A. Analyzing campaign expenditures, the media [color=red]has had [/color]as a focus
B. [color=red]Analyses[/color] of campaign expenditures by the media [color=red]has been [/color]focus on
C. In analyzing campaign expenditures, the media have focused on : Correct
D. Media analyses of campaign expenditures [color=red]have had [/color]as a focus
E. In their analysis of campaign expenditures, the [color=red]media has been [/color]focusing on

I think the answer is E

I think the 3rd person plural pronoun(possesive) - their - clearly refers to campaign expenditures and plus all other choices have choice of words which is just too awkward. Since the action seems to be continuing so MEDIA HAS BEEN FOCUSING fits well.

E is incorrect as the second part of the sentence says overlooked and the action was complete

anayak,

Are you saying the collective noun media (referring to all the press collectively) is plural? I feel that it is singular as opposed to the medium (like vacuum) and media (vacuum, air etc)

I feel C is the answer ?

C is correct

Look at the second part of the sentence it uses HAVE so it means Media is plural in this case so we need a have in the underlined part. Between C and D, C is correct.

Check these links. They say the term "Media" is plural.... Other collectable nouns that are plural are : people, children, data, media

https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learn ... allenge48/

https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/ ... lural.html

https://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/GRAMMAR/plurals.htm

Analyzing campaign expenditures, the media has had as a focus the high costs and low ethics of campaign finance, but they have generally overlooked the cost of actually administering elections, which includes facilities, transport, printing, staffing, and technology.
A. Analyzing campaign expenditures, the media has had as a focus
B. Analyses of campaign expenditures by the media has been focus on
C. In analyzing campaign expenditures, the media have focused on
D. Media analyses of campaign expenditures have had as a focus
E. In their analysis of campaign expenditures, the media has been focusing on

The sentence uses media as plural(THEY) that eliminates A,B,E.
D incorrectly uses perfect tense(had).
So the answer is C
Cheers !

but they have generally overlooked indicates media is plural so should be have ..(not has)
a,b,e eliminated

D uses analyses ….which is am not sure same as analysis and uses have had not required.

Answer C