LSAT 108 | Section 3 | Logical Reasoning: Q1

LR Question 1 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Despite the best efforts of journalists …

QUESTION TYPE: Necessary Assumption – EXCEPT

CONCLUSION: It’s crucial that editors review journalists’ work to detect and remove biases, in order to make reporting as objective as possible.

REASONING: Journalists inevitably introduce biases into their reporting.

ANALYSIS: Four of the answers will include necessary assumptions. Assumptions that make this reasoning work.

One will not. That’s our correct answer.

___________

1. If journalists already eliminated all biases themselves, there would be nothing left for editors to remove.
2. The conclusion says it’s imperative that editors remove biases to make reporting as objective as possible. That only makes sense if it’s imperative that reporting be as objective as possible. Otherwise, the conclusion loses its justification.
3. The argument assumes that biases reduce objectivity. If biases didn’t undermine objectivity, then removing biases wouldn’t make reporting more objective. The argument wouldn’t make any sense.
4. The conclusion tells editors to detect and remove biases. This only makes sense if editors can actually detect at least some biases. If they couldn’t detect any biases, the solution becomes impossible.
5. CORRECT. The argument never talks about whether editors take biased reporting seriously. Editors could take biased reporting very seriously and still want to remove biases. Or they could not take it seriously. Either way, the conclusion remains unchanged. This does nothing to the argument.