LSAT 122 – Section 4 – Question 04

LSAT 122 - Section 4 - Question 04

June 2006

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT122 S4 Q04
+LR
Except +Exc
Strengthen +Streng
A
3%
156
B
1%
156
C
2%
157
D
1%
154
E
94%
164
124
134
145
 +Easiest 146.485 +SubsectionMedium

Essayist: Politicians deserve protection from a prying press. No one wants his or her private life spread across the pages of the newspapers. Furthermore, the press’s continual focus on politicians’ private lives dissuades talented people from pursuing a career in politics and turns reporters into character cops who walk their beats looking for minute and inconsequential personality flaws in public servants. It is time to put a halt to this trivial journalism.

Summarize Argument
The essayist concludes that the press should stop writing about politicians’ private lives. This is for three reasons: no one wants their private lives to be published, the threat of an exposed private life makes politics as a career unattractive, and the practice makes reporters behave poorly. These reasons support the sub-conclusion that politicians deserve protection from intrusive media.

Notable Assumptions
The essayist assumes that there are no benefits to an intrusive press that would be lost if this intrusiveness was stopped—maybe the threat of an intrusive press weeds out candidates who aren’t serious about the job. Furthermore, the essayist assumes that a politician’s personal life can be separated from his professional life enough to report on the latter without discussing the former.

A
The press is unusually inaccurate when it reports on people’s private lives.
This strengthens the argument by offering an additional premise: that the press publishes false information about candidates’ personal lives. This strengthens the conclusion that the practice of publishing this kind of news should be stopped.
B
Reporting on politicians’ private lives distracts voters from more important issues in a campaign.
This strengthens the argument by offering an additional premise: not only is this type of publishing harmful to politicians, it is also harmful to voters and presumably, democracy.
C
Much writing on politicians’ private lives consists of rumors circulated by opposing candidates.
This strengthens the argument by introducing the idea that this form of news is weaponized by opposing candidates for political purposes. This strengthens the conclusion that it should be stopped.
D
In recent elections, the best local politicians have refused to run for national office because of the intrusiveness of press coverage.
This strengthens the argument. It reinforces the essayist’s premise that talented people are dissuaded from running for politics because of the threat the media poses to their private lives.
E
Politicians’ personality flaws often ultimately affect their performance on the job.
This weakens the argument. It attacks the essayist’s assumption that the private lives of politicians—which include their character flaws—do not affect, and are separable from, their professional lives.

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LSAT PrepTest 122 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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