Self-study
Several companies will soon offer personalized electronic news services, delivered via cable or telephone lines and displayed on a television. ██████ █████ █████ ████████ ███ ████ ███████████ ███████ ███████ ██ █████ ██████ ███ █████ ████ ██████████ █████ █████ ████████ ████ ███████ ██████ ████ ███ ███████████ ████ ███ ███████ ███ ████ ███████ ███ ███████████ ████ ███████ ██████████ ████ █████████ █████ ████ ███████ ███████████ ██ █████ ████████ ██████ ██████ ██████████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that newspaper sales will drop if personalized electronic news is widely available. Why? Because this new media type offers personalization and will deliver news much more efficiently than newspapers.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes this new service will deliver news that is interesting to newspaper readers. In addition, he assumes newspaper subscribers will be able to afford the new service and will consider it a replacement for newspapers.
2.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████████ ███████ ███ █████████
a
In reading newspapers, ████ ██████ ███ ████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ████████ ██████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ████ ██████ ███████ █████████ ██ ████████ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███████ ███████
This challenges the author’s assumption that newspaper subscribers will consider personalized news a replacement for newspapers. The services described will not allow people to casually browse for stories on topics they don’t subscribe to.
b
Companies offering personalized ██████████ ████ ████████ ████ ██████ ███████ ██ ████ ████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ █████████ █████████ ██ ███ ████ █ █████ ██ ██████ ████ ██████
This doesn’t say those prices will be too expensive for newspaper subscribers. It’s possible even the most expensive personalized news service will be more affordable than a current newspaper subscription.
c
Approximately 30 percent ██ ██████ ████ █████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ███ ███████████ ███ ███████ ████ ██████ ██████ ██ ████ ████████ █████████ ██ ██████████ ███ ██████
This implies at least some people are satisfied consuming only television news. It doesn’t challenge the prediction that newspaper sales will drop.
d
The average monthly ████ ██ ███████████ ██ ███████ ████████ ██ █ ████████████ ██████████ ████ ███████ ████ █████████████ █████ ███ ████ ██ █ ███████ ████████████ ██ █ ██████████
This strengthens the argument because it means the personalized news service will not be too expensive for the typical newspaper subscriber to afford. It eliminates one possible reason to doubt the author’s prediction.
e
Most people who █████████ ██ ████████████ ██████████ ████ ████████ ████ ███ ████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ███ ████████████ █████ ███ ████████ ████ ███ ███████████ █████████ ██ █████ ███ █████████ ██████████
This strengthens the argument because it means the personalized news service will not carry upfront costs for most customers. It eliminates one possible reason to doubt the author’s prediction.