Band 9 essay sample | Should news editors give more importance to good news?
Essay topic
News editors decide what to broadcast on television and what to print in newspapers. What factors do you think influence these decisions? Have we become used to bad news? Wouldn’t it be better if more good news was reported?
Here is a sample essay
Editors play a decisive role in determining what news should be broadcast on television and printed in newspapers. These decisions are affected by a variety of factors like market economics, political affiliations and profitability.
Most of our news channels and newspapers are owned by private organizations. Their chief concern is making money so only news that has the potential to grab eyeballs is given coverage. Since bad news grabs more attention, it is given more importance. Sometimes news items that are important for the public are given less or no coverage because they don’t appeal to advertisers. While I agree with the argument that good news should be given more coverage, I don’t expect to see this anytime soon.
The preference of the readers or viewers has an impact on the kind of news being reported. A lot of us get drawn to bad news such as crime, violence, death and destruction more quickly than good news. This is probably because such items inspire shock and awe. It is therefore understandable why bad news is given more importance than good news. Unfortunately, excessive coverage of bad news creates a sense of insecurity in the society. This does not serve public interests, but it might protect the interests of advertisers. For example, when too many incidents of robbery are reported, it is quite normal for the sale of CCTV cameras and burglar alarms to go through the roof. It is, therefore, evident that bad news serves commercial interests better than good news.
To conclude, editors are influenced by a variety of factors and always choose news items that serve their and their advertisers’ interests. They might change this stance if the readers and viewers turn a blind eye to such content; however, I don’t see this happening anytime soon because the public too relish such content.
Disclaimer
All band score predictions are approximate.
