The bill pushed through by the foreign government was touted as increasing transparency, professional integrity, and independence for the media; in reality, though, the bill was simply a way for the officials to protect their cronyism from the newspapers that had been _______ in their attempts to expose government corruption.

a. Assiduous

b. Lackadaisical

c. Perfunctory

d. Eschewed

e. Abjured

f. Sedulous