Self-study
Journalists often claim that their investigation of the private lives of political leaders is an effort to improve society by forcing the powerful to conform to the same standards of conduct as the less powerful. ██ ████████ ████████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████████ ██ ████████ ██ █████ ██████ ███████ ████ █████████ ████ ████ ████████████ ███ █████ ████████ ████ ███████ █████ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ████████
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
While journalists argue that their investigations of the private lives of political leaders improves society, it is actually detrimental to society. This is because it makes public figures more concerned with appearances and makes everyone else cynical about their leaders.
Identify Argument Part
The argument part refers to the position that journalists often claim. The author then says that position has bad consequences.
9.
The claim that journalistic investigation ██ ███ ███████ █████ ██ █████████ ███████ ██ ██ ██████ ██ ███████ ███████ █████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ █████ ██ ███ █████████
a
It is a █████ ████ ███ ████████ ████████ ██ ███████
This is incorrect because the author is not refuting that journalists view their investigations as an effort to hold the powerful to the same standards as less powerful citizens. The author is merely saying that effort has negative consequences.
b
It mentions a █████████████ ████ ██ █████████ ███████ ███ █ ████████ █████ ███ ████████ ██████████ ███ ███████████ █████████████
This is correct because the argument part mentions the journalists’ justification for their practice of investigating the private lives of politicians. The author then concludes this investigating has negative consequences.
c
It is cited ██ ████████ █████ █████ ███ ██ █████████ ████ ███ ████████ █████████ ██ ██████
This is incorrect because the author isn’t concluding that journalists are wrong to assert that their investigations are an effort to hold the powerful and less powerful to the same standards. The author is merely arguing that practice has other, bad consequences.
d
It describes a ██████████ █████ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ████ ████████ ██ ███████ ████ ███████████ █████ ███████
This is incorrect because the author actually argues that the phenomenon is more damaging than what journalists assume.
e
It gives an ███████ ██ █ ██████████ ████ ███ ████████ ████████ ███ ████ █████████ ███████ ████ █████ ██ ██ █████████ ███████ ██ ████████ ██ █████
This is incorrect because we don’t know whether or not it is generally assumed by everyone that journalists’ investigations into the private lives of politicians will have the positive effects journalists claim.