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
Topic: News editors decide what to broadcast on television what to print in newspapers. What factors do you think influence this decision? Do we become used to bad news? Would it be better if more good news was reported? It is true that the decision of news editor is the final judgment of the news report, which is broadcasted to our media like television and newspaper. This is certainly true that there are a number of factors that always affect to adopt these decisions. However, it can be argued that good news may bring peace and happiness of a nation. There are several factors that act as a precursor of the news editor that influence them to take decisions what to broadcast or print to their media. Firstly, perhaps most news editors want to increase the selling of their newspapers in order to rapidly rise up their profit. Secondly, popularity and true news are other significant factors, which influence the news editors to make a decision. Finally, some news editors of developing countries are affected by the political governments to take a decision about their news report. Recently, we see that many newspapers and televisions channels are publishing bad news. For example, many media, NTV and BTV in particular in Bangladesh, are always broadcasting about the lifestyle of celebrities, which is neither informative nor important. Moreover, this type of news spoils the life of an adult person. If the media provides good news such as educational, scientific and so on, these can motivate the younger to achieve more knowledge. This could result in the immense advantage of a nation. In conclusion, while news editors are inspired by the several factors to make a decision about a news report, it can be argued that good news is more indispensable than bad news. Therefore, news editor should broadcast and print such type of news, which can bring many benefits to the human being.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Add missing article Original: decision of news editor Suggested revision: decision of a news editor Why it matters: The singular countable noun “editor” requires an article.
- 2. Clarify editorial decision Original: final judgment of the news report Suggested revision: final decision about the news report Why it matters: Editors make a decision “about” a report rather than a judgment “of” it.
- 3. Use irregular participle Original: broadcasted Suggested revision: broadcast Why it matters: The past participle of “broadcast” is “broadcast,” not “broadcasted.”
- 4. Fix media preposition Original: to our media Suggested revision: through media Why it matters: News is transmitted “through” media rather than “to” media in this context.
- 5. Use plural medium Original: newspaper Suggested revision: newspapers Why it matters: The general reference to printed outlets requires the plural noun “newspapers.”
- 6. Use sales collocation Original: increase the selling of their newspapers Suggested revision: increase their newspaper sales Why it matters: “Increase sales” is the natural commercial expression.
- 7. Fix profit phrase Original: rapidly rise up their profit Suggested revision: rapidly increase their profits Why it matters: A company “increases” profits; “rise up” is intransitive and redundant here.
- 8. Name accuracy factor Original: popularity and true news Suggested revision: popularity and news accuracy Why it matters: “Accuracy” is the natural abstract quality, whereas “true news” is awkward.
- 9. Fix location preposition Original: of Suggested revision: in Why it matters: The editors work “in” those countries rather than belonging to them as possessions.
- 10. Clarify political influence Original: affected by the political governments Suggested revision: influenced by governments Why it matters: “Governments” already expresses the political institution, making “political” redundant.
- 11. Use concise harm phrase Original: spoils the life of an adult person Suggested revision: harms adults' lives Why it matters: The revision states the effect concisely and uses a natural plural generalisation.
- 12. Complete category nouns Original: good news such as educational, scientific and so on Suggested revision: positive educational and scientific news Why it matters: The adjectives need a noun to describe, and “and so on” leaves the list incomplete.
Suggested Rewrites
- decision of news editor decision of a news editor
- final judgment of the news report final decision about the news report
- broadcasted broadcast
- to our media through media
- newspaper newspapers
- increase the selling of their newspapers increase their newspaper sales
Why this response received Band 5.5
The essay’s strongest feature is its identification of several plausible editorial influences and its clear support for more educational and scientific reporting. Its main limitation is incomplete task coverage: it never explains whether people become accustomed to bad news, and its celebrity example is not clearly connected to that question; the highest-priority improvement is to answer each of the three questions in a separate, focused section.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The response discusses editorial factors and argues for more good news, but it does not answer whether audiences become used to bad news and some support is only loosely relevant.
Add a direct paragraph explaining habituation to repeated negative reporting and its consequences for attention, emotion, or public perception.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response has an identifiable introduction, sequence of factors, and conclusion, but copied task wording, one-block presentation, and mechanical listing weaken progression.
Use separate paragraphs for editorial influences, habituation to bad news, and the case for more positive reporting.
Lexical Resource
Some topic vocabulary is present, but inaccurate choices such as “precursor of the news editor,” “increase the selling,” and “immense advantage” limit precision.
Use “influence editorial decisions,” “increase circulation,” “political pressure,” and “benefit society.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Frequent errors in agreement, articles, prepositions, plurals, and relative clauses sometimes make the argument difficult to follow.
Write shorter sentences and check forms such as “editors make,” “television channels,” “young people,” and “news that can bring benefits.”
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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.