In the early years of television, Vladimir Zworykin was considered the device's inventor, at least publicly. His loudest champion was his boss, David Sarnoff, then president of RCA and a man regarded 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 technical 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.
Some argue that Sarnoff simply adapted the business model for radio and television from the newspaper industry, replacing the revenue from subscriptions and newsstand purchases with that of television set sales, 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 desires.
The primary purpose of the passage is to
Correct
Incorrect
Sample passage map (yours will likely differ):
(1) VZ = inventor
-S = father of TV
-really F
(2) F not part of process, focus edu
-S made comm (same as radio)
(3) S just adapt? or visionary?
-Some see S neg, some pos
The point (articulate to yourself; don't write): Farnsworth really invented TV, but he didn't know how to turn it into a business. Sarnoff used the radio model to make television big business. People have differing feelings about his role.
Next, identify the question type. The wording primary purpose indicates that this is a Primary Purpose question. Glance at your map and remind yourself of the point before you go to the answers.
(A) The passage does correct the misconceptions about Farnsworth's role. This is only a detail of the passage, however, not its primary purpose; most of the passage talks about Sarnoff's development of the business model for television.
(B) The passage does not delve into popular culture.
(C) Zworykin is not the focus of the passage, nor does the passage say anything about current public perception of Zworykin; it only indicates that he was once considered the inventor of the technology.
(D) The passage is not about the events that led to the invention of television, nor is it about radio. Radio is only mentioned because Sarnoff used a similar business model to launch the business of television.
(E) CORRECT. The passage does describe how Sarnoff made television popular; some critics think that his role was positive while others think that it was negative. Notice that this is the only answer choice that mentions Sarnoff. He is featured prominently in every paragraph, so any answer choice representing the point of the passage should not mention other people while ignoring him.
