#3 - Balance is particularly important when reporting the

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Main Point. The correct answer choice is (B)

The author begins by describing the virtues of balanced reporting in civil wars and conflicts, but cautions against going too far. Since common sense dictates that justice and fairness are not always equally distributed between the parties in conflict, balanced reporting must weigh the competing values of objectivity against the moral imperatives of fairness and justice.

Answer choice (A): Only the perverse interpretation of balanced reporting presents a picture in which all sides have equal justification. This answer choice distorts the main premise of the argument and fails to capture its conclusion.

Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice. This is the only answer choice that seeks to balance the competing imperatives of objective reporting against the need to stay true to the basic tenets of fairness and justice.

Answer choice (C): While this is clearly an inference from the last sentence in the stimulus, its function is to support the main conclusion of the argument, which is about balanced reporting. This answer choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (D): Even though balance is particularly important when reporting the background of civil wars and conflicts (first sentence), this is not an inference derived from common sense. Furthermore, the main point of this argument has to do with the complex and competing imperatives of balanced reporting, not with its overall importance. This answer choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (E): This answer choice goes too far. Even though balanced reporting requires us to weigh the competing requirements of morality and objectivity, we cannot say for sure that such reporting can never be realized. Furthermore, the reason for such failure would have nothing to do with the inherently subjective nature of judgments — the stimulus offers no support for such an inference.

[PositiveThinker]

I just need help with the grammar of answer choice B.

Can someone just re-word that answer choice in laymans terms so a feeble mind like mine can understand?
I only ask because this type of wording could come up again and I want to be able to properly translate it and things like it when I need to.

Thank you!

I understood the stimulus and eliminated the wrong answers but B was just so convoluted. Specifically the part "where they occur no less fairly presenting the views of each party in conlict"..

That "no less fairly" is a doozy.

[Kristina Moen]

Hi PositiveThinker!

Great job eliminating the wrong answers and checking to make sure you understand the correct answer. It is time well spent to address wording that is confusing, so you can understand it quickly if you see it again on test day.

The phrase "no less than" splits up the sentence in two parts. You are comparing two things. It's like a scale! I will underline the two parts in the sentence:

Balanced reporting requires impartially revealing injustices where they occur (let's call this A) no less than fairly presenting the views of each party in a conflict.(let's call this B).

Balanced reporting requires A no less than B. What that means is that A and B must be valued at least equally. A cannot be valued less than B. It's like if I said "John is not shorter than Tim." What that means is that Jim at least as tall as Tim, possibly taller!

So, to put it another way, balanced reporting requires us to value impartially revealing injustices where they occur at least as much as fairly presenting the views of each party in a conflict.

Hope this helps!

[jisuuu]

Hi
I chose A then got B when I did blind review. However, I am not still fully understanding why A was wrong.
The stimulus states "the public would be given a picture of a world where each party in every conflict had an equal measure of justice on its side" so why is A incorrect? Also, could you explain why "requires" in answer choice B isn't too strong? Thank you!

[Jeff Wren]

Hi jisuuu,

The key to this question (as it is to so many questions) is very careful reading and understanding phrases/sentences in the context of the overall argument.

The argument does contain the phrase, "the public would be given a picture of a world where each party in every conflict had an equal measure of justice on its side." However, this phrase is part of a larger sentence, and you must read and understand how this part of the sentence relates to the rest of the sentence (and to the overall argument as well).

The sentence begins, "If all the media were to adopt such a perverse interpretation of balanced reporting" (my emphasis). The clause sets up what is to follow in the sentence, namely what would happen if the media were to interpret balanced reporting this way (that both sides are equally right and moral). Notice the word "perverse." This should be a clue that the argument doesn't agree with this interpretation, and what follows (the phrase that you cited) is not a good thing. Notice also how the sentence ends with "contrary to our experience of life and, indeed, our common sense."

In other words, not only is the phrase, "the public would be given a picture of a world where each party in every conflict had an equal measure of justice on its side" not the main point of the argument, it is actually showing the negative outcome of what would happen if we adopt this perverse interpretation that both sides are equally moral in every conflict.

Answer A is practically that opposite of the main point of the argument.

The actual main point is found by combining the ideas in the first three sentences of the stimulus. Namely, that balance isimportant in reporting and the views of each side must be fairly represented, but injustices must still be reported.

Answer B best captures those ideas .

"Requires" isn't too strong as it conveys the ideas in the first three sentences. These sentences are describing the elements of balanced reporting. Remember that you're picking the best answer, and Answer B best captures the main point of this argument.