Table of Contents
BEST IELTS General Reading Test 232
IELTS GENERAL READING TEST 232 – PASSAGE – 3
IELTS GENERAL READING TEST – 232
READING PASSAGE – 3
THE CHANGING FACE OF NEWSPAPERS
A. Until very recently a newspaper could be defined as mass-produced printed sheets of paper containing up-to-date news and editorial opinions created by a team of journalists and editors, and supplemented with material from international news agencies. Newspapers have been printed on massive printing presses since the middle of the nineteenth century, and since the 1990s on recycled paper. They are delivered to newsagents through a complex distribution system and are available to the public either very early in the morning or in the late evening, depending on the publication.
The major newspapers are published on a daily or weekly basis and are considered disposable items, to be thrown away after being read in readiness for the next issue. Newspapers themselves generally have a very low cover price to encourage regular purchase and are usually funded by advertisements that are displayed on its pages. There are two types of advertisments, display ads, which feature large visually appealing promotion throughout the newspaper, and smaller classified advertisements which are generally only text and are found in a dedicated section of the paper where smaller companies and individuals can offer goods, services and information.
IELTS General Reading Test
B. Newspapers survived the introduction of radio and TV, mainly because they were able to offer greater variety and deeper analysis in their news stories. So despite the immediacy of TV and radio, they were able to co-exist. However, the introduction of smartphones in 2007 saw the decline in sales of printed newspapers, which had been forecast when the Internet was introduced.
Newspapers were one of the first industries to go online, but have generally still continued to print paper versions, as this is where the profits are still to be made. There is much lower revenue from online advertising compared to print. For around 15 years, newspapers have been investigating how they can make profits from online news. Readers over the age of 65 are less likely to make the switch to digital news, but if long-term markets are to be established, publishers have to recognize that the younger sections of the population prefer to find their news online.
IELTS General Reading Test
C. A large number of newspapers have taken the risk of introducing subscriber-only online versions in the last five years. In general, the higher quality newspapers (in terms of their factual reliability and depth of information) have been the newspapers that have made the switch. It would seem that as readers had not been paying to read online versions of newspapers, insisting on subscriptions would mean more revenue.
However, charges for advertising are based on circulation, so a subsequent drop in readership means less income from advertising. Newspapers are still finding it difficult to sustain profits, and quite a number of publications have discontinued their printed version and others have had to shut down entirely, with small local publications being the most common victims.
D. As news is constantly updated in online newspapers, rather than meeting daily print deadlines, it has the immediacy of radio and TV, both of which are also under threat from the Internet. The non subscription newspapers are able to survive if they have enormous readership, and they can charge more for online advertising. However, one thing both groups have in common is that they have slashed the number of journalists and editors they employ.
IELTS General Reading Test
Much of the layout and production is done with fast computer programmes, and faster communication means that one journalist can produce numerous articles and stories in one day, instead of just one or two as was done in the past. Newspaper offices are no longer the bustling conglomerations of hundreds of desks. They are downsizing, with fewer staff and computer programs and algorithms taking over roles such as proofreading, fact checking and design, which means that a newspaper can be produced with quite a small staff.
E. There are some fears that the quality of news is deteriorating as a result of these changes. Newspaper stories written for an app on a smartphone tend to be shorter and less detailed due, both, to the size of the screen, and the current cultural preference for reading short blocks of information rather than detailed analyses. Journalists have less time to investigate stories in much depth and many stories have more of a magazine style content than a serious news focus.
Some newspapers include advertorial, which are advertising features disguised as newspaper articles. Newspapers with subscriptions are more likely to have a larger number of journalists and greater credibility in terms of the news that they produce. This is one of the factors that subscription newspapers suggest when they are trying to attract subscribers. Only time will tell if print newspapers manage to survive the new digital generation. It probably only depends on whether publications are still able to make some kind of profit from them,rather than for reasons of nostalgia.
IELTS General Reading Test
Questions 28-32
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph, A-E, form the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, I-vil, in boxes 28-32 on your answer sheet.
28. Paragraph A
29. Paragraph B
30. Paragraph C
31. Paragraph D
32. Paragraph E
List of headings
i. Making people pay for online news
ii. A refusal to move online
iii. Changing content leads to questions of quality
iv. Printed versions destined to disappear
v. A new form of communication means a drop in sales
vi. The traditional meaning of newspaper
vii. Functioning with fewer people
IELTS General Reading Test
Questions 33-36
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 33-36 on your answer sheet.
33. Newspapers are sold cheaply
A. to make people buy them routinely.
B. to cover the expense of the paper.
C. to pay for the advertising in them.
D. to encourage recycling.
34. What has caused the decline in paper newspaper sales?
A. radio
B. TV
C. smartphones
D. the Internet
IELTS General Reading Test
35. Introducing subscriptions to online newspapers means
A. more income.
B. fewer online readers
C. less advertising.
D. fewer paper newspapers.
36. What is a characteristic shared by both free and paid for online newspapers?
A. They have massive circulation.
B. They have fewer employees.
C. They have high advertising revenue.
D. They are losing money.
IELTS General Reading Test
Questions 37-40
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Ever-changing content
Articles are 37 ………… differently for smart phone applications than for traditional printed newspapers. They aren’t as long because the 38………… on a smart phone is small, these days people prefer reading shorter stories and journalists have greater time constraints.
The types of articles are changing too, with many structured like those in a magazine, and sometimes even in the ambiguous form of 39…………. The content of paid-for online newspapers is often considered more reliable. If printed newspapers are still able to make a 40………….they are likely to continue to exist in the future.
IELTS General Reading Test
ANSWERS ARE BELOW
IELTS General Reading Test
ANSWERS
28. VI
29. V
30. I
31. VII
32. III
33. A
34. C
35. B
36. B
37. WRITTEN
38. SCREEN
39. ADVERTORIAL
40. PROFIT