Mass media

As you know, mass media consists of the press, radio and television.

There are newspapers and magazines for readers of all ages, professions and levels of training, as well as for the enthusiasts of diverse hobbies — from philately and tourism to apiculture and cinema. Besides, there are various periodicals based on particular interests. For instance, the newspaper "Accountant" is addressed mainly to businessmen, "Medical Newspaper" — to medical workers, and a lot of newspapers and magazines are published especially for teachers of schools, colleges and universities, for stockbrokers, etc.

Today's Ukrainian periodicals are independent and the state guarantees their economic independence. Nowadays Ukraine numbers over 4.000 editions varying in forms of ownership, genre, type, and periodicity.

People always anxiously await the next issues of these periodicals and when they come on sale, queues form early in the morning at newsstands.

Nobody can doubt the role of the press in present-day life. It is extremely important. People in our country are great readers of newspapers and magazines. A lot of them subscribe to various papers and journals which are delivered to their homes. The "The Facts" is a local independent paper, and its circulation is very big, because this newspaper informs the readers of local and national events. Besides, I am fond of reading such magazines as "Vitchizna," "Vsesvit," newspapers the "News from Ukraine" and the "Digest" which are published in English. Their contents deal with very burning problems of our present-day life and history, sometimes they are amusing and entertaining and touch upon cultural and sport events. In any case they help me to improve my English.

There are also magazines for children, young people and women, socio-political, literary, scientific, popular-science, sports and satirical periodicals. They can be daily, weekly, quarterly or monthly.

There is a wide network of TV and radio broadcasting in our country. Television is now increasingly being used to analyze the socio-economic progress taking place in Ukraine. It focuses more on reports, discussions, commentaries and dialogues with viewers. They discuss ways of improving the Ukrainian economy and solving social problems. During such discussions there are tens of thousands of phone calls from viewers all which are not left unanswered.

Many people watch TV at leisure. One can choose the program one likes be Those who like music can listen to various concerts. Sport fans can watch football hockey matches. Television extends our knowledge about the world in which we live. Millions of people can see different lands, new plants, unusual animals and birds, mountains and valleys.

The national radio-and-television network of Ukraine is made up of government-run and non-government-run companies. Ukraine is a member of the International Telecommunication Union and an active participant in the Intervision network, created under ITU auspices. The State TV and Radio Company operates two channels and include editorial services specializing in political analysis, public-political programs, current information, youth and sports programs and several creative unions and their channels. Lately there have appeared the increasingly popular non-government TV companies "Tet-a-Tet," "UTAR," "Gravis," etc.

Among Ukraine's information agencies special popularity marks the "UKRIFORM" (Ukrainian National Information Agency), the Ukrainian Independent Information Agency "Respublika" (UNIAR), the Ukrainian Independent News Agency "Interfax-Ukraina" (UNIAN), etc. These agencies have correspondents and reporter in every administrative region and abroad and disseminate press, radio, photo, video arte TV information both within and outside Ukraine. Professional journalists are associated it the National Press Club, a public politically non-affiliated organization whose main target and purpose consist in extending contacts among the media people in Ukraine and beyond its borders, and in improving the Ukrainian journalists' professional experience.