Media

Media

objectivity/impartiality of providing information
stars/celebrities

As this age is considered /megfontolt/ to be the age of information, media plays a very important role in our daily
lives. The television, the radio, newspapers and the Internet are just a few examples of communication.
When we wake up in the morning, we turn on the TV, watch the news or the weather forecast /előrejelzés/. While
having breakfast, a lot of people like to read their favorite newspaper, and when they set off to work, they turn on
the radio in their car. At their workplace, or after they got home, they use their computers to surf the Internet.
Of course, we can’t stay out of the current political topics or not be influenced /befolyás/ by one of the parties, as
every single form of media reflects /reagál/ the interests of one party, at least. None of the tools /eszközök/ of the
media can be considered to be objective, though /bár/, we still keep using them, as we form our opinion based on
our own ideas, interests and needs, not really on what others may say.
In Hungary, I would say that the most used form of media is the Internet, as it is available almost everywhere, it
is fast and by the time /amikorra/ we get the daily newspaper in our hands, there are already at least five updates
about the same topic we read in the morning. The more people use the web to search for information, the age of
printed news is about its end, because we can choose what we want to be informed about, and what is out of our
interest. That probably is the reason why there is a significant difference in the number of newspaper ordering
between these days and a decade /évtized/ ago.
This is not the same with the TV, as it was and still is very popular. As soon as we get home, turn it on, we can
listen to music, watch a film or sit down in front of fascinating /lebilincselő/ series. According to our own taste
/ízlés/, we can choose whether we would like to watch something on a public or a commercial /kereskedelmi/
channel. The main difference between them is that the public channels run on the money of the government and
are mostly available for everybody, while the commercial channels use the commercials for their living. The
highest price of a commercial is at the time when a channel gets a punishment for something, like the program
proved /bizonyul/ to be harmful /káros/ for younger kids, or the age mark /korhatár/ at the corner /sarok/ is not
good. It has a psychological reason: when people hear that there will be a break at programs, they switch the TV
to that channel and watch the clock counting /számol/ back. The first seconds and minutes are very
influencing /hatásos/ when everything starts again, as people see those advertisements /hirdetés, reklám/ first.
An other great source /forrás/ of income /bevétel/ are the reality shows and other programs, which are based on
the viewers /néző/ votes. People sit down in front of the screen and send text messages to keep their favorite
characters in the game or competition /verseny/ they are watching. Sometimes the money we spend on sending
those messages can be incredibly /hihetetlenül/ much, and this money goes only to the founders /alapító/, and the
show runs on /folytatódik/. We should think about that it could me much more useful if we would send that
money to a charity /jótékonyság/, but as it’s a human habit, we like to spend money what entertains /szórakoztat/
us, not on things that would be good for others, like orphans /árvák/, too.
Also, while we are await /várakozik/ the show to go on, there are other long commercials, which are usually very
boring and annoying /bosszantó/ for an average /átlag/ person, but this is the price of our favorite programs to
run. During the five or ten minute long advertisement /reklám, hirdetés/ time we switch to an other channel, and
watch the news, which is usually about the bad things that happened in the world. We rarely hear about the
opening ceremony of a new school or hospital, because not everybody thinks it to be important, but likes to hear
more about natural disasters and other sad things, like protesting /tiltakozás/ ended up in catastrophe. Also, we
can’t hear a lot about the current political issues, though it is sure that all of the channels, writers and speakers
have their own opinion and tell the stories from their viewpoints /álláspont/, sometimes influencing our decisions
and feelings about the political parties.
When somebody decides /(el)dönt/ to work as a writer, reporter /riporter, tudosító/ or editor /szerkesztő/, they
have to participate /részt vesz, közreműködik/ in different style classes and practice a lot of different styles. I’ve
heard from one of my acquaintances /ismerős/ that she worked for a television channel for a short time, and they
had to write articles /(újság)cikkek/ in the styles of specific newspapers for practicing. In Hungary, we can easily
tell apart which newspaper, website or TV channel reflects /reagál/ which political party’s interests. That’s why I
say there is no objectivity /tárgyilagosság/, and it can never be, as people may try not to take their personal
feelings, interests and thoughts in a report or an opinion-piece as hard as they can, but yes, there still is at least a
tiny /apró, pici/ piece of it in their products.
The government always takes control over public channels, just for an example, HírTV is for the right wing,
ATV is for the left wing party. I found it a dirty thing to take advantage of our everyday habits and influence us