The Trouble with Television

According to Robert MacNeil in "The Trouble With Television," how many hours of television does the average American watch?

• 10 hours per day

• 10,000 hours per year

• 100 hours per decade

• 10,000 hours per decade

What is author Robert MacNeil trying to persuade readers to do in "The Trouble With Television"?

• watch more educational television programs

• don't buy products made by television advertisers

• avoid watching violent television programs

• watch less television

According to Robert MacNeil in "The Trouble With Television," what is "one of the most precious" human gifts?

• the ability to read and write

• the ability to focus your attention yourself

• the ability to share your knowledge with others

• the ability to be entertained

According to Robert MacNeil in "The Trouble With Television," what problem in the United States is linked to watching a lot of television?

• poverty

• illiteracy

• unemployment

• mental illness

What is one main point Robert MacNeil makes in "The Trouble With Television"?

• Television is only useful as a tool for advertising.

• Escapist entertainment helps relieve the stress of modern life.

• News stories should not be shown on television.

• Television decreases a person's ability to focus on worthwhile pursuits.

What is one idea Robert MacNeil uses to support his argument in "The Trouble With Television"?

• Television encourages violent behavior in both children and adults.

• Television requires no effort on the part of the viewer, but provides instant gratification.

• Television encourages children to bother their parents for trivial new products that are advertised on television.

• Television has too many comedy programs that have no educational

In "The Trouble With Television," Robert MacNeil says that much of television news is "machine gunning with scraps."

• Television news stories are dramatic and exciting.

• Television news stories are too short and are presented too quickly.

• Television news covers too many incidents of violent crime.

• Television news stories concentrate too much on war.

Which of the following sentences from "The Trouble With Television" is most clearly a statement of fact?

• "One study estimates that some 30 million adult Americans are 'functionally illiterate' and cannot read or write well enough to answer a want ad or understand the instructions on a medicine bottle."

• "But I see its values now pervading this nation and its life."

• "Television's variety becomes a narcotic, not a stimulus."

• "I think it tends to make things ultimately boring and dismissible (unless they are accompanied by horrifying pictures) because almost anything is boring and dismissible if you know almost nothing about it."

Which of the following sentences from "The Trouble With Television" is most clearly a statement of opinion?

• "You can add 10,000 hours for each decade you have lived after the age of 20."

• "I believe that TV's appeal to the short attention span is not only inefficient communication but decivilizing as well."

• "If you fit the statistical averages, by the age of 20 you will have been exposed to at least 20,000 hours of television."

• "Five thousand hours, I am told, are what a typical college undergraduate spends working on a bachelor's degree."

According to Robert MacNeil in "The Trouble With Television," how do television programs hold viewers' attention?

• They are brief.

• The characters are funny.

• They include a lot of violence.

• They are realistic.