IELTS Essay: Internet News
Vocabulary
What do the words in bold below mean? Make some notes and then check below.
Increasingly large segments of the population now receive their news online, rather than from the physical editions of newspapers. In my opinion, though the conveniences of technology are self-evident, this trend is a negative on the whole.
Proponents of modern habits of reading news argue it is more convenient. Examples of this abound. Consumers can search Google or Apple News and locate articles from thousands of online papers and websites, enabling them to access the news that matters the most to them more efficiently. Furthermore, they can do this while they are commuting to work or during various periods of inactivity throughout the day. It is even possible on most websites to listen to an audio version of the news, a tremendous advance for the visually impaired. All these modern features of online news only hint at the innovations to come and validate the decline of the publishing industry.
Nonetheless, the quality of online news is considerably lower on most websites. There are exceptions, such as websites that specialise in a given subject-area and employ intelligent contributors, however, the vast majority of the online news industry cynically pursues advertising revenue at any cost. Most stories are written hastily, the headlines are misleading, and the news articles themselves may be rife with unchecked facts and unprofessional prose. Retractions to reporting errors go unnoticed. The situation developing from this is that most individuals now read the news either to confirm their biases and gain a momentary burst of endorphins or out of outrage, so-called ‘hate-reading‘, for the very same reason. It is therefore justified to claim that the relationship between publisher and audience is exploitive, not educational.
In conclusion, easier access to news does not outweigh the bad habits instilled by online news. Governments will likely never regulate this industry properly so it falls to individuals to make more informed choices when consuming media.