Hallo,
Personally, I think that there is nothing worse than having a group of students sit in total silence reading a text.
Teaching English should be about communication, so therefore, I think that it is better to get the students to read the text before them come into the class. The time in the class can be better used to discuss the text, or by getting the students to write their own comprehension questions to test each other.
I have spoken to students and most of them tell me that they hate reading texts in class. It is totally passive, and is only useful for students that need a lot of help with pronunciation. However, you run the danger of making a fool out of somebody in front of the whole class. If you are introducing a text that they have not seen before, then get them to speed read it for specific information and try to make the task as dynamic and communicative as possible.
I think that reading skills should also use some active skills, so it is good to build up the context before introducing the text (receptive skills), and then put the students in real life situations where time is limited. Make sure that the reading skill is also about improving the students ability to scan for specific information, rather than long sessions spent trying to decipher every individual word.
Dedalus