PUBLIC HOLYDAYS AND CELIBRATIONS

LECTURE 10

GOVERNMENT AND THE MEDIA

Writing in 1741, the philosopher David Hume praised press freedom in Britain with the words: “Nothing is more apt to surprise a foreigner, than the extreme liberty which we enjoy in this country, of communicating whatever we please to the public, and of openly censuring every measure entered into by the king or his ministers”. Is such a boast still justified? The relationship between government and media is bound to be uneasy one in any democracy. Governments are concerned with maintaining their own authority. The media must watch the exercise of that authority, and criticize when they feel it is wrongly used. For over 50 years the government has had an arrangement for the protection of national security in the media. Its Defense, Press and Broadcasting Committee has agreed that in some circumstances the publication of certain information might endanger national security.

During the 1980s the government frequently tried to prevent discussion of sensitive issues. In 1989 the new Official Secrets Act greatly strengthened the government’s ability to prevent disclosure of sensitive information.

Topic: THE MEDIA: PRESS, RADIO AND TELEVISION

List of questions:

1. Press

2. Radio

3. Television

4. Government and the media

Literature:

1.Нестеров Н.М. Страноведение: Великобритания. Ростов на Дону, «Феникс», 2006.

2. Михайлов Н.Н. Лингвострановедение Англии. М., «Академия», 2003.

3. Артемова А.Ф. Великобритания. Книга для чтения по страноведению. М, «АСТ: Восток-Запад», 2006.

45. M. Pugh A History of Britain. Oxford, 2001.

6. M. Vaughan-Rees In Britain. Lnd., 1999.

There are only six public holidays a year in Great Britain, which are days on which people need not go in to work. They are: Christmas Day, Boxing Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Spring Bank Holiday and Late summer Bank Holiday. In Scotland, the New Year’s Day is also a public holiday. Most of these holidays are of religious origin, though it would be right to say that for the greater part of population they have long lost their religious significance and are simply days on which people relax, eat, drink and make merry. All the public holidays, except Christmas Day and Boxing Day observed on December 25^th and 26^th respectively, are moveable that is they do not fall on the same day each year. Good Day and Easter Monday depend on Easter Sunday, which falls on the first Sunday after a full moon on or after March 21^st. The Spring Bank Holiday falls on the last Monday of May in September, depending on which of the Mondays is near to June 1^st and September 1^st respectively.

Besides public holidays, there are other festivals, anniversaries and simply days, for example Pancake Day and Bonfire Night, on which certain traditions are observed, but unless they fall on a Sunday, they are ordinary working days.

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