More and More People No Longer Read Newspapers or Watch TV Programmes to Get Their News. They Get Their News From the Internet. Is This a Positive or Negative Development?

Lilie King
Written by Lilie

7.5 in Academic Writing

June 11, 2021

More and more people no longer read newspapers or watch TV programmes to get their news. They get their news from the Internet. Is this a positive or negative development?

This is a reported IELTS Writing Task 2 question. Click here to see more reported questions.

Sample Essay

An increasing number of people do not get news from traditional media anymore. Instead, they turn to the Internet for it. I believe this is a positive development because consuming news online offers more fun and also helps it circulate fast.

It is much more fun to get news online than from traditional media. On the Internet, a person can discuss their favorite current affairs with like-minded people. Take Tesla enthusiasts for example. If they read news about the latest model on Twitter, they can share their excitement and discuss in the comments whether the model is worth buying. This is much more fun than watching the news on TV with their aunts who know nothing about electric cars.

In addition, news travels faster on the Internet than on traditional media. This is because once a person reposts a news story on social media, all their friends and colleagues will see it as well. And, the more public attention it gets, the more likely the related problem is to be solved. For example, a video showing a white woman blocking a black man from entering his own apartment building went viral on Facebook. This pressured her employer to take a stand against her discriminatory behavior, with the result that she lost her job.

In conclusion, the Internet not only offers a more fun way to consume news but also allows it to spread fast. Thus, it is a positive development that the Internet is becoming more and more popular as a news source. (253 Words)

How to Vary Your Language

Get news
  • Consume news
  • Read news online
  • Watch news on TV
  • The Internet is becoming more and more popular as a news source.

3-Day Writing Task 2 Challenge

5 CommentsLeave A Comment

  1. if is a better idea to talk a little bit about the positive effect of traditional news source instead of not mentioning it at all?

  2. Hi Lilie, thank you so much for all the sharing in the blog. I’ve learnt a lot from you. It’d be my pleasure if you could leave me a feedback about my work below 🙂 Thank you!

    With technology advancements, people prefer to obtain information on the Internet rather than from newspapers and television. Some people may believe this phonomenon is a positive development, however, I am by no means supportive of this thought.

    First of all, in no way should we overlook the consequences caused by the low credibility of news from the Internet. Information created by editors, journalists and news reporters is more credible than the one on the Internet given that they are professional. In contrast, while every internet user owns their freedom of speech on the Internet, they can write whatever they want without any justifications. For instance, if there is a rumour came from an anonymous online user about that a boom is set up in Hong Kong, it will definitely provoke chaos which may influence social stability.

    It is also important to take a glance at the negative impacts stemming from that phonomenon. When people no longer has the demand on newspapers and TV programmes, related companies will fail to survive in the highly competitive market. As a result, there will be a reduction in the variety of channels in receiving information. Workers in these companies will be considered as redundant. At the end of the day, they will lose the jobs, implying there will be a higher unemployment rate in society.

    In conclusion, as we can see, sole dependence on the Internet to receive news will bring a lot of social issues. Therefore, I do not agree that it is a postive development.

  3. Can you rank this response?

    Earlier newspapers and television were the important sources of news and information about the world. But with the help of internet, people easily get news on their smartphones. In my opinion, it is a positive development as using internet to receive news is time saving and cheap.
    Watching news on smart phones via internet saves a lot of time for a working person. Majority of the working population has access to internet nowadays and with increasing number of mobile applications, specifically for news, they can easily consume worldwide news in just one click. There is no need to dedicate a certain amount of time in a day to sit and watch news via newspaper or television. Afterall it is said that saving time is equivalent to saving money.
    Additionally, using internet for watching news is also budget friendly. Cost of newspaper is increasing gradually. Buying newspaper is more costly than watching news on internet. For example, US doubled the cost of a newspaper from $1 to $2 recently which increased monthly cost of buying newspaper from $30 to $60. With the increasing cost of living, it is becoming difficult for a person to buy newspaper on a daily basis whereas reading news online is free of cost. An individual can read or watch news anytime and anywhere via YouTube or any dedicated news application.
    All the points mentioned above indicates that using internet to get news is a positive development and one can easily utilize free internet to read or stream news on any platform.

    1. Hi, I think the example in your Body Paragraph 2 sounds very fake. What a coincidence that you wanted to write an essay about news and the price of newspapers in the US increased! Why not simply say a one-year print subscription to the New York Times costs X dollars?

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *