Critical Reasoning

In recent years, most of the news stories in News Company's newspaper have been licensed and reprinted from other news organizations. For its Sunday editions, News Company recently announced that it intends to decrease the amount of newspaper space devoted to news stories and increase the amount devoted to advertisements. News Company currently has more advertisers who want to place ads in its newspaper than it is able to accommodate, and the number of news stories written by News Company's own staff is increasing steadily. Thus, if current trends in news story writing and demand for advertising space continue, News Company's dependence on licensed, reprinted news stories is likely to decrease soon.

The answer to which of the following would be most useful in evaluating the argument?

1. When, if ever, will the amount of space filled by stories written by News Company's own staff exceed the amount of space filled by advertisements?
2. Is News Company among the news organizations that depend most on licensed and reprinted news stories?
3. What proportion of space in News Company's newspapers is filled by cartoons and other graphics?
4. Is News Company planning to increase, maintain, or decrease the total amount of space available in its newspaper?
5. Has the amount of space devoted to news stories been decreased and the amount devoted to advertisements been increased in any Sunday editions that have already been released?


OA D

Source: Princeton Review