#9 - Journalists often claim that their investigation of the private lives

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Method-Argument Part. The correct answer choice is (B).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[yeltz1877]

Hello,

Could you please explain why answer choice (A) is not appropriate here? It seems to me as though the journalists are making a claim and that the author is attempting to refute that claim. How come that is not the case?

[Dana D]

Hey Yeltz,

On first read through the answer choices, I also saw (A) as a possible contender. However, looking more closely at answer choice (A), it is saying the argument is attempting to refute a claim. In this case, the claim would be that of the journalists - so the argument is attempting to refute the claim that journalists are investigating the private lives of public figures in order to improve society.

When we look at the rest of the argument, though, we see no evidence of the author challenging this claim - the author might actually believe that journalists are doing this in an effort to improve society. Instead, the author is saying that by following through on this practice of investigating private lives, there are negative consequences. In other words, the journalists can claim this all day every day - the author takes no issue with them believing in the justification of this practice - however, there are potentially some undesirable consequences, and that is what the author is pointing out.