Nowadays there are so many types of media available that it is hard to know which to choose. Some are very traditional, like books, while others are much more recent inventions, like social networking sites. In this essay I will compare the pros and cons of three types of media: books, radio and television.

Books have been around for thousands of years. Their greatest strength is that they are physical objects which can be kept, lent and read again and again. Therefore they can be used to record information permanently, to share it and to check it when needed. The problem is, though, that they have only words and pictures at their disposal, which is not enough to communicate certain experiences such as fighting in a war or travelling to outer space.

Radio is a more recent addition to our lives. One main advantage is that radio is always up to date. Whereas books quickly fall behind current events and knowledge, radio can provide the latest news and broadcast shows that deal with the most important issues of the day. Its weakness, however, is that it lacks images, which is particularly problematic when trying to communicate highly visual events like sports matches or natural phenomena.

Television is the most modern of these three forms of media. Its principal benefit is that it can broadcast images, text and sound, combining the roles of books and radio. This makes it particularly effective at communicating human emotion, when we can hear someone’s voice as well as seeing their facial expressions. The main problem is that due to its comprehensive capabilities, watching television is very passive. Because viewers do not need to make an effort to imagine anything, they may actually pay less attention and so absorb less information.

To conclude, I believe that television is the most effective of these three means of communicating information, due to its combination of sound and video. However, books and radios are still vitally important and have their own benefits too.