Championing objectivity in writing—and, more precisely, decrying solipsism, narcissism, and self-absorption—can of course have legitimate uses. In the era of Twitter and Facebook, when we are given an infinite supply of blank fields to fill with our thoughts, we are all encouraged to think we are more interesting than we actually are. And yet there is a compelling argument to be made, more generally, that journalism’s putative standards of objectivity are sometimes wielded to check not subjectivity, per se, but unwanted subjectivities. The method of testing information – the approach to evidence- is meant to be objective, not the journalist. The key is in the discipline of the craft, not the aim.

Which of the following is the writer least likely to agree with?

Contrary to popular belief, the idea of evolution didn’t originate with Darwin, but was around for decades before he came along. His accomplishment was to come up with a workable scheme by which it likely occurred. Darwin, it must be said, had unusual exposure to the enormous diversity of life on earth for a man living in his time, through his voyage on the Beagle. However, his eureka moment came not through studying biology, but by reading the paper of an economist, Thomas Malthus, which showed that populations grow faster than the resources to sustain them. It was then that Darwin realized that only those best adapted to their environment would survive and pass on their traits to offspring.

What is the main idea of this paragraph?

It has been argued by behavioral economists in all earnestness that poverty shapes mindsets. From here, it is a hop, skip, and jump to holding that the poor are poor because their poverty prevents them from thinking and acting in ways that can take them out of poverty. When behaviorist economics speaks of poverty as a “cognitive tax”, it writes ‘action’ — the political agency of the poor — out of the equation. In such a case, the focus as well as the onus of poverty-alleviation would shift from the state — from macroeconomic policy, from having to provide employment, health and education — to changing the behavior of the poor. The structural causes of poverty — rising inequality and unemployment — as well as the behavior of the owners of capital are evicted from the poverty debate, and no longer need be the focus of public policy.

Which of these options best summarizes the given paragraph?

Many scientific studies have found links between genius and mental illness, particularly bipolar disorder in which patients have violent mood swings between elation and depression. In one interesting Swedish study, 700,000 Swedes had intelligence tests at age 16 and again 10 years later. Those who scored well were four times more likely than the others to have developed bipolar disorder. The US neurologist James Fallon came up with a convincing argument based on his own findings in the field: the brain area involved in mood swings is the same area where creativity is born. This may explain why some people can draw previously unseen connections among ideas, images, shapes and the like.

Which of the following is inferred from the above?

Any reporter worthy of the name would no sooner fiddle with direct quotes than a reputable photojournalist would alter his or her picture. News photographs are the equivalent of direct quotations and therefore are sacrosanct. To be sure, just as a writer can, in the interest of brevity or impact, choose which quotes to use in a story, so can a news photographer or picture editor crop out dead space in a news photo, or use the electronic equivalent of dodging or burning in to make a picture reproduce better. In this, I am reminded of what a Washington Times shooter once told me. On a computer outside the paper's darkroom, she said, there was plastered this flat admonition and warning: "If you can't do it in the darkroom, don't do it here".

Which of the following is the author least likely to agree with?