Unit 10

Unit 10 Page 92 READING Exercise 4 FAKE NEWS The rise in the last decade or so of 'fake news' has also led to increased research into what it is, how it spreads and what its effects are. Many people believe that they can spot 'fake news' and that they are not taken in by it. One of the most worrying research discoveries is that this is not really true. Many studies have shown that we become more willing to believe something if we read or hear it enough times – and that includes things that we start off not believing. Back in 2015, some researchers in the US gave students statements which they were told were very likely to be false. When the statements were repeated several times, however, many students became uncertain. The lead researcher said that repeating something often enough made some students begin to think it was true. The 'good news' from the research is that our knowledge is still a strong factor in determining what we believe or disbelieve. However, since there's so much fake news going around these days, the research results are a little disturbing. What adds to the feeling that we should be worried about fake news is further research showing that it spreads way faster than the truth. A ten-year study with three million Twitter users followed the spread of over 120,000 Twitter stories (a 'story' was a tweet that made a statement about something outside the user's own life – the statements were fact checked by independent organisations). A researcher said that they had found some frightening things – especially the fact that truthful tweets took six times longer to spread to other Twitter users than fake ones. It's clear that people who produce fake news know that people love headlines and statements that shock, that disgust, that are scary. This is one reason why people are more likely to share them – they touch people's hopes and fears. One researcher said that often people share something, not because they necessarily thought it was true, but because it would make friends and people in their network react strongly. But surely, now, after basically two decades of the internet and social media, people are much better at assessing whether something is true or not. Apparently not. Recently, American high-school students were given a photo of a damaged flower. The researchers told them it was a flower from near a damaged nuclear power plant, but did not tell them what the source of the photo was. Forty percent of the students thought the photo was good evidence about the state of the area around the nuclear plant, even though they had no idea where it came from. So if you want to get real, not fake, news, check where it comes from. If it's a shared piece, who's sharing it with you and why? If it's from a website, have a look at the stories on the site – if they're all shocking or scandalous stories, be careful. And generally, never accept something's true unless the research confirms it: see if you can find it in other – trustworthy – places, too.

Page 94 PRONUNCIATION Exercise 1 & 2 Hilary and Hector aren't speaking to each other. What happened? He hurt her feelings. He said he didn't like her new haircut. How horrible! Did he mean to upset her? Of course he didn't! Page 94 PRONUNCIATION Exercise 3 Hilary and Hector aren't speaking to each other. What happened? He hurt her feelings. He said he didn't like her new haircut. How horrible! Did he mean to upset her? Of course he didn't! Page 95 LISTENING Exercise 8 & 9 Hello, everyone. It's great to see so many of you here today. Well, I'm what's called a foreign correspondent. That means that I'm a reporter for my newspaper who reports on things that are happening abroad. So of course I spend a lot of time away from home, I travel around the world and I try to tell readers at home what's going on in other places. I'm here today to answer your questions so I hope you have lots of them. Where shall we start? The young man in the front row. Do you travel to dangerous places? Yes. Sometimes you go to a war zone, for example, because to get a really good story you have to get close to the action. And sometimes the action is in a place where there's fighting, and that's dangerous, of course. But often, it's more dangerous for the local people who help me – drivers, translators, even the people who arrange interviews for me. I might stay in the country for a few days or weeks and then I come home, but they stay there because that's where they live, and it's obviously way harder for them. But you asked me if my job was dangerous. And, yes, it is some of the time. So why do you do it? Good question! Well, I do it because I think it's important and helpful. And of course it's exciting. It's very, very exciting and in a way you get hooked on it. I mean, I can't imagine working in an office, sitting behind a desk every day. How do you prepare for each story? Well, you have to know quite a lot about the place you're going to. You have to spend time reading and talking to people and finding things out. And depending where you're going, sometimes you have to train physically, you know, you might be in a desert or up some mountains, so you have to be fit. For one story I did, where I had to follow the army in the Sahara, I had two weeks of training with an army instructor; he asked me to run ten kilometres with a heavy pack on my back. I didn't like that much! What is the most difficult part of your job? Right. Well, I'd say the most difficult part is trying to be objective, you know, to write about what you see and not what you think you see or what you want to see. And sometimes people think your report isn't a fair representation of the facts. Would you recommend your job to other people? Oh, yes, absolutely. I mean it isn't for everyone – just now, someone asked me why I do it and it's not the first time I've heard that question! But it's a fantastic job, I love it and feel very privileged to have the opportunity to do the work I do.

Page 96 READING Exercise 2 We continue our 'secret professional' series with an offering from an anonymous paparazzo. The Secret Paparazzo A I've always loved cameras and photographs. After I left school, I worked with a local photographer, then a bit later for a newspaper. One day, the editor said he wanted some photos of a famous person who lived nearby and I agreed to go and get them. I got some good photos, and a big national newspaper bought them, too. I thought, 'OK, this is how I can make good money.' B That's how my life as a paparazzo started. (By the way, that's the singular – paparazzi is plural) Paparazzi are not the most popular people in the world – especially after what happened to Princess Diana – but I've never regretted taking up the profession. And I've never denied being a paparazzo. That said, when I meet people I just say I'm a photographer and leave it at that. It's easier that way. C I never apologise for doing what I do, because I don't think I need to. I take photos of famous people (often without them knowing, it's true) and then sell the photos to magazines. If people didn't buy those magazines, I wouldn't be able to sell the photos. I provide a service and I'm not ashamed of it. I love my job. I like the money, but I also like the challenge, the fact that you have to know where the celebrity's going to be. You have to be technically good, too – not everyone can take a good photo of someone at a distance. D People have accused me of doing an unpleasant thing – but I honestly don't think it is. I take photos and sell them. Am I telling lies? Stealing? Attacking people? No, and in fact I've always argued that celebrities don't mind as much as you might think. A famous person once admitted to me that they often leaked information about where they were so the paparazzi could get photos. The old saying is: all publicity is good publicity, and they know it. You can tell me that celebrities don't want their private lives invaded, but you can't tell me they don't love publicity. E I can understand, though, why paparazzi get some bad press sometimes. Not all of my colleagues are as ethical as they might be. We've often been criticised for taking photos of young children – something I don't do, by the way – and quite right, too. And should we take photos of people when they're ill? When they're at a funeral? I've got my views, some of my colleagues have got theirs. But then we're just like bankers or lawyers, aren't we? F The profession is different now. A colleague warned me years ago that social media would change things, and she was right. I use it a lot. I follow celebrities' posts and they help me find out where they are. It helps with legal issues, too. It used to be much harder for us! For example, celebrity X finds a photo of themselves somewhere and posts it on social media – only, the photo was taken by a paparazzo who says, 'That photo's mine and you need permission to use it! So, be prepared to pay for it, or you can't use it!' Page 97 FUNCTIONS Exercise 7 8 & 9 I'm sorry, but there's no way this is a news story. I mean just because this woman was famous for a short while a few years ago doesn't mean that everything she says is news. I'm really against running this story. My mind's made up! This is exactly the kind of story we want. This woman always causes controversy and that's what our readers like to read. She sells papers. We're definitely going with this story. And that's final.

Page 98 DEVELOPING SPEAKING Exercise 1 & 2 Hi Luke. You're late. What kept you? It's none of your business, Bea. Wow! You're in a bad mood. Have you had some bad news or something? No, not bad news, but you're right; I'm not in a good mood. I'm embarrassed and angry at myself. You'll never guess what happened to me. I got stopped in the street, that local TV news programme was there with a camera crew and an interviewer. She said, 'So, what do you think about the plans for the new shopping centre?' And all I could say was, 'What new shopping centre?' Everyone laughed. It was so embarrassing. My big chance to be on TV and I blew it! Hah, hah, hah! That's so funny! 'What new shopping centre?' Brilliant! Oh come on, Luke – you've got to try to see the funny side of it. I guess, but it's not easy when you've made a fool of yourself. Oh, don't worry. No one knows about it – except me, of course! But how on earth do you not know about the shopping centre plans? Don't you follow the news? I do. Well, I look at things on Twitter sometimes, at least. But I've been so busy lately, what with exams and everything. In any case, why haven't we been discussing it at school? There's a current affairs lesson every week, isn't there? Those lessons aren't about local stuff, you know that. We talk about climate change and world politics, not new shopping centres. But I can tell you all about it if you like. Don't bother. It's too late now. I mean, they're not going to ask me again, are they? No, but you might want to know what's going on in your own hometown.

Unit 9 & 10 Page 100 CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH B2 First for Schools LISTENING Part 4 Exercise 1 You will hear an interview with a teenager called Diana Hollingsworth about the 'Good News Project'. For questions 1-7 choose the best answer (A, B or C). We all like to complain that there seems to be nothing but bad news when we turn on the TV or open the newspaper but do we ever think of doing something about it? One person who has decided to do just that is 16-year-old Diana Hollingsworth who is here with me today to tell us all about her 'Good News Project'. Diana, welcome. Tell us, just what is the Good News Project? The Good News Project is exactly what its name suggests. It's a project to hunt down and report stories that will make us feel happy about the world that we live in. And how did you come up with the idea? Well, all the depressing stories in the news were getting me down, but I was even more tired of hearing people going on and on about the same problems and I thought to myself 'I should definitely do something about this'. I was the editor of the school magazine so I decided that the next issue would contain nothing but good news. I also used the magazine to explain my idea to pupils. I was amazed by the response I got. Loads of them came forward with stories. That's when I thought I could do more. And now you print stories in the local paper. How did you get involved with that? My mum has a friend on the local newspaper and she arranged for me to meet her. I took along some of the stories that I'd been given by people at school and explained my idea to the journalists there. They loved the idea and said that each week they would publish one of our stories to see how the public responded to it. It was such a success that after a few months we were publishing around five stories in each edition. I've learnt so much from this experience. And you're also on the local radio station? Tell us more about that. The producer of the radio station had seen our stories in the newspaper and really liked the idea of doing something similar. So now I produce a good news story for the broadcast at the end of their news bulletins. I love coming up with amusing stories that will cheer people up. I don't actually listen to myself though because I sound weird. It sounds like you're quite busy. I am. I mean I don't do all the work myself. I have a team of reporters who find the stories but I'm the one who makes the final decision as to which stories we're going to pass on to the paper and the radio. It's actually quite a bit of responsibility because I need to be sure that the stories are 100% accurate, which can be challenging. It's probably the toughest part of the job. So who writes your stories? Are they all young people like yourself? Most of them are. Most of them are pupils from our school but actually anyone can get in touch and send in a story. They can do it just once or they can contribute regularly. And they don't have to write the story. I'm happy to do that if I have all the facts. The only thing we ask any potential contributor is that their story should be either current or about something that's only just happened. And of course it has to be uplifting. Has doing this project changed your opinion of the news in any way? Oh, definitely. Before I always saw the world as a dangerous place and I felt powerless to do anything about all the problems the world is facing. I try not to think about those and instead I focus on things individuals can do. I know there are things that people like me can do to make the world a better place. That's good to hear. And finally – can you give us some examples of your favourite types of stories. Oh my goodness. Where do I start? Animals always make good stories. Animals doing silly things, people finding their lost cats, that sort of thing. We also have lots of stories about people doing amazing things to raise money for people in our area – like building a skatepark, for example. I like those the most because everyone can get involved. Sport is also a good topic. We had an inspiring story the other day about an 82-year-old man who still plays football every week. Diana, it's been a pleasure. Thank you so much for telling all about the Good News Project and good luck for the future. You're welcome and thanks for having me.