaller in size (they are tabloid size), with lots of pictures, big headlines and short articles. They are easy to read and often contain little real information. They give much space to opinions. They usually have “human interest” stories – stories about ordinary people and events. Examples of this type of newspapers are “The Daily Mail”. “The Sun”, etc.
“Quality” papers appeal to the more serious reader, who wants to read about politics and foreign affairs. These papers such as “The Daily Telegraph”, “The Guardian” are bigger in size (they are called “broad-sheets”), with longer articles and a wider coverage of events. They have different pages for home news, foreign affairs, features articles, fashion, business, sport and so on.
People in Britain buy more papers on Sunday than on weekdays. The Sunday papers have a higher circulation than the dailies. As with the dailies, there are both popular and quality Sunday newspapers. The quality ones have different sections and a colour magazine (usually full of advertisements)
Тelevision is the most popular leisure pastime in Russia. Several television channels are in operation: “Ostankino”. “Russian Channel”, “Independent TV Channel – NTV”. Besides them there are local TV channels and local commercial TV channels in big cities and republics of Russia.
TV services provide programmes of general interest such as light entertainment, sport, current affairs, serious drama, music. There are programmes on arts, children’s and family programmes, interview with outstanding personalities, news reports covering international, national and local events.
Much attention is paid to foreign films, American in particular, foreign TV programmes and soap operas.
Television is one of the most popular mass media in Britain. Some 96 per cent of population have television in their homes. It is estimated that about 10 per cent of household have two or more sets. Average viewing time per person is over 17 hours a week.
Four television channels are in operation: BBC-1. BBC-2. ITV. Channel-4.
The BBC has been providing regular television broadcasts since 1936. BBC television productions come from main studios at the Television Centre in west London and other studios in various parts of London.
The first regular independent television broadcast began in London in 1955. Independent television programmes are produced at 18 studio centres throughout the country.
