Transcription
[Music] Hi, we're going to look at the media in Britain. We're going to find out about television, radio, and the internet. But first, what do you know about British newspapers and [Music] magazines?
The British love their newspapers. Two out of three British people over the age of 15 read a newspaper every day; that's about 26 million people. Even more people read a paper on Sundays. What do they read? The two most popular daily newspapers are tabloids: The Sun and The Mirror. Over 3 and a half million people buy The Sun every day, and over 2 and a quarter million buy The Mirror. In tabloid papers, you'll find more gossip, more human interest stories, more pictures, and not very much serious news. These newspapers are larger; they're called broadsheets or quality papers. About a million people buy The Daily Telegraph and about 700,000 buy The Times. There's also The Independent and The Guardian. In these papers, you'll find more news, more serious articles, and fewer pictures. Altogether, there are about 130 daily and Sunday papers in Britain, some national, some local. There are also over 6,500 different different magazines.
Of course, nowadays, not everyone actually buys a newspaper. Some people read their newspaper online. Over 75,000 people visit this website every day. The number of people in Britain who use the internet is increasing all the time. A lot of people also listen to the news on the radio—BBC Radio 4, the news at 7:00. The Chancellor, Gordon Brown… The BBC is the British Broadcasting Corporation. It has five national radio stations, 39 local stations, and two terrestrial television channels. The BBC is not commercial; there's no advertising during their programs. British people have to buy a television license every year. The BBC uses the money from this to make television and radio programs. Here they're filming *Middlemarch*, the classic novel by George Eliot.
There are three other terrestrial TV channels: ITV (that's Independent Television), Channel 4, and Channel 5. These are all commercial and have advertising, of course. There's satellite and cable TV, too. There are lots of satellite and cable channels. On average, British people watch almost 24 hours of television a week. Most households have at least one television, and 46% of British children have a television in their bedroom.
How often do you watch TV? Um, nearly every day. Uh, quite a lot, every night, usually. I watch television every night. I watch it for about 2 hours a day. Not very much each day. I watch an hour of television. What's your favorite program? My favorite program is *Neighbors*. My favorite program is *The Simpsons*. I like sports, mainly on television—football, rugby. My favorite programs are the soap operas like *EastEnders*. My favorite programs are *EastEnders*, *The Simpsons*, and *Friends*. My favorite program is MTV. My favorite programs are *Friends* and *The Simpsons*. What are you going to watch tonight? Um, tonight I'm going to watch *Neighbors* and *Friends*. Tonight I'll probably watch *Top of the Pops*. I'm going to watch *Neighbors* and *Friends*. Tonight I'll probably watch *Top of the Pops* and *Friends*.
4% of British homes have a video recorder; that's more than in any other European country. What kind of videos do you watch? I watch action and sci-fi videos. I like comedy films. I like old films like *Casablanca* and *Citizen Kane*. I watch skateboarding and rollerblading videos. I normally watch comedy videos. It's interesting that in Britain more people have a television than a washing machine, but my washing machine has a terrible picture.