LSAT 142 – Section 2 – Question 19

You need a full course to see this video. Enroll now and get started in less than a minute.

Target time: 1:35

This is question data from the 7Sage LSAT Scorer. You can score your LSATs, track your results, and analyze your performance with pretty charts and vital statistics - all with a Free Account ← sign up in less than 10 seconds

Question
QuickView
Type Tags Answer
Choices
Curve Question
Difficulty
Psg/Game/S
Difficulty
Explanation
PT142 S2 Q19
+LR
+Exp
Except +Exc
Resolve reconcile or explain +RRE
Causal Reasoning +CausR
A
4%
158
B
10%
159
C
8%
159
D
74%
165
E
3%
157
142
152
163
+Medium 146.338 +SubsectionMedium

As often now as in the past, newspaper journalists use direct or indirect quotation to report unsupported or false claims made by newsmakers. However, journalists are becoming less likely to openly challenge the veracity of such claims within their articles.

"Surprising" Phenomenon

Journalists still report unsupported or false claims made by newsmakers, but they are now less likely to openly challenge the truth of these claims in their articles.

Objective

Four of the answer choices will provide a hypothesis that explains why journalists today might be less willing or less able to openly challenge the truth of the false or unsupported claims quoted in their articles.

Note that we are looking for the answer choice that does not help to explain the trend in journalism.

A
Newspaper publishers have found that many readers will cancel a subscription simply because a view they take for granted has been disputed by the publication.

This helps to explain the trend in journalism by suggesting that if journalists challenge the false or unsupported claims in their articles, they risk losing readers who believe those claims. Losing readers would also mean losing revenue for the newspaper.

B
The areas of knowledge on which journalists report are growing in specialization and diversity, while journalists themselves are not becoming more broadly knowledgeable.

This helps to explain the trend in journalism. If journalists now cover a wider range of topics without having deep knowledge of them, they may not challenge the false or unsupported claims in their articles because they don’t know if those claims are true or false.

C
Persons supporting controversial views more and more frequently choose to speak only to reporters who seem sympathetic to their views.

This helps to explain the trend in journalism. If journalists only hear from newsmakers whose views they agree with, they are less likely to challenge those views when quoting them in articles.

D
A basic principle of journalism holds that debate over controversial issues draws the attention of the public.

This does not help to explain the trend in journalism. If debate over controversial issues draws public attention and newspapers want public attention, journalists would be more likely to challenge the truth of the false or unsupported claims quoted in their articles.

E
Journalists who challenge the veracity of claims are often criticized for failing their professional obligation to be objective.

This helps to explain the trend in journalism. If journalists who challenge the truth of claims are often criticized, this might make them less likely to continue to openly challenge the truth of the false or unsupported claims quoted in their articles.

Take PrepTest

Review Results

Leave a Reply