Editors of major United States news magazines have been criticized for reducing the amount of space these magazines devote to international news. According to these editors, however, readers are wholly to blame for the reductions. After all, the editors point out, sales of magazine issues that prominently feature international news stories have declined significantly, and declining sales reflect declining reader interest. Yet even if true, this evidence does not refute the contention that editors should bear some of the blame for the reductions, unless editors are merely passive instruments responding to reader interest. And that is clearly an untenable view, since editors can often intensify reader interest in a news topic by giving it frequent coverage.
In the argument as a whole, the two highlighted portions play which of the following roles?
A. The first is evidence that has been used to support a position that the argument opposes; the second is a point that the argument raises to cast doubt on the reasoning used to support that position.
B. The first presents a claim, the truth of which is evaluated in the argument, the second is information introduced to cast doubt on that claim.
C. The first presents a claim,the truth of which is evaluated in the argument, the second provides evidence in support of that claim.
D. The first cites evidence in support of the main conclusion of the argument, the second states that conclusion.
E. The first states an assumption that is explicitly made to support the main conclusion of the argument, the second is a position that the argument as whole opposes.