Self-study
Commentator: Most journalists describe their individual political orientations as liberal, and it is often concluded that there is therefore a liberal bias in current journalism. ████ ██ ███ ███ █████ ████████ ███████ ███████████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ███ ███ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ████████████ ███ █████████ ████ ██████ █████████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ████ ██████████ █████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ ███████ ████ ████ ██████ ███ ████████ ████████ ████ █████████
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
The commentator concludes that it is not true that there is a liberal bias in current journalism. To support this, the commentator claims that newspapers, magazines, radio, and television companies need to target a broad customer base because they depend on selling news and advertising. This need to appeal to a broad customer base is what keeps them impartial, according to the commentator, and since they face these market pressures to be impartial, there is not a liberal bias in the media.
Identify Conclusion
The commentator concludes that there is not a liberal bias in current journalism; despite what many believe, “this is not the case.”
8.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ ██████████ █████ ██ ███ █████████████ █████████
a
The individual political ████████████ ██ ███████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██████████ ████████ █████████ █████ █████
The argument does not address this claim. This answer discusses what constitutes acceptable evidence; the argument does not make a judgement on whether journalists’ views are acceptable evidence.
b
Major media face ███████████ ██████ ██████████
This is offered as support for the main conclusion. This is a premise.
c
Current journalism does ███ ████ █ ███████ █████████ █████
This is the main conclusion. The commentator’s argument is that other people are wrong when they claim that there is a liberal bias in the media. Answer C encapsulates this idea.
d
Major media must ██████ ███ ████████ ████████ ████ ████████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ ████████
Similar to B, this acts as support for the main conclusion, so this is a premise.
e
It is often ██████████ ████ ███████ ██████████ ███ █ ███████ █████
This serves as context for the argument; this the idea that the commentator is arguing against.