Over to You

Welcome to the first edition for this school year of Media Scope, the weekly media-studies page. Every week we'll look at a different topic from the media world - from newspapers to the World Wide Web, from TV to radio - with special attention to the media that target young people - magazines, sports programmes, radio stations and websites. There will also be competitions and tips on how you can create your own media products. The `Day in the Life' section will give readers an idea about the reality of various media-related jobs. For Media Scope subscribers (see below), there will be extra material too, including classroom-friendly worksheets.

Media Scope is interactive. Be sure to send us your comments on the page and your ideas about things we should cover. And by writing to Media Scope's `Over to You' column, you get a chance to have a closer look at how the media world works.

Are you interested in one week's work placement in The Irish Times? Transition Year students can learn first-hand about the workings of this newspaper if their submission is published in Media Scope's weekly Over to You column. Just send us a 200-word piece on a media-related topic - if it's published, the placement is yours. Simon Halpin from Templeogue, Dublin, got his in early!

Simon Halpin, Terenure College, Dublin

On having a brief perusal of the pages of last month's Golf Monthly magazine, I quickly realised that if I wanted to get full value out of this edition, I would have to endure reading a surprisingly large amount of advertisements. By my rough estimation, they covered a whopping 40 per cent of the total space between its covers.

This trend is increasingly common across the entire spectrum of the magazine industry. Editors are seemingly beginning to lose touch with their readers' best interests. Raising revenue through advertising begins to look like an alarming new priority over the importance of what the consumer wants.

By and large, the magazines have varied little in size over the years, but such is the growth in advertising that it has had a profound effect on the amount of actual journalism, which continues to shrink. If this trend continues, it won't be long until we see the main office of the local periodical empty and silent, with any signs of journalism long gone as the printing press monotonously beats out the same content of advertising month after month.

It's alarming prospect that needs to be addressed. If Advertising Monthly appeals to you, then you will be busy for a while; but for the rest of us, I think it's time we worked on getting that percentage down.

Write to media scope by posting your comments to Newspaper in the Classroom, The Irish Times, 11-16 D'Olier Street, Dublin 2, or faxing them to (01) 679 2789. Be sure to include your name, address and school, plus phone numbers for home and school. Or you can use the Internet and e-mail us at mediapage@irishtimes.ie

media scope is a weekly media studies page for use in schools. Group rates and a special worksheet service (see `faxback', right) are available: FREEPHONE 1800-798884.