News media s tendency to report problems and emergencies rather than positive development is harmful to individuals and society To what extent do you agree or disagree

Essay topics:

News media’s tendency to report problems and emergencies rather than positive development is harmful to individuals and society. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

At a time when a global pandemic has cast dark clouds over nearly all facets of life, reading daily news has often turned into a depressing affair. I would argue, however, that much of this pessimism is unfounded and that consuming an overabundance of negative news bodes differently for individuals and society.

On an individual level, reading disproportionate coverage of social ills risks being misled. Since the nature of much journalism is to surprise and sensationalize, inattention to this fact may skew one’s perception of reality. Indeed, while long-term social and scientific progress has been apparent on almost every measurement index, one can hardly discover this watching the evening news. As Steven Pinker has observed, too little appreciation has gone into the strides humanity made over the past century in areas ranging from scientific innovation to gender equality. Instead, much easier to recall is news anchors and columnists ruing the decline of social mores or the rise of a materialist culture. Some of this is unsurprising, as gaping inequality and lurid crimes generally attract more popular attention than do obscure acts of good Samaritanism. Yet reliable exposure to this cycle of negativity comes at a price: not only does it cheapen online discourse and fuel polarization, a sense of proportion and perspective may also be lost on netizens.

On a societal level, the overall verdict must be that news outlets have done more good than harm in the way they report critical social issues. One need look no further than the fruits of investigative journalism to grasp how exposure of power and wealth corruption has held evildoers accountable. Without breakout stories bringing to light how Harvey Weinstein abused his position of privilege and power, the erstwhile Hollywood mogul might well have extended his career in debauchery. Dating further back, the journalistic and literary works of Progressive-era muckrakers prompted reforms that protected consumers and workers from the greed of industrialism. Although detractors may argue how this newspaper has every so often gone overboard with its reporting, or that citizen journalist produces fake or low-quality coverage, it amounts to throwing the baby out with the bathwater denying the capacity of the press to do good. While valid concerns exist over news media’s imperfections, the solution lies in being discerning in one’s choice of news rather than censoring what should always be an independent press.

In conclusion, the notion that print journalism, cable networks, and online sources are all inimical to the interests of individuals and society amounts to a hasty overgeneralization. To the contrary, while individuals may lose their bearings on the reality of life, society has long profited from the press speaking truth to power.

Votes
Average: 8.9 (1 vote)
This essay topic by users
Post date Users Rates Link to Content
2021-11-21 susannora 89 view
Essays by user susannora :

Comments

Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 465, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'strides'' or 'stride's'?
Suggestion: strides'; stride's
...o little appreciation has gone into the strides humanity made over the past century in ...
^^^^^^^

Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, however, if, look, may, so, well, while, in conclusion

Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments

Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 11.0 13.1623246493 84% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 10.0 7.85571142285 127% => OK
Conjunction : 18.0 10.4138276553 173% => OK
Relative clauses : 7.0 7.30460921844 96% => OK
Pronoun: 20.0 24.0651302605 83% => OK
Preposition: 61.0 41.998997996 145% => OK
Nominalization: 13.0 8.3376753507 156% => OK

Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2398.0 1615.20841683 148% => OK
No of words: 444.0 315.596192385 141% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.4009009009 5.12529762239 105% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.5903493882 4.20363070211 109% => OK
Word Length SD: 3.0052270293 2.80592935109 107% => OK
Unique words: 282.0 176.041082164 160% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.635135135135 0.561755894193 113% => OK
syllable_count: 752.4 506.74238477 148% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.7 1.60771543086 106% => OK

A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 3.0 5.43587174349 55% => OK
Article: 6.0 2.52805611222 237% => Less articles wanted as sentence beginning.
Subordination: 7.0 2.10420841683 333% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 3.0 0.809619238477 371% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 7.0 4.76152304609 147% => OK

Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 17.0 16.0721442886 106% => OK
Sentence length: 26.0 20.2975951904 128% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively long.
Sentence length SD: 36.4209339401 49.4020404114 74% => OK
Chars per sentence: 141.058823529 106.682146367 132% => OK
Words per sentence: 26.1176470588 20.7667163134 126% => OK
Discourse Markers: 3.52941176471 7.06120827912 50% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.38176352705 91% => OK
Language errors: 1.0 5.01903807615 20% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 9.0 8.67935871743 104% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 8.0 3.9879759519 201% => Less negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 0.0 3.4128256513 0% => More facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?

Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.147161985971 0.244688304435 60% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0409256293974 0.084324248473 49% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0397528841806 0.0667982634062 60% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0813151295789 0.151304729494 54% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0327739024933 0.056905535591 58% => OK

Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 17.1 13.0946893788 131% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 36.63 50.2224549098 73% => OK
smog_index: 11.2 7.44779559118 150% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 14.6 11.3001002004 129% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 14.34 12.4159519038 115% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 10.47 8.58950901804 122% => OK
difficult_words: 156.0 78.4519038076 199% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 11.5 9.78957915832 117% => OK
gunning_fog: 12.4 10.1190380762 123% => OK
text_standard: 12.0 10.7795591182 111% => OK
What are above readability scores?

---------------------

Rates: 89.8876404494 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 8.0 Out of 9
---------------------
Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.