The tendency of news reports in the media to focus more on problems and emergencies than on positive developments is harmful to individuals and society as a whole. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Sample Response
In an era when digital products are widely spread, the question of whether the news in the mediameida choose to report more badbead problems and emergencies than positive developments has sparked an intense debate. While some argue that this brings more benefits, I ambenefits. I an firmly convinced that its drawbacks far outweigh its benefitsdismerits far outweigh than merits. On one hand, too much bad news is not good for people. If people always read news about crime, disaster or violencefight, they will think the world is very dangerous. Many people feel nervous and scared to go out or talk with strangers. For society, if the media keep showingmedia keep show many serious problems, people will not trust the governmenttrust government so much. They believe society becomes worse and worse, and this feeling isbe bad for social peace. Besides, bad news spreadsspread quickly, so the media often usemedia like use shocking news to get more viewers and earn more money. They just want more clicks, and do not care about people'sdo not care people’s bad mood. On the other hand, reporting problems and sudden emergencies also hasreport problems and sudden danger also have some good sides. News tells people what bad things happenNews tell people what bad thing happen near them, so people can know how to keep safe. For example, when media warn people about floods or firestell people flood or fire warning, local people can prepare early and suffer fewer losseslose less things. Also, such reports push governments and large companiesthese news push government and big company to fix social problems. If no one talkstalk about social weakness, many unfair things will never be seen and changed. But these good points cannot stop the large harm to public. In conclusion, although reporting bad news has small useful functions, the harm it bringsbring to people and society is much bigger. So I believe media should not always choose terrible storiesstory to attract readers. They need to report more good developments to balance people’s feeling.
Why this response received Band 6.5
The essay presents a clear opinion and effectively addresses both individual and societal impacts of negative news coverage. While the response demonstrates logical organization and fully answers the prompt, its main limitations lie in frequent grammatical slips and occasional awkward vocabulary choices. To improve, the writer should focus on refining grammatical accuracy in complex structures and using more varied, precise language throughout the response.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
You present a clear stance throughout the essay and thoroughly address the impact of negative news on both individuals and society.
Deepen your main arguments with more sophisticated real-world examples rather than general hypothetical scenarios.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response is organized logically into distinct paragraphs with clear central topic sentences and effective transitions.
Vary your cohesive devices beyond basic linking expressions like on one hand and on the other hand to make paragraph connections flow more naturally.
Lexical Resource
You use a sufficient range of topic-related words to convey your ideas clearly, though some choices and spellings are inaccurate.
Eliminate basic spelling mistakes and replace informal or clumsy word combinations with accurate academic collocations.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mixture of simple and complex sentence forms is attempted, but frequent subject-verb agreement and structural errors are present.
Proofread your writing carefully to correct basic verb form mistakes and ensure accurate clause combinations.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
The tendency of news reports in the media to focus more on problems and emergencies than on positive developments is harmful to individuals and society as a whole. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.