PrepTest 129, Section 1, Question 2
Randy: After Mega Cable Television Company refused to(56 more words not shown)
Of the following, which one,(13 more words not shown)
- AThe owner of(17 more words not shown)
- BThe mayor also(24 more words not shown)
- CAzco's news coverage(15 more words not shown)
- DThe many people(21 more words not shown)
- EThe number of(14 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Helping a political supporter and caring about diverse news programming could happen at the same time. Marion's explanation doesn't automatically eliminate Randy's.
Randy says the mayor helped Azco get airtime after the cable company refused to carry a competing news service. Marion responds that the mayor was simply rewarding Azco's owner for political support. That gives us a possible motive, but why treat it as the whole explanation? The mayor could want a wider range of news sources and be happy that this particular owner benefits too.
What we’re looking for
We need Randy's strongest counter to Marion's objection. I'd want evidence that helping Azco was part of a broader effort, including help for news services whose owners weren't the mayor's supporters. If she provides this help more broadly, without tying it to political support, the story that this is just a reward for loyalty becomes less persuasive.
Working the answers
- A
Whose motive are we explaining? The owner's reason for supporting the mayor isn't the mayor's reason for helping Azco. Even if the owner expected nothing in return, the mayor could still decide to reward that support. A doesn't answer Marion's account of the mayor's action.
- BCorrect
The mayor provided the same kind of help to a news service whose owner supported her opponent. That is evidence of assistance extending beyond political friends, just as we wanted. It fits Randy's picture of a mayor promoting a variety of news services and makes Marion's exclusive political-reward explanation less convincing. It doesn't prove that political motives played no part in helping Azco; it supplies a strong reason to question whether those motives fully explain her conduct.
- C
An absence of an independent finding of biased coverage doesn't establish why the mayor helped Azco. The news service could cover her fairly while she still wanted to reward its owner's support. Also, never having been judged biased doesn't necessarily mean an independent organization has investigated and certified the coverage as unbiased.
- D
This gives the mayor another possible political benefit from helping Azco: preserving jobs might win support from the people holding them. That doesn't counter the suggestion that her action serves political interests. It adds a reason she might act for her own political advantage.
- E
A decline in the cable company's audience doesn't explain the mayor's motive for arranging Azco's airtime. We aren't told that the decline resulted from insufficient news diversity or had any connection to her decision. The audience trend alone doesn't answer Marion.
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