LSAT 154 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q20

LR Question 20 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: The public’s welfare can be undermined by its own tastes…

QUESTION TYPE: Main Conclusion

CONCLUSION: The public’s tastes can undermine its welfare.

REASONING: Journalism focuses on topics that the public is interested in, and these topics are sensation and drama rather than matters of importance. So newspapers focusing on these latter topics are displaced by the former type.

ANALYSIS: We’re given the main point: the public’s reading tastes aren’t the best for them. What are the public’s tastes? We’re told its rumours, gossips, and sensational stories rather than items of importance.

We can infer from this that the author believes these sensational stories, which the public likes, aren’t good for the public’s welfare, and the correct answer choice would be along those lines. So the correct answer would be along the lines of the first sentence.

___________

1. CORRECT. This matches our prephrase and is stated in the first sentence.
2. This isn’t specifically mentioned in the stimulus and if it was (it could be true based on the stimulus), it wouldn’t be the conclusion.
3. This could be an intermediate conclusion, but isn’t the overall conclusion as it fails to mention the public’s welfare.
4. We’re not talking about “shortcomings” but rather only the problem that the topics focused on aren’t matters of importance. We don’t know of other shortcomings.
5. This is telling us what journalists “should” do, which isn’t mentioned in the stimulus. So it can’t be the conclusion.

Recap: The question begins with “The public’s welfare can be undermined by its own tastes”. It is a Identify The Conclusion question. Learn more about LSAT Identify questions in our guide to LSAT Logical Reasoning question types.