I was able to eliminate E because there is no admission by an opponent in this passage. Also, the author is arguing that the practice in question is defensible, not that it is inappropriate. It contradicts the argument.
We want to demonstrate a flaw in the author's argument.
Undermining personal authority may be considered a flaw in some other context, but that is not what the author does here.
B is a bit too general. The author does refer to journalists as "skilled writers," but that is not the same as defending them from all criticism. We are talking about one particular criticism here.
C is the correct answer. Which alternative does the author discredit? Leaving quotes unchanged. The author argues that this most seriously misrepresents the quoted person. Rather, the author should fabricate remarks and put them in quotes.
What alternative does the author fail to consider? The author could paraphrase, and express the interviewee's ideas without unfairly using quotation marks. This seems to be the best option, but the author ignores it. This is the flaw that is best expressed by answer choice C.
