When the Local Paper Dies

C2 Proficiency · Word Formation · Cambridge Ready original exercise

For questions 1–8, read the text below. Use the word given in capitals at the end of some of the lines to form a word that fits in the gap in the same line. There is an example at the beginning (0).

DISAPPEAR

FAR

SCRUTINISE

COMPETENT

LIVE

RIGOUR

CHECK

DONATE

Across the country, local newspapers are closing at an (0) ___ rate. Their (1) ___ is often mourned as the loss of a cherished institution, but its consequences are more (2) ___ than most people realise. Studies have found that in towns left without a paper, council spending is subjected to far less (3) ___ , and that waste, (4) ___ and even corruption can go unnoticed for years. Online platforms have done little to fill the gap. Community social media groups, though (5) ___ , are no substitute for trained journalists who check facts (6) ___ before publishing, and rumours in such groups often circulate (7) ___ , sometimes doing lasting damage to people's reputations. Some towns have responded by setting up newsrooms of their own, staffed by a handful of reporters and funded largely by readers' (8) ___ . Whether such ventures can survive in the long term remains to be seen, but they offer at least a glimmer of hope to places that had resigned themselves to hearing about local affairs only through gossip.

When the Local Paper Dies

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