IELTS Writing Task Two on television, news and current affairs

IELTS Writing Task Two on television, news and current affairs

Discuss your opinions on the topics below with one or two other students, starting with any you like (because they are easy to talk about, interesting, etc). Don’t think about how you would write an answer yet, but do try to stick closely to answering the questions that are there.

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You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

Some people trust public broadcasters most as a source of news, while others are not convinced that they always share the full truth and so prefer other sources.

Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

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You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

Many cities in the world have had free newspapers.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of free newspapers for readers, newspaper publishers and advertisers, then give your own opinion on whether they are generally a good idea or not.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

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You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

People streaming TV series from websites has meant that people around the world can share the same viewing habits. However, streaming anything you want anytime you like also means that people are less likely to sit down together to watch the same thing at the same time than in the days of a single family TV.

Does streaming help bring people together more, or was that more the case with traditional TV?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

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Write about the following topic: 

In some countries newspapers can only be successfully sued if someone can prove that what they published is false, whereas in other countries the newspaper will be found guilty of libel and punished if the publishers can’t conclusively prove that the facts in the articles are true.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of each kind of libel law?

Which do you think is better is most countries?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

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You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. 

Write about the following topic:

Many people who read a newspaper and news sources online find themselves most attracted to less serious topics like gossip, sport and lifestyle.

What are the causes for this?

How could newspapers and other news sources make serious news coverage and analysis more attractive to readers?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

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You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

Compare the advantages and disadvantages of using two of the following solutions to the problem of the decline in income for traditional newspaper companies. State which you consider to be the most suitable.

• charging people to access their websites
• putting more popular “clickbait” on their websites to get more traffic and therefore more income from advertising
• becoming just an online news source, without a paper publication
• diversifying into related areas of business such as arts festivals and magazines

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

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You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

It is often said that using social media has resulted in people believing more fake news.

To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

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Ask about any questions above which you couldn’t understand, couldn’t answer, etc.

Plan some of the essays above, compare your plans, then write an introduction that matches one of those plans.

Do the task on the next page as timed writing practice, in exactly 40 minutes from first looking at the task to finishing editing and putting your pen down (not looking at the task before your start your stopwatch).

 

Extra task for (timed) writing practice

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You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

Some experts believe that young people use the internet too much and that this is having a bad effect on them. Others, however, say that people have had the same worries about other media such as television and comics, and therefore there is no need to be more worried about the internet than about those other kinds of media.

Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

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