IELTS Writing Task 2 with sample answer.
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Write about the following topic:
Many newspapers and magazines feature stories about the private lives of famous people. We know what they eat, where they buy their clothes and who they love. We also often see pictures of them in private situations.
Is it appropriate for a magazine or newspaper to give this kind of private information about people?
Give reasons for your answer and give any relevant example or experience you might have to support your answer.
Write at least 250 words.
Model Answer:
The incessant need of the public to know what a famous figure is doing is phenomenal. In this case, media provides them with their private life such as where they shop, who they love, and even what they eat. But when it come to the issue that where to mark the boundary between what should and should not to be published about the famous people’s private life does ignite a debate is a conundrum that has proved almost impossible to find a solution to the contentment of either complainants or editors. However, after discussing the both side, I will bring out my position.
Paparazzi tend to collect every single detail about famous people, particularly celebrities. Every day we see their faces and stories that are mostly scandals. Most of the cases, we are delighted with these stories, but ironically do not know how far the paparazzi go in order to get those stories and do not consider impact on the victim. Certainly, these affect them mentally and physically. For example, Angelina Jolie bathing her children in a privacy of her home in Prague who became so upset the violation that started to crying, shouting and shaking when she saw a shade of a paparazzi got close enough to take picture of this intimate moment. Similarly, we can recall the horrific night of Princess Dian when she and her boyfriend was trying to avert taking picture of them by paparazzi. The only option they were left is to hit a high speed limit that resulted in a terrible car crash on which they died that night in Paris.
However, newspapers are expected to provide latest information happening around the world includes politics, business, sports or showbiz. As I above said that people has enormous curiosity about celebrities even their private life, media is bound to response to them. We should bear in mind that what media is doing is fulfilling the demand of masses and it is quite natural for media like any business organization.
On the other hand, we live in the era of freedom of speech where media is tending to supply us up-to-date information happening around the world includes politics, business, sports, showbiz and so on and equally the world acknowledges human rights that everybody is entitled to consider his private life, health, correspondence comprising digital communication. However, we should always keep in mind that media is nothing but an agency providing and exploiting our hunger for knowledge. If public demands scandalous affairs, paparazzi will fetch it to them. Many concede that celebrities are somewhat public property and also there is a load of celebrity who desperately wants to be exposed.
To wrap up, I am of the position that we need a delicate balance so that celebrity can be able to protect their rights to privacy and at the same time the freedom of expression can be prevailed. For this matter, what we need a sense of proportion that editors ought to concede that unless they have enough reason that they are serving the public’s sensible interest about celebrities, then the intrusion cannot be justified. They should be free, yet they should be responsible.