Self-study
Journalist: A free marketplace of ideas ensures that all ideas get a fair hearing. ████ █████ ███████ ████ █████████ ███ ██████ ███ ██████ ██████████ █████████ ██ ████ ██████████ ████████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███████████ ███ ████ ████ ███ ███████████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ ███████ ███ ██████ ███ ████ ███████ ███ █████ ██ ███████████ ████ ███████████ █████ ██ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██████ ████ ███████████ ██████ ███ ████████ ████ ███████████ ███ ███████████ ████████ ██ █████████ ████ ██████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ███ █████████████ ██ ████████ ███████ ██ ████████████
Summarize Argument
Governmental power over information must be reduced. Why? The government controls over half of the information received by the public in most countries. This restricts the free marketplace of ideas, which then limits beneficial outcomes. Further, everyone agrees that governments shouldn’t suppress expression.
Identify Conclusion
The conclusion asserts a needed change: “... the power of governments over information needs to be curtailed.”
9.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ ████████████ █████████
a
The freedom of ███ ███████████ ██ █████ ██ ██ █████████
The journalist doesn’t weigh in on this. She cites the freedom of the marketplace of ideas as support for curtailing governmental power, but there’s no broad claim about whether this freedom is in jeopardy.
b
Preserving a free ███████████ ██ █████ ██ ██████████
This is an unstated premise (assumption) that provides support for the overall conclusion, i.e. governmental control over information should be reduced.
c
The control that ███████████ ████ ████ ███████████ █████ ██ ██ ████████
This is the main conclusion. The rest of the argument supports this by demonstrating the value of the free marketplace of ideas, and that governmental monopolization can restrict free expression.
d
Ideas that have █████████ ███████ ██ ████ ████ ████████████ ███████ ███ ██ █████████
The journalist says that ideas with malicious content can prompt beneficial outcomes; the argument doesn’t say if the ideas themselves are valuable. Also, the beneficial outcomes exist as support for the main conclusion.
e
Governments have near ██████████ ██ ███ █████████████ ██ ████ █████ ██ ████████████
This is premise. It demonstrates that governments are behaving in a way the restricts free expression, which supports the assertion to curtail their power. Also, we only know that governments “continue to construct” near monopolies, not that they have them.