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
In today’s modern world, a growing amount of news and information on television or newspapers hashave considerably influenced the public. Besides, what factors are impacted on reporting information on news media is an issue many people feel strongly about. This essay will discuss various influences and the phenomenon described aboveas well as associated with phenomenon above.
As far as I am concerned, there is a wide range of factorsfactor influencing which news is published and broadcastaccounting for publishing news and broadcasts. The most noticeable, I believe, is the aim of achievingthat aiming at a high audience rating so as to maximise profits. This leads to meeting diverse needspursuing the increasingly diverse needs of viewers from all walks of life in order to satisfy themsatisfy and cater to them. Another contributory factor is that infor many countries, news editors have to succumb to political pressure, distorting facts and misleading the public. To put it another way, they are controlled entirely by powerful political parties and enjoined to disregard the truth. This is particularly true in many undemocratic countries like ChinaChinese, North Korea, and Vietnam where information is seriously censored and even used to disseminate political ideaseven disseminated political ideals to guide public opinionopinions. Moreover, living in the information era, people are bombarded with a daily stream of newsthe daily amount of news, including good and bad news, from multiple media. Today’s coverage and press might sometimes be less trustworthy mainly because it often exaggerates the factsthe level of the real information, in order to attractboost the attention of the target audiencedesired audiences. Furthermore, some media companies use the stories of people’s private liveslife, seductive images and violent or obscene contentcontents to appeal to viewersappeal viewers, especially teenagers. It means that their thoughts and behaviours might be changed and shows a tendency to hatred, violence, jealousy, and even copycat phenomenon. However, the role of news media in reporting good news, such as someone’s achievement and human stories, should be acknowledged. That will make quicker progress toward society better. In conclusion, what today’s news and information on media we receive is influenced by some main factors as hooking viewers, increasing profits, and obeying political regulations. Besides, the news media can have a double-edged impact on society by the good and bad news. By doing so, we can ensure that choosing information carefully before reading and watching are indispensable to us.
Why this response received Band 6.0
The response’s strongest feature is its substantial discussion of commercial, political, and sensationalist influences on editorial choices, supported by several relevant explanations. However, it barely addresses whether audiences become accustomed to bad news and only briefly considers the value of reporting more good news. The priority is to plan around every explicit question and give each one a distinct, developed answer.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The response develops several relevant influences on news selection but leaves the habituation question largely unanswered and treats good news only briefly.
Allocate a clear section to each explicit question, directly state whether people become accustomed to bad news, and support that view with explanation or an example.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas generally progress through identifiable points, but the very long central paragraph and sometimes mechanical linking weaken organisation.
Separate the factors, effects of bad news, and case for good news into focused paragraphs with clearer internal progression.
Lexical Resource
The response uses a reasonably wide vocabulary for media and social influence, though frequent inaccurate collocations and word choices reduce precision.
Prioritise natural combinations such as attract viewers, shape public opinion, and political propaganda, checking word form and countability carefully.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of sentence forms is attempted, but frequent errors in agreement, articles, clauses, and sentence construction reduce control.
Build complete subject-verb structures first, then edit each sentence for agreement, articles, and accurately formed subordinate clauses.
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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.