Journalist: In late 1994, the present government of the Republic of Bellam came into power. Each year since then, about thirty journalists have been imprisoned for printing articles that criticize the government. In 1994, under the old government, only six journalists were imprisoned for criticizing the government. So the old government was more tolerant of criticism by the press than the new one is.
Politician: But in 1994 only six journalists criticized the government, and now journalists routinely do.
The politician challenges the journalist's argument by doing which of the following?
(A) Presenting data that extend further into the past than the journalist's data
(B) Introducing evidence that undermines an assumption of the journalist's argument
(C) Questioning the accuracy of the evidence presented in support of the journalist's conclusion
(D) Pointing out that the argument illegitimately draws a general conclusion on the basis of a Sample of only a few cases
(E) Stating that the argument treats information about some members of a group as if it applied to all members of that group
[spoiler]Ans : B[/spoiler]
Why answer is not D?
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Journalist Vs Politician
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Hi chetan86,
In this CR prompt, you have to be careful to answer the question that is ASKED. Here, we're asked for how the POLITICIAN challenges the Journalist.
The Journalist:
-Since 1994, during every year about 30 journalists are imprisoned
-In 1994, only 6 journalists were imprisoned
-The new government came into power in late 1994
Journalist's Conclusion: The old government was more tolerant of the press than the new government (due to the number of imprisoned journalists).
Politician's rebuttal: ONLY 6 journalists criticized the old government (and they were ALL imprisoned). Now, journalists routinely criticize the government (and only 30 were imprisoned).
The Politician provides some new information that the Journalist didn't offer; that information shows that the RATIO of imprisoned journalists might be a better indicator of how tolerant the government is of journalists than just he literal number of imprisoned journalists. Answer B matches this idea.
You ask about answer D, which might be an argument that YOU are making, but it is not the one provided by the Politician. The Politician does NOT question the sample size, nor does the Politician think that the conclusion is general.
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
In this CR prompt, you have to be careful to answer the question that is ASKED. Here, we're asked for how the POLITICIAN challenges the Journalist.
The Journalist:
-Since 1994, during every year about 30 journalists are imprisoned
-In 1994, only 6 journalists were imprisoned
-The new government came into power in late 1994
Journalist's Conclusion: The old government was more tolerant of the press than the new government (due to the number of imprisoned journalists).
Politician's rebuttal: ONLY 6 journalists criticized the old government (and they were ALL imprisoned). Now, journalists routinely criticize the government (and only 30 were imprisoned).
The Politician provides some new information that the Journalist didn't offer; that information shows that the RATIO of imprisoned journalists might be a better indicator of how tolerant the government is of journalists than just he literal number of imprisoned journalists. Answer B matches this idea.
You ask about answer D, which might be an argument that YOU are making, but it is not the one provided by the Politician. The Politician does NOT question the sample size, nor does the Politician think that the conclusion is general.
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Hi Rich,[email protected] wrote:Hi chetan86,
In this CR prompt, you have to be careful to answer the question that is ASKED. Here, we're asked for how the POLITICIAN challenges the Journalist.
The Journalist:
-Since 1994, during every year about 30 journalists are imprisoned
-In 1994, only 6 journalists were imprisoned
-The new government came into power in late 1994
Journalist's Conclusion: The old government was more tolerant of the press than the new government (due to the number of imprisoned journalists).
Politician's rebuttal: ONLY 6 journalists criticized the old government (and they were ALL imprisoned). Now, journalists routinely criticize the government (and only 30 were imprisoned).
The Politician provides some new information that the Journalist didn't offer; that information shows that the RATIO of imprisoned journalists might be a better indicator of how tolerant the government is of journalists than just he literal number of imprisoned journalists. Answer B matches this idea.
You ask about answer D, which might be an argument that YOU are making, but it is not the one provided by the Politician. The Politician does NOT question the sample size, nor does the Politician think that the conclusion is general.
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Thanks a lot for your reply.
I thought, politician's statement 'now journalists routinely do' would not be an evidence.
And you have correctly pointed out - it was my assumption that Journalist is using only few cases.
I have to be very careful with such kind of questions.
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vivekvijayan
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Hi Rich,[email protected] wrote:Hi chetan86,
In this CR prompt, you have to be careful to answer the question that is ASKED. Here, we're asked for how the POLITICIAN challenges the Journalist.
The Journalist:
-Since 1994, during every year about 30 journalists are imprisoned
-In 1994, only 6 journalists were imprisoned
-The new government came into power in late 1994
Journalist's Conclusion: The old government was more tolerant of the press than the new government (due to the number of imprisoned journalists).
Politician's rebuttal: ONLY 6 journalists criticized the old government (and they were ALL imprisoned). Now, journalists routinely criticize the government (and only 30 were imprisoned).
The Politician provides some new information that the Journalist didn't offer; that information shows that the RATIO of imprisoned journalists might be a better indicator of how tolerant the government is of journalists than just he literal number of imprisoned journalists. Answer B matches this idea.
You ask about answer D, which might be an argument that YOU are making, but it is not the one provided by the Politician. The Politician does NOT question the sample size, nor does the Politician think that the conclusion is general.
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
The answer option B says that he introduces new evidence.. BUt the politician does not introduce anything new. He just points to something thats already there. Should this option not be worded a little differently?
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Hi vivekvijayan,
In this prompt, the Politician DOES offer some new information: data that allows you to determine the ratio of journalists who were imprisoned. This is information that the Journalist did not offer.
With this new information, we now know that in 1994, ALL the journalists who criticized the government were imprisoned. This goes a long way to undermining the Journalist's conclusion (that the old government was more tolerant of criticism by the press) - the government imprisoned EVERY journalist who criticized the government, so (at face value) the government was not tolerant AT ALL.
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
In this prompt, the Politician DOES offer some new information: data that allows you to determine the ratio of journalists who were imprisoned. This is information that the Journalist did not offer.
With this new information, we now know that in 1994, ALL the journalists who criticized the government were imprisoned. This goes a long way to undermining the Journalist's conclusion (that the old government was more tolerant of criticism by the press) - the government imprisoned EVERY journalist who criticized the government, so (at face value) the government was not tolerant AT ALL.
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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Hi Verbal Experts,
Can you please let me know whether I'm correct in the followings reasoning for incorrect choice C -
C doesn't AT ALL question the ACCURACY of the evidence presented in support of the journalist's conclusion. In fact, it IMPLICITLY supports the ACCURACY of the data point in the journalist's ARGUMENT, BUT further adds to it the proportion aspect of that data point in order to UNDERMINE the journalist's argument/conclusion.
Can you please let me know whether I'm correct in the followings reasoning for incorrect choice C -
C doesn't AT ALL question the ACCURACY of the evidence presented in support of the journalist's conclusion. In fact, it IMPLICITLY supports the ACCURACY of the data point in the journalist's ARGUMENT, BUT further adds to it the proportion aspect of that data point in order to UNDERMINE the journalist's argument/conclusion.
