Journalist: Some critics argue that as the entertainment value of news reporting increases, the caliber of that repor...

SamA on January 22, 2020

Hello @toyalli,

Critics' Claim: As the entertainment value of news reporting increases, the caliber of that reporting decreases.

The author disputes this claim. With what evidence?

Support: The greatest journalists have been the most entertaining.

Does this prove the critics wrong? Not necessarily. We do not know that the greatest reporters had high-caliber reporting. The test wants us to think that these things are synonymous, but we have to question that relationship. Therefore, which assumption would guarantee that these critics are mistaken? We can assume that the greatest journalists did have high-caliber reporting. This makes the author's argument valid, which is why D is correct.

Answer choice B doesn't say anything about high-caliber reporting. Therefore, it doesn't add credibility to the author's argument. We don't care that these great journalists are first and foremost entertainers. We need to address the critics' claim about the caliber of reporting.

This is a common concept in assumption questions. The argument will treat two things like they connected (great journalists and high-caliber reporting). Even if it seems obvious, we often have to question this connection, and then provide it with our answer choice.

toyalli on January 22, 2020

wow! Thank you so much .