Free Practice Question
RC · Reading Comprehension
sub-505
Short Passage - Social Science
Reading Passage
In the early years of television, Vladimir Zworykin was, at least in the public sphere, recognized as its inventor. His loudest champion was his boss, David Sarnoff, then president of RCA and a man that we regard even today as "the father of television." Current historians agree, however, that Philo Farnsworth, a self-educated prodigy who was the first to transmit live images, was television's true inventor.
In his own time, Farnsworth's contributions went largely unnoticed, in large part because he was excluded from the process of introducing the invention to a national audience. Sarnoff put televisions into living rooms, and Sarnoff was responsible for a dominant paradigm of the television industry that continues to be relevant today: advertisers pay for the programming so that they can have a receptive audience for their products. Sarnoff had already utilized this construct to develop the radio industry, and it had, within ten years, become ubiquitous. Farnsworth thought the television should be used as an educational tool, but he had little understanding of the business world, and was never able to implement his ideas.
Perhaps one can argue that Sarnoff simply adapted the business model for radio and television from the newspaper industry, replacing the revenue from subscriptions and purchases of individual newspapers with that of selling the television sets themselves, but Sarnoff promoted himself as nothing less than a visionary. Some television critics argue that the construct Sarnoff implemented has played a negative role in determining the content of the programs themselves, while others contend that it merely created a democratic platform from which the audience can determine the types of programming it wants.
In his own time, Farnsworth's contributions went largely unnoticed, in large part because he was excluded from the process of introducing the invention to a national audience. Sarnoff put televisions into living rooms, and Sarnoff was responsible for a dominant paradigm of the television industry that continues to be relevant today: advertisers pay for the programming so that they can have a receptive audience for their products. Sarnoff had already utilized this construct to develop the radio industry, and it had, within ten years, become ubiquitous. Farnsworth thought the television should be used as an educational tool, but he had little understanding of the business world, and was never able to implement his ideas.
Perhaps one can argue that Sarnoff simply adapted the business model for radio and television from the newspaper industry, replacing the revenue from subscriptions and purchases of individual newspapers with that of selling the television sets themselves, but Sarnoff promoted himself as nothing less than a visionary. Some television critics argue that the construct Sarnoff implemented has played a negative role in determining the content of the programs themselves, while others contend that it merely created a democratic platform from which the audience can determine the types of programming it wants.
It can be inferred from the third paragraph of the passage that
Answer Choices
Correct answer marked belowA
television shows produced by David Sarnoff and Vladimir Zworykin tended to earn negative reviews
B
educational programs cannot draw as large an audience as sports programs
a number of critics feel that Sarnoff's initial decision to earn television revenue through advertising has had a positive or neutral impact on content
Correct
D
educational programs that are aired in prime time, the hours during which the greatest number of viewers are watching television, are less likely to earn a profit than those that are aired during the daytime hours
E
in matters of programming, the audience's preferences should be more influential than those of the advertisers
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What it tests
Your ability to understand a passage, its structure, and what the author is really saying. At the sub-505 level, accuracy and speed both matter.
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Answering from memory or outside knowledge instead of strictly from the passage.
Details
Difficulty
sub-505
Type
RC
Category