E3 | 3.2 Rights and Responsibilities Krimsky

What is the central idea of Krimsky’s article?

• The government should regulate media to ensure factual accuracy.

•  Entertainment media has a larger influence than the news

• A free and independent press is essential to a functioning democracy.

• Citizens in emerging democracies should distrust media entirely.

Which of the following best describes Krimsky’s tone in the first two paragraphs with words such as "dispassionately" (paragraph 1), "define the terminology" (paragraph 2), "broadest sense" (paragraph 2).

• Sarcastic and dismissive

• Objective and contemplative

• Angry and accusatory

• Excited and hopeful

What rhetorical strategy does Krimsky use in paragraph 3 to support his claim?

• Personal anecdote

• Definition by negation

• Expert/Historical Testimony

• Statistical Evidence

In Chunk 4, Krimsky explains how journalists should maintain financial independence by:

• accepting government subsides

• prioritizing advertising content to appeal to the widest audience

• hiring and training teams of individuals to create social media content

• build internal walls to ensure that all operations between the business and the news are separated

Why does Krimsky compare the media landscape to "banquet table" of "junk food" in paragraph 17?

• to praise the diversity of modern media by it's ease of accessibility.

• to argue that modern media lack substantial content and through consumption, society is becoming intellectually unhealthy as a result.

• to illustrate how quickly society has access to information and news updates.

• to amplify the amount of news media sources and outlets there are available.

Which of the following best explains the author’s purpose in using rhetorical questions throughout Chunk 4 (e.g., “Are government and party subsidies less imprisoning?” and “But haven't they just traded one affiliation for another?”)?

• To express doubt about whether democracy can succeed in former communist countries

• To mock the simplistic thinking of journalists in emerging democracies

• To prompt readers to reflect on the complexities of press freedom and journalistic independence

• To emphasize the superiority of the American media system over all others

Read the excerpt from George A. Krimsky’s “The Role of the Media in a Democracy.”

Where is the relevance of all this to the emerging democracies around the world? Certainly the American experience, for all its messiness, provides a useful precedent, if not always a model.

The word “precedent” is defined as “a prior example.” Based on this definition and the context of the excerpt, a “precedent” is something that

• applies solely to legal decisions.

• can be used as a guide for the future. 

• is more important than current examples.

• must be followed by everyone.

Read the excerpt from George A. Krimsky’s “The Role of the Media in a Democracy.”

Though nearly 60 percent of the world's nations today are declared democracies—a monumental change from a mere decade ago—most of them have nevertheless instituted press laws that prohibit reporting on a whole array of subjects ranging from the internal activity and operations of government to the private lives of leaders. Some of these are well-intentioned efforts to “preserve public stability.” But all of them, ALL of them, undermine self-governance.

Based on the excerpt, Krimsky’s rebuttal to this counterargument is intended to

• show that other countries also regulate the reporting of sensitive government operations.

• suggest that total freedom in reporting would jeopardize the safety of U.S. citizens. 

• prove that the United States does not need to follow the lead of other democratic nations.

• emphasize that even good intentions can undercut free expression.