Passage Reading help!!!!!!!

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>Passage reading is my worst part… can somebody please tell me why theses answers are correct?</p>

<p>Passage 1
A reform movement in journalism is afoot in newsrooms and boardrooms across the country. Industry organizations are launching initiatives, offering training and fostering new ways of thinking about news coverage and its effects. The goals are to reinstill journalism’s core values, regain credibility and generally better the media’s performance. What really is wrong with Journalism? Lack of accuracy and fairness, to much sensationalism and bias are all components of the problem, but the number one issue is that “people distrust our motives,” said Tom Rosenstiel, founding director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, who hopes to get more journalists thinking about standards. </p>

<p>Passage 2
Conditions for journalism have never been better: robust media profits, strong legal protections, and sophisticated technology. Yet there is an influential movement, representing the consensus of the profession’s elite, dedicated to convincing us that all is not well. Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, arguably the two most prominent media critics in America, are the go-to people if you need a quotation lamenting the sensationalism of television newscasts or other media ills. Their recent book The Elements of Journalism suggests that unless a certain “theory of news” is adhered to, the Uniter States might be annihilated. Such factually uncluttered hyperbole does not merely invite a certain awe but also quite plausibly violates their number one axiom: “journalism’s first obligation is to the truth.”</p>

<p>Q1. Unlike Passage 1, Passage 2 alludes to journalism’s
A. core values
B. Specific critics
C. Complex history
D. Sensational tendencies
E. Economic well-being</p>

<p>I thought it was B but the correct answer is E. I couldn’t find anything that relates to economics in passage 2…</p>

<p>Q2. The author of passage 2 would most likely characterize the “initiatives” mentioned in line 3 Passage 2 as
A. timely
B. rational
C. indecipherable
D. unwarranted
E. equivocal</p>

<p>How is it D?
The questions can be found in the BB, practice test 3 section 4, pg.521
Thank you so much for clearing my doubts…</p>

2

<p>The first sentence of passage 2:</p>

<p>Conditions for journalism have never been better: robust media profits, strong legal protections, and sophisticated technology. </p>

<p>This views journalism as a business: Strong profits, protection of the media content (and hence retention of the readers), and sophisticated technology (and hence “efficiency”). These are the general pre-conditions for a viable business whether a technology company or a newspaper/magazine – i.e. “economic”.</p>

<p>Is there a typo in your second question? Do you mean “initiatives” in passage 1?</p>

3

<p>Thanks for your answer! I think I get it now…and yes I’m sorry, it’s a typo!!</p>

4

<p>For question 2, it is quite tricky since you must have an insight into the last sentence in passage 2. You should decipher it as a irony which suggests that media critics are exaggerating the current condition of mass media.
Note that both passages mention the same critic named Tom Ronsestiel, and passage 2 said that arguments of critics excuse the initiatives of a reform movement as meentioned in passage 1. What’s more, the sentence 'also quite plausibly violates their number one axiom: “journalism’s first obligation is to the truth.” ’ gives the clue that the current codition is distorted.
Answer D means the initiative is unjustified.</p>