Shadowing Practice: Melissa Hinkley | Social Media & Journalism Debate | Opposition (2/6) - Learn English Speaking with Video
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I now look to Melissa Hinckley, Keeble College and the Librarian of the Oxford Union to open the case for the opposition.
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Social media and good journalism are not too fundamentally opposing ideas, as the proposition have argued this evening.
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In fact, social media is where good journalism flourishes.
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What the motion seems to be suggesting this evening, and as the proposition have somewhat referred to, social media is somehow perceived as more politically persuasive than good journalism.
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However, good journalism means contextualised reporting, a basis in fact, and an integral approach to a topic, which means a genuine point of view.
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What good journalism is not, in short, is sensationalism, something spun to gain views clicks for advertising revenue
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if good journalism is contextualized honest well researched
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and based in fact then social media is filled with individuals doing just
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that reporting straight from the source telling the world what is
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happening from earthquakes to terrorist attacks across the world to more
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celebratory moments such as Australia's passing of the same -sex marriage bill this week means
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that social media reports in the way
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that it knows best through real people living their lives clearly
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then there is a gradient from good journalism what we might call serious news to entertainment clickbait
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and online quizzes you won't believe what number seven is top
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five style articles through to bad journalism news stories manipulated to get your attention
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and promote an agenda the often monetary agenda of their publisher i would like to argue tonight
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that the latter is prevalent in all media
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and not just the social type i don't believe
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that social media is undermining good journalism in terms of political parity i believe
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that it works in a symbiotic relationship with established news sources
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ultimately enabling a wider variety of viewpoints to come forward what
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makes social media dangerous is the inability to distinguish what is real
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and what is entertaining as we've heard tonight however in recent times
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and with so much conversation surrounding this i believe
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that social media is finally moving on from its infancy
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and developing a response to the challenges it has faced social
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media not only changes who has the power to decide on the truth of information
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but also decides who gets to talk about these things
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and i believe this is incredibly important news is for the first time in dialogue with the consumer collaborative
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and adaptable this comes with pitfalls and social media is still growing
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but the opportunity for global discussion should not be ignored
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and here to add to our diverse discussion it falls on
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me to introduce the proposition speakers for this evening we have just heard from Abby Risdell -Smith, a second year English student at Keeble College.
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You would be forgiven for noticing that on paper, Abby and I seem like the same human being.
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Keeble English students, both part of the union, both part of KCBC.
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However, unlike myself, Abby is actually in her limited spare time, a rising journalist for the Cherwell, which when I looked this morning,
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their last two published articles had zero likes on Facebook.
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it seems it seems unsurprising to me therefore she would like
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to pin it on social media this evening thanks Chris speaking next is Damien Collins MP chairman of culture media
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and sport he is in charge of the parliamentary inquiry into
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fake news Mr Collins has been very busy recently with the
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investigation into Russia's creation of fake social media accounts to influence UK elections.
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I am very intrigued to hear his thoughts on how social
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media should be shaping up to protect the people who are using it.
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And finally, we will hear from Stephen Erlanger, the London Bureau Chief for the New York Times.
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He previously served as Bureau Chief in Europe, Russia, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
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I am genuinely interested to hear what he has to say on the topic from his wide global perspective.
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Mr President, these are your proposition speakers for this evening
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and they are most welcome
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so I have three arguments I would like
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to explore for you all today firstly
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that social media promotes the established idea of good journalism from large -scale media corporations secondly
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that social media promotes diversity of perspectives and viewpoints
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that are broadening our understanding of the world and thirdly finally
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that social media is a burgeoning type of media a medium
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that conglomerates information and is one therefore that should be approached with temperance some education and some skepticism
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later on i would also like to address two things briefly this question of fake news
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and the manipulation of social media
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and second of all how bad journalism is being disguised as good journalism already
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and how this is considerably more problematic than your auntie's friend's opinionated comment on your status Firstly,
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let's look then at how social media is promoting what is traditionally perceived as good journalism.
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To put it simply, you can follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat a wide variety of news sources.
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The more you follow the news, the more news sources you probably follow to see the conversation in its entirety.
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If you're British at a base level, you might follow BBC News.
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Being sociable and connected means people are more likely than ever to be informed
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and what the debate is surrounding what you're looking into.
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A notable recent example of this was the conversation surrounding Oxbridge entrance, started by David Lammy MP, and whether Oxbridge should be doing more to admit students from ethnic minority backgrounds.
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Many students were approached directly by media, large -scale media groups, and their thoughts published online and shared through social media platforms.
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It is online now that a conversation can be taking shape, and other forms of media are struggling to replicate the same sense of dialogue, discussion
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and debate social media is actively boosting good journalism
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and journalists are excited about the active response they're getting from readers one journalist said recently
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if it doesn't succeed on facebook it certainly won't succeed in print
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and i think to cling to the concept of good journalism as opinion
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and pieces in the times
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or otherwise is to miss the point increasingly these writers are out there already writing their blogs tweeting commenting
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and it is this traction that is getting them noticed published and bringing their views to these more established platforms, who then share it on Facebook.
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Social media is increasingly setting the tone for what people are publishing and viewing, but the brilliance is that it is a collaborative dialogue process,
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which means good journalism is promoted by and bolstered by these loud, clear, diverse voices.
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This leads me on to my next point, which concerns the wider multiplicity of viewpoint that social media encourages.
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Social media gives a legitimate platform to every real person, whether you agree with them or not, and this multiplicity seems to be something that is difficult to reconcile nowadays.
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We seem to be finding it harder and harder to reach consensus due to multiple conflicting narratives.
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And the fragmentation of our sentiments and our wishes are creating deep political divides.
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It seems like the only people who can solve this are people who appeal to the most emotive parts of us, the parts that are crying out for someone to have answers.
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And these answers are promised to us and we fall into them out of a desire for a comforting solution.
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But social media is not undermining good journalism it is just undermining a sense
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that we can find one point of view one answer approach one
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that makes the world easy to understand as various conflicting dialogues
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of truth come to the surface this taps into a fear
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that we have as a global society
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and it is a reflection of our changing political landscape we
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are moving from a one narrative approach to a many narrative approach
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and i think this should be embraced and not feared as the motion tries to imply.
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And this leads me on to my third point, which is about where the authority rests in terms of this debate.
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Many editors have noted the movement of power of information from the journalist to the consumer.
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To take this literally, citizen journalists are out on the streets of Syria filming tear gas attacks, racist marches in Charlottesville, and severe weather like earthquakes and hurricanes in China and Puerto Rico.
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Citizen journalism and social media are increasingly part of the mainstream traditional media, and people have more power than ever to to create alternative channels for debate.
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To talk about this more in depth, to move the agency of deciding what is true onto the individual is a big step, but it is one that is being taken up by the mantle of social media.
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Facebook started our campaign this month to increase the journalistic literacy of its users
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and is working to crack down on hoax accounts, bots, and users who are simply not real.
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I want to address fake news here.
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Social media is seen to undermine good journalism in
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that it tries to influence what people are thinking in a way that journalism cannot seek to, which is subconsciously.
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We hear stories of algorithms, targeted tweets, trending, all to convince a population who are logging on to these zones for discussion
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that the discussion is very much one to one extreme or the other already.
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However, I honestly believe that many, including Damien Collins on the proposition, are doing a lot to mitigate the possible impact that this could have.
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Many people now are seeking to follow more established sources of news
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and even to pay for new subscriptions to make sure
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that what they're seeing on social media has a well -researched foundation in fact.
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Jeff Sucker, the president of CNN, who visited the union a few weeks back, summed up Twitter as the place where people see things first.
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It's the place where breaking news happens.
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And then he said CNN is the place where they find out what happened, how it happened, and whether it's true.
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The New York Times, as well, has a record subscriber growth as of this year.
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There is a symbiotic relationship taking place between different types of media outlets
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that overall provide enough information for a colourful news landscape.
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And on a final note on this, let's be clear here.
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Social media isn't undermining good journalism.
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It is the people who are seeking to use its benefits to persuade and manipulate who are at fault.
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How effective this is remains to be seen.
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I strongly believe that social media supports journalism
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and we should not take our eyes off of who the real culprits are here.
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Lastly, I want to quickly hint at something that is potentially more problematic than social media manipulation.
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That is actual news outlets and actual political parties disseminating sensationalised information throughout the media.
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The most notable example I can think of here was the £350 million promise for the NHS
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if we left the EU by Nigel Farage and his campaign bus.
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This was an outright lie, and many were angry in the wake of Brexit that they were misled.
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Similarly, news outlets sometimes get it wrong.
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CNN apologised recently for their excessive coverage of Trump rallies at the start of his campaign
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and felt this gave him undue traction.
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And we are still finding our feet in this new media age.
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It is also clear at this stage that traditional media is equally a game
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that can be played and manipulated by the people inside it, as much as it is bought and sold from the outside by people with vested interests in it.
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Only today we have seen a leaked email through BuzzFeed News
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with a Daily Mail reporter asked to put the boot in Corbyn.
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We develop scepticism towards this kind of media, and we must do so again with social media.
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If traditional media undermines itself constantly, then what can we expect in the space of social media?
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so what do I want what I have wanted to do
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for you this evening is to paint a picture for you all of social media as a burgeoning
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and hopeful space with some room to grow it is not yet perfect I honestly believe
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that we are becoming more scrutinizing actually as a result of recent events social media is integral to good journalism
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and although my arguments may not seem as sexy as the
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propositions this evening I hope you can see to vote with
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the opposition as the only way to make sense of the future.
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Increasingly the responsibility lies with you and
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if we are to maximise the power of this platform we
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must be careful to understand the large volume of information circulating every day.
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Social media is after all made up of all of us.
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Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 148 sentences and 2172 words to shadow. The speech runs for 11:42. The speaker talks fast, about 186 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 82% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| journalism noun | /ˈd͡ʒɝnl̩ˌɪzəm/ | The aggregating, writing, editing, and presenting of news or news articles for widespread distribution, typically in electronic publications, broadcast news… |
| proposition noun | /ˌpɹɑpəˈzɪʃən/ | The act of offering (an idea) for consideration. |
| undermine verb | /ˌʌn.dɚˈmaɪn/ | To dig underneath (something), to make a passage for destructive or military purposes; to sap. |
| journalist noun | /ˈd͡ʒɝnəlɪst/ | The keeper of a personal journal, who writes in it regularly. |
| increasingly adverb | Increasing in amount or intensity. | |
| dialogue noun | /ˈdaɪəˌlɑɡ/ | A conversation or other form of discourse between two or more individuals. |
| narrative noun | /ˈnæɹ.ə.tɪv/ | The systematic recitation of an event or series of events. |
| outlet noun | /ˈaʊtlɛt/ | A vent or similar passage to allow the escape of something. |
| surround verb | /səˈɹaʊnd/ | To encircle something or simultaneously extend in all directions. |
| manipulate verb | /məˈnɪp.jʊ.leɪt/ | To move, arrange or operate something using the hands |
| viewpoint noun | /ˈvjuː.pɔɪnt/ | The position from which something is observed or considered |
| topic noun | /ˈtɑpɪk/ | A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest. |
| argue verb | /ˈɑɹ.ɡju/ | To show grounds for concluding (that); to indicate, imply. |
| citizen noun | /ˈsɪtɪzən/ | A resident of a city or town, especially one with legally recognized rights or duties. |
| landscape noun | /ˈlan(d)skeɪp/ | A portion of land or territory as defined by its landform, its geographical (and architectural) features. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| come forward verb | To offer help or information, especially about a crime. |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. |
| sum up verb | To produce a total by adding. |
| take up verb | To pick up. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 10 contractions and reduced forms, such as they're, won't, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: earthquake /ˈɝθkweɪk/, ethnic /ˈɛθ.nɪk/, algorithm /ˈælɡəɹɪðm̩/, thirdly /ˈθɚdli/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: proposition /ˌpɹɑpəˈzɪʃən/, manipulation /məˌnɪp.juˈleɪ.ʃən/, traction /ˈtɹæk.ʃən/, potentially /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/, reflection /ɹɪˈflɛkʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: proposition /ˌpɹɑpəˈzɪʃən/, manipulate /məˈnɪp.jʊ.leɪt/, problematic /ˌpɹɑ.bləˈmæt.ɪk/, manipulation /məˌnɪp.juˈleɪ.ʃən/, collaborative /kəˈlæb.ə.ɹə.tɪv/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like journalism, proposition, undermine.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is contextualized · is filled · should not be ignored |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have argued · we've heard · has faced |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | topic, which means · people who are · people who can |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.