Language practice: present perfect (I have seen a film) and past simple (I saw a film)

THE MEDIA

 

1. Read the text and answer the following questions:

a. What kinds of media can you name?

b. What do you understand under the term ‘new media’ and ‘social media’?

c. What is the difference between tabloid and broadsheet?

d. What is 'infotainment'?

e. What social media do you use? Do you find it safe using them? Why? Why not?

f. How do you understand the following statement: 'The news production is biased by power and cultural relations. '

g. Do you agree with the two reasons why the reliability of journalism is doubted. Why? Why not?

h. Do you think objective journalism exists? If yes, what qualities does an objective journalist have?

 

The media are all around. We use them every day, taking them for granted as a source of information or entertainment. The most common so called traditional media are television, radio and newspapers, whereas the internet represents the new media.

 

When we need a reliable source of information we usually turn to broadsheet newspapers, watch news on television or search news websites on the internet. On the other hand, tabloid newspapers, reality or chat shows on TV are there to entertain us. There has recently been a debate about what the primary function of the media is, whether to entertain or to inform. It seems that both functions are currently important, citizens want to be both informed and entertained, which gave birth to a new term ‘infotainment’.

 

Another frequently discussed aspect of the media, and news reporting in particular, is whether the media present facts and reality. Reliability of journalists is often doubted for two reasons. Firstly, numerous bloggers nowadays report on various events, conflicts or natural disasters and there seems to be as many viewpoints on current world events as there are people reporting on it. Increasingly, it has become more and more difficult to find quality and reliable sources of information. Secondly, some argue that the news production is biased by power and cultural relations. The same event covered by Al Jazeera and the CNN, for example, may in some cases become two different stories. In that case the presented reality may be twisted by the viewpoint which produces it.

 

2. Put these expressions in the correct category:

 

 

 

 

3. Discuss with your partner:

a. What is your favourite chat show?

b. Do you watch reality shows? Why? Why not? If you watch, which one is your favourite?

c. Why do you think reality shows are so popular nowadays?

d. Do you read paper newspapers or follow the news online?

e. Which Czech newspapers do you read or know? Are they considered broadsheet or tabloid?

 

LANGUAGE PRACTICE: PRESENT PERFECT (I have seen a film) and PAST SIMPLE (I saw a film)

4. In the text find an example of present perfect tense.

 

5. Look at the statements and decide whether they are true about present perfect (PP) or past simple (PS):

a. We use it when we say when exactly something happened.

b. We use it for actions which happened in the past but we can see the result of the action in the present.

c. We use it when we talk about actions that started in the past and continue until now.

 

6. Now look at these time expressions and decide which tense you would use it with, present perfect (PP), past simple (PS) or both (B), and give an example of its use in the sentence. Pay attention to the position of the time expression in the sentences:

 

TIME EXPRESSION	TENSE	EXAMPLE
two days ago
for three weeks
already
last night
on Sunday
ever
always
yet
since 2005
recently
never
when I was a child

 

7. Translate using present perfect or past simple and the time expressions from exercise 6:

a. Před dvěma dny jsem četl zajímavý časopis.

b. Vždy měli rádi nekonečné seriály.

c. Nikdy jsem nečetla lesklé časopisy pro ženy.

d. Nedávno jsem viděla zajímavý dokumentární pořad.

e. Tohle nikdy nebyl spolehlivý zdroj informací.

f. Od roku 2000 nečtu bulvár.

g. Už 5 let čtu jen seriózní tisk.

 

 

VOCABULARY

tabloid	bulvární noviny
broadsheet	seriózní noviny
take sth. for granted	brát něco jako samozřejmost
source	zdroj
reliable	spolehlivý
recently	poslední dobou
current, -ly	současný, v současné době
be doubted	být zpochybňován
increasingly	stále více a více
be biased by sth.	být zaujatý, ovlivněný čím, neobjektivní
soap opera	„nekonečný“ seriál
glossy	lesklý, nablýskaný
documentary	dokumentární pořad
periodical	časopis, periodikum
journal	časopis, většinou odborný