News editors decide what to broadcast on television and what to print in newspapers. What factors do you think influence these decisions? Do we become used to bad news? Would it be better if more good news was reported?
Sample Response
It has often been said that "Good news is bad news" because it does not sell newspapers. A radio station that once decided to present only good news soon found that it had gone out of business for lack of listeners. Bad news, on the other hand, is so common that in order to cope with it, we often simply ignore it. We have become immune to bad news and the newspapers and radio stations are aware of this. While newspapers and TV stations may aim to report world events accurately, be they natural or human disasters, political events or the horrors of war, it is also true that their main objective is to sell newspapers and attract listeners and viewers to their stations. For this reason, TV and radio stations attempt to reflect the flavour of their station by providing news broadcasts tailor-made to suit their listeners' preferences. Program specialising in pop music or TV soap operas focus more on local news, home issues and up-to-date traffic reports. The more serious stations and newspapers like to provide "so-called" objective news reports with the editorial comment aimed at analysing the situation. If it is true, then, that newspapers and TV stations are tailoring their news to their readers' and viewers' requirements how can they possibly be reporting real world events in an honest and objective light? Many radio and TV stations do; in fact, report items of good news but they no longer call this news. They refer to these as human interest stories and package them in the program specialising, for instance, in consumer affairs or local issues. Good news now comes to us in the form of documentaries the fight against children cancer or AIDS, or the latest developments in the fight to save the planet from environmental pollution.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use precise contrast Original: natural or human disasters Suggested revision: natural or human-made disasters Why it matters: Human-made provides a clearer contrast with natural disasters.
- 2. Clarify the metaphor Original: reflect the flavour of their station Suggested revision: reflect the character of each station Why it matters: Character is clearer than flavour, and each resolves the mismatch with the singular noun station.
- 3. Remove redundancy Original: tailor-made to suit Suggested revision: tailored to Why it matters: Tailored to already expresses adaptation, so to suit repeats the same meaning.
- 4. Include all audiences Original: listeners Suggested revision: audiences Why it matters: Audiences covers both radio listeners and television viewers mentioned in the sentence.
- 5. Fix subject agreement Original: Program Suggested revision: Programs Why it matters: The plural subject programs is required to agree with focus.
- 6. Use precise term Original: home Suggested revision: domestic Why it matters: Domestic issues is the more natural term for matters within the country or local area.
- 7. Avoid vague comparison Original: The more serious stations and newspapers Suggested revision: News outlets with a more serious focus Why it matters: This wording states the intended distinction without leaving the comparison implied.
- 8. Correct collocation Original: with the editorial comment Suggested revision: with editorial commentary Why it matters: Editorial commentary is the natural uncountable expression in this context.
- 9. Clarify modifier Original: aimed at analysing Suggested revision: that analyses Why it matters: A relative clause makes it clear that the editorial commentary performs the analysis.
- 10. Remove disruptive punctuation Original: If it is true, then, that Suggested revision: If it is true that Why it matters: The inserted then and commas interrupt the conditional clause unnecessarily.
- 11. Separate question clause Original: requirements how Suggested revision: requirements, how Why it matters: A comma is needed before the main interrogative clause beginning with how.
- 12. Hyphenate compound modifier Original: real world events Suggested revision: real-world events Why it matters: Real-world needs a hyphen when it functions as a compound modifier before events.
Suggested Rewrites
- natural or human disasters natural or human-made disasters
- reflect the flavour of their station reflect the character of each station
- tailor-made to suit tailored to
- listeners audiences
- Program Programs
- home domestic
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response offers perceptive explanations of commercial pressure, audience preferences, and public desensitization, supported by a strong range of topic-specific vocabulary. However, it never clearly decides whether reporting more good news would be better, and presenting the whole essay as one paragraph weakens the structure. Give each question a distinct, developed response and state an explicit judgement about the value of increasing positive coverage.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The factors shaping news selection and habituation to bad news are relevant, but the final question about whether more good news would be better is not directly answered.
State and justify a clear judgement on increased good-news reporting rather than only describing where positive stories currently appear.
Coherence and Cohesion
The ideas follow a broadly logical sequence and linking is generally clear, but the absence of paragraphing obscures the response's separate arguments.
Organize the response into focused paragraphs for editorial influences, desensitization, and the evaluation of more positive news.
Lexical Resource
The response uses a broad, flexible range of precise media-related vocabulary, with only a few awkward or inaccurate combinations.
Refine expressions such as children cancer and programs specialising so otherwise strong lexical control remains consistently natural.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A variety of complex structures is attempted successfully, although agreement, punctuation, and missing-word errors recur in several sentences.
Proofread sentence boundaries and clause links, especially the rhetorical question, the misplaced semicolon, and the final documentary example.
Write this task while it is fresh
Try the same task now. It helps you remember the feedback and write better next time.
IELTS Writing Task 2
News editors decide what to broadcast on television and what to print in newspapers. What factors do you think influence these decisions? Do we become used to bad news? Would it be better if more good news was reported?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.