All any reporter knows about the accident is what the press agent has said. Therefore, if the press agent told every...
jboustanyJuly 7, 2018
Why Answer E?
I had trouble with this question because the answer is E, but from my logic it seems that E is not necessarily true. It is possible that no reporter knows more than any other reporter, but that is not necessarily the case.
For the record, I just blindly guessed C because all of the answers seemed kind of flawed, and C is phrased as a possibility ("may have") as opposed to the certainty expressed in answer E.
Help.
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It seems like you may have lost sight of the question stem here. The question is asking you to select the answer choice that is consistent with the facts presented in the stimulus. Consistent means "could be true," and "not necessarily false." A statement is consistent with the stimulus so long as it does not contradict any of the facts expressly presented.
Here, the stimulus presents an argument. The conclusion of the argument is "some reporter can scoop all of the other reporters." Why?
The premises given are: (1) All any reporter knows about the accident is what the press agent has said. (2) If the press agent told every reporter everything about the accident, then no reporter knows any more about it than any other reporter. (3) If no reporter knows any more about the accident than any other reporter, then no reporter can scoop all of the other reporters. (4) The press agent did not tell every reporter everything about the accident.
This is not a good argument. Just because the press agent did not tell every reporter everything about the accident (premise 4) does not mean that there is a reporter out there who can scoop the others (the conclusion). Why? Because it is consistent with the stimulus to say that "no reporter knows any more about the accident than any other" - in other words, it is consistent with the information in the stimulus to say that all the reporters know the same amount of information (so no one can scoop the others). This is answer choice (E).
Hope this helps. Please let us know if you have any additional questions.
