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 passage suggests that Farnsworth might have earned greater public notoriety for his invention if
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 word suggests signals that this is an Inference question, so you will need to go back to the passage. Farnsworth's contributions are discussed in the second paragraph:
[Farnsworth] was excluded from the process of introducing the invention to a national audience... 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.
If Farnsworth hadn't been excluded, maybe he would have earned more acclaim. Alternatively, if he had understood business better, then he might have earned more acclaim. Look for an answer with a similar meaning.
(A) The passage says that Sarnoff, not Zworykin himself, was vocal about Zworykin's contributions.
(B) It's possible that if Farnsworth had been able to follow through on his goal of using television for education, he would have earned public acclaim, but the passage says nothing to indicate this.
(C) There is no indication that Farnsworth had any such plans. Rather, it would have helped Farnsworth to be involved with Sarnoff's plans.
(D) CORRECT. If Farnsworth hadn't been excluded, then he might have garnered acclaim as Sarnoff and Zworykin did.
(E) The passage indicates that Farnsworth had little understanding of the business world; even if he knew what audiences wanted to watch, he wouldn't necessarily have known how to build a successful business model.
