Yes, it is but do not get discouraged. It is beatable.

Ignore the first blank for now and focus on the rest of the sentence.

I have no idea what the professor asserted so no care for now - 10 seconds to think this. No matter what.

the second part



In this sentence, I do not know what is the meaning of trope ( by the way it means a figurative way to use words or expressions) but this is not important. Try always to grasp the overall meaning of the sentence.

Actually, this portion of the entire sentence says: the professor in the lecture mentioned before is challenging the journalists' view that an article should be always impartial, representing all sides of the story. The professor is saying: this is not true or is not always the case.



In this third part the professor is going to say why this is not always true. And most important, following this, is that in a more general way the tendency to (ii) present - notice the word clue of the previous part has to represent - even obviously (iii) fringe views in order to furnish opposing perspectives is harmful to basic accuracy.

• controversial: this word does not fit because in order to furnish opposing perspectives has little sense - controversial and opposing? I do not think so. Moreover, the professor is not going to point out something that is controversial.
• straightforward: this word has no sense because if you use something that is straightforward you do have a clear view NOT to furnish an opposing perspective
• fringe: this must be the right word even if you do not know the exact meaning of it (it means unconventional). You do need fringe because of you should have something of "nuance" that change the overall meaning of a thing. Think about your favorite dish: it tastes really good but if you add - would say - a spicy the taste completely change. Yes, you need that small nuance changes the overall meaning or taste of your favorite dish

At this point, having a clear view of the overall sentence you back to the first blank: the professor challenges the journalists' view that an article offers an equally view of something but indeed this envission is not always true. I.E: not always an article is objective. As such, B is the right answer for the first blank (i) objectivity.

Always:

• grasp the overall meaning
• dissect the sentence
• do not think in a linear way: start from where you find the gap. the weak link of the sentence and then do a sort of reverse engineering process

.

Hope this helps.

Regards
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Explanation

We need to focus on on the last words of the sentence to catch the meaning: to furnish opposing perspectives is harmful to basic accuracy.

So, the impulse to present or highlight even the most basic fringe or nuances is harmful. Al this scenario is explained in his lecture on objectivity.
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I hope this question quaifies as really tough question

Do you think it is not Sir ?

It is from the Official Software
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Gosh it's so tough!

It is helpful! Thank you

I looked up the meaning of fringe and it means unconventional. Doesn't that mean that it is synonyms with controversial? So, why is fringe correct and controversial wrong?

Not a personal critique, of course.

However, people try to nail such beasts try to get the word itself and its meaning or synonym instead to understand the context as a whole and use logic and common sense

Even I do not know the meaning of a lot of words, English is so vast and Italian language, for instance, even more, but I always try to figure out the context

Regards
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I still don't understand. If something is controversial, then it would be opposing right? controversial means causing dispute which is analogous to causing dispute.

Sorry Sir

I am not able to explain way better than I did.

The only thing I am able to suggest to you is to understand the big picture to overcome obstacles like yours

Regards
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The way I understood the question is this.

The professor in his lecture attacked the notion of "objectivity" even though the journalists aimed to represent all sides of a story however marginal. The professor argued that this impulse to "present" even "fringe" for the sake presenting opposing views can be harmful to accuracy.

Fringe means existing on the border or the periphery of something i.e. something which is not mainstream. The big clue to use "fringe" was the use of marginal in first part of sentence.

I was torn between partisanship and objectivity but favored objectivity because sentence is mentioning looking at all sides of the story but the professor didn't favor that.

Thanks for the question.