newton minows speech to national association of broadcasters
newton minow (1926 - ) was appointed by president john kennedy as chairman of the federal communications commission, the agency responsible for regulating the use of the public airwaves. on may 9, 1961, he spoke to 2,000 members of the national association of broadcasters and told them that the daily diet on television was a vast wasteland. minows indictment of commercial television launched a national debate about the quality of programming. after minows speech, the television critic for the new york times wrote: tonight some broadcasters were trying to find dark explanations for mr. minows attitude. in this matter the viewer possibly can be a little helpful.
ours has been called the jet age, the atomic age, the space age. it is also, i submit, the television age. and just as history will decide whether the leaders of todays world employed the atom to destroy the world or rebuild it for mankinds benefit, so will history decide whether todays broadcasters employed their powerful voice to enrich the people or debase them.
like everybody, i wear more than one hat. i am the chairman of the fcc. i am also a television viewer and the husband and father of other television viewers. i have seen a great many television programs that seemed to me eminently worthwhile, and i am not talking about the much - bemoaned good old days of playhouse 90 and studio one.
i am talking about the past season. some were wonderfully entertaining, such as the fabulous fifties, the fred astaire show and the bing crosby special; some were dramatic and moving, such as conrads victory and twilight zone; some were marvelously informative, such as the nations future, cbs reports, and the violent years. i could list many more - programs that i am sure everyone here felt enriched his own life. when television is good, nothing - not the theater, not the magazines - nothing is better.
but when television is bad, nothing is worse. i invite you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit - and - loss sheet or rating book to distract you - and keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. i can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland.
you will see a procession of game shows, violence, audience participation shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western badmen, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence and cartoons. and, endlessly, commercials - many screaming, cajoling, and offending. and, most of all, boredom. true, you will see a few things you will enjoy. but they will be very, very few. and if you think i am exaggerating, try it.
is there one person in this room who claims that broadcasting cant do better?
why is so much television so bad? i have heard many answers: demands of your advertisers, competition for ever higher ratings, the need always to attract a mass audience, the high cost of television programs, the insatiable appetite for programming material - these are some of them. unquestionably these are tough problems. but i am not convinced that they are insoluble.
which best describes the purpose of the first section of the passage?
a it provides a counter - argument, so the reader can better comprehend the speech.
b it creates a conversational tone, so the reader can better understand the speech.
c it provides background information for context, so the reader can better understand the speech.
d it creates a question and answer format, so the reader will know what style to expect from the rest of the passage.

Question

newton minows speech to national association of broadcasters
newton minow (1926 - ) was appointed by president john kennedy as chairman of the federal communications commission, the agency responsible for regulating the use of the public airwaves. on may 9, 1961, he spoke to 2,000 members of the national association of broadcasters and told them that the daily diet on television was a vast wasteland. minows indictment of commercial television launched a national debate about the quality of programming. after minows speech, the television critic for the new york times wrote: tonight some broadcasters were trying to find dark explanations for mr. minows attitude. in this matter the viewer possibly can be a little helpful.
 ours has been called the jet age, the atomic age, the space age. it is also, i submit, the television age. and just as history will decide whether the leaders of todays world employed the atom to destroy the world or rebuild it for mankinds benefit, so will history decide whether todays broadcasters employed their powerful voice to enrich the people or debase them.
like everybody, i wear more than one hat. i am the chairman of the fcc. i am also a television viewer and the husband and father of other television viewers. i have seen a great many television programs that seemed to me eminently worthwhile, and i am not talking about the much - bemoaned good old days of playhouse 90 and studio one.
i am talking about the past season. some were wonderfully entertaining, such as the fabulous fifties, the fred astaire show and the bing crosby special; some were dramatic and moving, such as conrads victory and twilight zone; some were marvelously informative, such as the nations future, cbs reports, and the violent years. i could list many more - programs that i am sure everyone here felt enriched his own life. when television is good, nothing - not the theater, not the magazines - nothing is better.
but when television is bad, nothing is worse. i invite you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit - and - loss sheet or rating book to distract you - and keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. i can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland.
you will see a procession of game shows, violence, audience participation shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western badmen, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence and cartoons. and, endlessly, commercials - many screaming, cajoling, and offending. and, most of all, boredom. true, you will see a few things you will enjoy. but they will be very, very few. and if you think i am exaggerating, try it.
is there one person in this room who claims that broadcasting cant do better?
why is so much television so bad? i have heard many answers: demands of your advertisers, competition for ever higher ratings, the need always to attract a mass audience, the high cost of television programs, the insatiable appetite for programming material - these are some of them. unquestionably these are tough problems. but i am not convinced that they are insoluble.
which best describes the purpose of the first section of the passage?
a it provides a counter - argument, so the reader can better comprehend the speech.
b it creates a conversational tone, so the reader can better understand the speech.
c it provides background information for context, so the reader can better understand the speech.
d it creates a question and answer format, so the reader will know what style to expect from the rest of the passage.

Accepted Answer

# Brief Explanations:
The first section of the passage provides details about Newton Minow (his appointment, the occasion of the speech), which gives background information for context so the reader can better understand the speech. It doesn't present a counter - argument, create a conversational tone in the traditional sense, or set up a question - answer format.
# Answer:
C. It provides background information for context, so the reader can better understand the speech.

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