GT Writing Task 2 / Essay Sample # 337
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Write about the following topic:
More and more people no longer read newspapers or watch TV programmes to get news. They get their news from the Internet.
Is this a positive or negative development?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.
Model Answer:
Online news readers are becoming more ubiquitous these days as a growing portion of the population today receives news online, rather than from printed versions of the news or electronic media like televisions or radios. I believe that this is a positive development because reading online news is eco-friendly, and less expensive, and readers get instant updates and detailed information.
Reading online news is a good way towards helping the environment. That is to say, printing editions contain paper and chemical inks that can damage the environment. Millions of trees, for instance, are required to print physical editions of the newspaper, this in turn, contributes to global warming. In contrast, reading news online requires no paper or chemical ink. Moreover, it is cost-efficient. Put simply, there is no need for money for purchasing a newspaper. Readers can read it using a small amount of mobile data.
Similarly, readers receive instant updates and detailed information from online news sources. This means that online news can provide immediate information about any event. The same needs time for gathering information, printing time and the distribution of material for reading physical versions of newspapers, which seems to be outdated in the era of this new digitalized world. In addition to this, readers can get detailed information because digital content requires a small space to hold a copious amount of information. By reading online news, therefore, readers can get diverse types of news available depending on their interests.
To conclude, the increasing trend of reading news online is beneficial for the environment, less expensive, and readers can receive instantly updated and detailed information. Therefore, I consider it a positive development because it is advantageous for the environment as well as for the readers.