Consider the following statements and select the option that indicates the…

Media in a democracy is expected to perform two core civic functions: informing citizens by disseminating accurate, timely news, and acting as a platform that represents the views of all sections of society so that public debate stays plural. A widely accepted professional norm tied to both functions is editorial independence — news content should be shaped by factual reporting and audience interest, not by an advertiser's commercial interests, since advertiser-driven content compromises the accuracy and objectivity democratic functioning depends on.

Applying this to the three statements: Statement A (“provide information to citizens through news”) matches the information function. Statement C (“discuss the views of all sections”) matches the plural-representation function. Statement B (“provide the point of view of the advertiser, through its news programmes”) describes commercial influence over news content, which runs counter to editorial independence and is not one of media's accepted democratic functions. So Statements A and C together describe genuine democratic roles of media, while Statement B does not.

• “Only A and B” pairs the information function (Statement A) with the advertiser-influenced-content scenario described in Statement B.

• “Only B and C” pairs the advertiser-influenced-content scenario (Statement B) with the plural-representation function (Statement C).

• “A, B and C” combines all three statements, adding the advertiser-influenced-content scenario alongside both accepted functions.

“Only A and C” is therefore the pairing that names only the two statements describing accepted democratic media functions — information provision and plural representation — consistent with the CTET January 2021 Paper 2 official answer key (Q56) and the NCERT Social Science “Understanding Media” chapter.