Page 75 - Ready for C2 Student's Book english0905.com

04.09.2024, 22:00 Ready for C2 Proficiency Student's Book Classroom Presentation

https://english0905.com/private/
NEWS TRAVELS FAST

Reading and Use of English Part 6 Gapped text

1 S P E A K Work in pairs and discuss the following questions.
1 What do you think draws people in to reading certain news articles?
2 Do you think in general people prioritise trustworthiness over sensationalism?
Why / Why not?
2 You are going to read an article on attracting newspaper readership.
Seven paragraphs have been removed from the article. Choose from the
paragraphs A–H the one which fits each gap (1–7 ). There is one extra paragraph
which you do not need to use.
READ ALL ABOUT IT!

https://english0905.com/private/

4
It’s good to be in the know , so to speak, but how
much do we really know of what’s going on in
the world around us? We tend to assume that
I’m sure I’m not the only one who has clicked on
news outl ets will keep us well-informed on any
links like ‘This is how you earn $1000 an hour’
subject we might care to know about, but we
or ‘You won’t believe what child stars look like
overlook th e fact th at news isn’t just a service,
NOW!’ only to see old, hackneyed information that
it’s a business. In fact, many go so far as to
is no surprise, and certainly no news to anyone.
claim that, for some news sources, offering
But that’s the way sites can make money, and it’s https://english0905.com/private/
objective information isn’t even on their radar.
everywhere.
1 5
The Great Moon Hoax of 1835, where the New York
A study of 200,000 social media users by Beihang
published a series of articles detailing
Sun
University in China, found that posts exploiting
astronomer John Herschel’s supposed observations
those kinds of emotions are three times more
of unicorns and giant man-bats on the moon, is a
likely to be shared or retweeted than any other
case in point. Regrettably, Herschel himself, deeply
kind. So, perhaps there is some truth in the old
ensconced in study and thousands of miles away
adage that ‘bad news travels fast’, whether it turns
in South Africa, was powerless to counteract these
out to be fact or fiction.
absurd claims.
6
2
It is situations like this, and the distribution of
Fortunately for us, there are some tell-tale signs
far more serious misinformation, that has led to
of such news articles that are still helpful to the
the rise of fact-checking websites in more recent
general reader today. Firstly, large graphics and
times, which, although perhaps going some way
pictures are frequently used to entice the reader,
to offering us reliability in our news, are by no
in addition to sensationalist language. After all,
means a panacea. There are over 300 fact-checking
hard-hitting words like scrap or oust can easily
websites throughout the world, and they are still
draw more attention than boring old remove
dwarfed by the sheer volume of misinformation on
ever will.
the internet.
3 7
These techniques have been used by some in the
What we can say with some certainty is that
news business since the beginning of the 20th
although the truth may well be out there, it isn’t
century and still are today. However, where the
always easy to find. Even the savviest reader can
news once wore its banner of ownership quite
fall prey to a hoax story or two, so how can we
clearly, now it’s a lot harder to discern its origin.
expect to know the difference?
With one click, we can be taken through a tour of
any number of news sites without ever knowing
who owns them or their veracity.
https://english0905.com/private/
68
https://lms-cdn.mee.macmillaneducation.com/cdn/macmillanXHotspotMapping/readyfor_c2_cpk_studentbook_fullversion_productcontent/202405… 1/1