I
Lead-in.
1) What sources (newspapers,
TV, Internet) do you use to get news?
2) Do you find it’s important to know the news? Do
you trust the news you find online?
3) Do you know English proverb ‘no news is good
news’? Do you agree that it’s good to have no news?
II Vocabulary focus. Match
the words to their definitions. Use three words in your sentences.
|
1.
|
research
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A.
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correct,
without mistakes
|
|
2.
|
social media
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B.
|
to
keep away from something
|
|
3.
|
to decline
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C.
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treating
all equally
|
|
4.
|
accurate
|
D.
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to
become smaller in importance and strength
|
|
5.
|
trustworthy
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E.
|
examination
of opinions
|
|
6.
|
impartial
|
F.
|
websites
and programs that allow people to share information, e.g. Facebook
|
|
7.
|
to avoid
|
G.
|
a
detailed study of a subject
|
|
8.
|
survey
|
H.
|
deserving
trust
|
III Vocabulary focus. Follow the
link below. Study the words and word combinations using flashcards, check your
understanding, practise their spelling. Check your
knowledge in the test.
Play matching vocabulary game (match words to their definitions to make
cards disappear) and save the planet from asteroids by
typing in correct words.
IV
Look through the article. Five sentence
parts have been removed. Read the article and choose from
the sentence (A-G) the one which fits each gap (1-5). There are two sentence
parts that you do not need to use.
A. high-quality free
content on social networks.
B. mostly from
television, decreasingly so from newspapers and more and more from social
media.
C. One reason for the
decline is the way social-media sites work.
D. the use of social
media as a source of news about coronavirus fell from 49% in week one to 29% in
week 20.
E. While the average
person aged 65 and over watches 33 minutes of TV news a day, this falls to just
two minutes
F. are also likelier to
avoid news.
G. research also
suggests that people are increasingly willing to wade into online arguments
about news.
Every
year Ofcom, the media regulator, conducts research into where
Britons get
their news. And every year, the answer is roughly the same: 1) ________. But this
year’s “news consumption report” contained a surprise: after years of growth,
the number of British adults getting their news from social media declined from
49% to 45%. People’s opinion of social media deteriorated too. Brits consider
it the least accurate, trustworthy, impartial or high quality of all sources.
2) ________. Facebook, the
most popular, has been moving news down in users’ feeds. Publishers reacted to
that by deprioritising Facebook as an outlet to promote their work. Moreover
many websites have restricted access to news, reducing the supply of 3) ________.
But
a more important cause may be that Britons are tiring of the news and actively
choosing to avoid it. Research by the Reuters Institute for the Study of
Journalism
(RISJ) in Oxford found that last year some 35% of Britons said they often or
sometimes avoided the news, up from 24% in 2017. The big jump is probably
because of polarisation around Brexit. Benjamin Toff of the University of
Minnesota has found that “people who relied on social media as their main
source of news were significantly more likely to say they were actively avoiding
news”. In Britain women 4) ________.
In research on Britain and Spain, Mr Toff found that one of the main reasons
for news avoidance was that “the content was too focused on politics”.
The
pandemic has changed the reason, but not the trend. Ofcom’s surveys were
conducted mostly before Britain entered lockdown. Subsequent research by the
regulator found that 5) ________.
The number of people saying they were trying to avoid news about coronavirus
rose from 22% in the first week of lockdown to 35% in the tenth week, at the
end of May, before declining to 29% in early August, probably because the virus
had topped dominating the headlines.
Research by the RISJ found a similar pattern. The main reason for avoiding news?
“It has a bad effect on my mood”.
V Comprehension check. Mark the sentences as True (T) or False (F). Correct
the false statements.
1.
This
year’s “news consumption report” showed that more British adults got their news
from social media.
2.
Brits
consider social media the least accurate, trustworthy, impartial or high
quality of all sources.
3.
One
reason for the decline is the type of pictures social-media sites use.
4.
Facebook
has been moving news down in users’ feeds.
5.
Now
publishers use Facebook as the most important outlet to promote their work.
6.
Many
websites have restricted access to free news.
7.
Britons
are tiring of the social media and actively choosing to use TV.
8.
Many
Britons avoided the news because of polarisation around Brexit.
9.
In
Britain men are also likelier to avoid news.
10.One of the main
reasons for news avoidance was that focus on politics.
11.The use of
social media as a source of news about British politics fell from 49% in week
one to 29% in week 20 of lockdown.
12.The main reason
for avoiding news was its bad effect on people’s mood.
VI OVER TO YOU. Discuss the questions with other
students:
A.
Find
the information about the media (TV, radio, newspapers, Internet) that people
in your country use to get news. What sources of news are popular in your
country?
B.
What
sources of news don’t people in your country trust and why?
C.
What are the attitudes to news in your
country? Do people think that news can have bad effect on their mood?
D.
What
news can be interesting for people (news about politics, coronavirus, and
economy)?
E.
What
are the main stories in the news in your country now?
F.
In
what situation would you choose to avoid the news?
G.
Where
can people find accurate, trustworthy, impartial or high quality news.
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