Reading Comprehension (RC)
When views can freely flourish in the marketplace of ideas, individual
Difficulty: 700-Level Humanities Long Passage Social Science Source: Veritas Prep
aashu4uiit
When views can freely flourish in the marketplace of ideas, individual [#permalink]
Updated on: 20 Aug 2019, 04:55
based on 527 sessions
39% (03:17) correct	 61% (03:15) wrong
When views can freely flourish in the marketplace of ideas, individuals are afforded the advantage of deciding what notions and concepts to question, support or reject. On June 8, 1789, James Madison introduced in the House of Representatives an amendment to the Constitution: "The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable." This commitment to a free press is a principle Americans hold firmly, because they view it as a necessary ingredient for a properly functioning political process and a critical component of a free society. Yet, since the time of America's founding, the politicized nature of the press has not fundamentally changed.
While conservatives and liberals alike claim that today's mainstream media is biased, opinionated, and devoid of objectivity and balanced analysis, American newspapers at the time of this nation's birth were all partisan, believing that their responsibility was not to report news, but to convey, without apology, a particular political position. Perhaps the high point of partisan newspapers was in New York during the 1920's, when the city had over a dozen daily papers, each geared toward a particular ethnic and political niche; people selected the paper that made the most sense of the world to them. Despite the naysayers who warn that the lack of objectivity and fair-mindedness is corrosive to society, partisan journalism can be good journalism. It produces plenty of excellent reporting and analysis and is the norm in many nations. Two centuries ago, newspapers subsidized by Andrew Jackson's Democrats and Henry Clay's Whigs were dependable supporters of their parties. Today's newspapers claim that they too are only giving their readership what it wants.
Legally, the Supreme Court has tried since 1919 to clarify how free the press is. Over time, older laws that allowed publications to be punished for libel, obscenity, sedition, and publishing inflammatory material have given way to more expansive rights to publish. The First Amendment protections offered to journalists have evolved to a broader interpretation of freedom of the press. During the 1960's and 1970's, journalists exposed the government's mismanagement of the Vietnam War, and their investigative reporting eventually brought about the resignation of President Nixon. By the end of the twentieth century, the Constitution's protections were broadly held to cover the content of all papers, from the highly regarded New York Times to tabloids such as The National Enquirer.
Q1 : According to the author, which of the following is true about partisan journalism throughout American history?
a) It has had a limited impact on the political process.
b) Its lack of objectivity is detrimental.
c) It has played an important role in reliably informing individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds.
d) It is what all members of society want from their news sources.
e) It has essentially been the status quo since America's founding.
Q:2 Which of the following statements about American newspapers is supported by information contained in the passage?
a) America's newspapers in 1789 resembled those of today in form and content.
b) The character of the press has matured since the time of America's founding.
c) In recent years, the press has become biased in regard to its political reporting.
d) Early American journalists did not necessarily provide a balanced analysis of events.
e) American newspapers of the past reported more reliably their political affiliations.
Q:3
The author of the passage would disagree with which of the following statements?
a) The legal understanding of press freedoms has shifted over time.
b) Over time, the First Amendment protections offered to the press have become absolute.
c) America's legal evolution has given way to a more liberal understanding of press freedom.
d) First Amendment press rights today protect a broad section of the newspaper industry.
e) Freedoms offered to the press have helped shape events in history.
All of the following are examples of limitations the courts have placed on freedom of the press, EXCEPT
a) articles deemed maliciously defamatory of individuals
b) articles viewed as offensive to society's views of decency
c) articles that comment negatively on a political affiliation
d) articles clearly dangerous to national security
e) articles that contain language intended to incite rebellion
Official Explanations posted for benefit :
Correct answer:1
Solution: This Specific question asks what is true about partisan journalism throughout American history. What is stated is that since its beginning, the press has not significantly changed. The passage additionally says that like newspapers today, newspapers at the time of America's birth were all partisan, thereby making (E) the correct response. (A) is incorrect because the passage states that the commitment to a free press is a necessary ingredient for the political process to function properly. (B) is incorrect because the first paragraph does state that partisan journalism can be good journalism. (C) is incorrect because while partisan journalism has played an important role in informing individuals, we have no way of knowing whether it has done so reliably. (D) is incorrect because it is too extreme. The passage does not support the universal conclusion that absolutely everyone desires partisan journalism.
Correct answer: 2
Solution: The opening paragraph states, "American newspapers at the time of this nation's birth were all partisan, believing that their responsibility was not to report news, but to convey, without apology, a particular political position." Therefore, one can conclude that early American journalists did not always present a balanced perspective, making (D) the correct response. (A) is incorrect because the passage does not compare the form of past newspapers with that of today's papers. (B) is incorrect because it is in sharp contrast to what the fourth sentence of the first paragraph states. "Yet, since the time of America's founding, the politicized nature of the press has not fundamentally changed." (C) is incorrect because the press has always been politically biased; it is not a recent phenomenon. (E) is outside the scope of the passage. The passage says nothing about whether newspapers of the past reported more reliably their political affiliations than those of today.
Solution: In this question, four of the answer choices will contain statements that the author will agree with. The author would agree with answer choices (A) and (C) because of the statements in the following sentence: "Over time, older laws that allowed publications to be punished for libel, obscenity, sedition, and publishing inflammatory material have given way to more expansive rights to publish." The author would agree with (D). "By the end of the twentieth century, the Constitution's protections were broadly held to cover the content of all papers." The author would also agree with (E). "During the 1960's and 1970's, journalists exposed the government's mismanagement of the Vietnam War and their investigative reporting eventually brought about the resignation of President Nixon." The author would not agree with answer choice (B). The passage states that courts have continuously reinterpreted what is meant by freedom of the press. Therefore, the author would not agree that First Amendment protections are absolute, making (B) the correct response.
This is a Specific question in which four of the answers will be found within the passage. The one that cannot be found from information in the passage is the answer to this EXCEPT question. (A), (B), (D) and (E) are contained in the passage. They are all paraphrases of the second sentence of the third paragraph, which says, "Over time, older laws that allowed publications to be punished for libel, obscenity, sedition, and publishing inflammatory material have given way to more expansive rights to publish." The passage does say that the mainstream press has always been politically biased, making (C) the EXCEPTION and the correct answer.
Spoiler: Question #1 OA
Originally posted by aashu4uiit on 29 Oct 2014, 13:20.
Last edited by SajjadAhmad on 20 Aug 2019, 04:55, edited 3 times in total.
Updated - Complete topic (224).
Gladiator59
Senior PS Moderator
Status: It always seems impossible until it's done.
Re: When views can freely flourish in the marketplace of ideas, individual [#permalink]
5 mins 29 secs... got 3 out of 4.
Q1 I felt was a bit challenging as Options C, D & E all come close ( as can be determined by timer statistics)
INFERENCE TYPE - need to ensure 100% support from the passage to the correct option choice
a) It has had a limited impact on the political process. Nah - not mentioned. In fact kind of opposite to the ideas conveyed in the passage
b) Its lack of objectivity is detrimental. Detrimental is too strong a word as author believes this partisan press thing is fine and has always existed
c) It has played an important role in reliably informing individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds. TRAP word - "reliably" - even though it is correct that partisan press has informed diverse set of individuals we cannot ensure it has done so in a reliable manner. Hence it is a one word trap!
d) It is what all members of society want from their news sources.ALL MEMBERS - is too extreme
e) It has essentially been the status quo since America's founding. BINGO - it has been same since the founding days of the country and this itself means the nature has been status quo
The other questions have excellent explanations in the OE provided in the spoiler part of the passage and hence I do not reproduce my own take on them here.
Gladi
"Do. Or do not. There is no try." - Yoda (The Empire Strikes Back)
NinetyFour
Could someone explain Q2 and where in the passage does it lead to D ("Early American journalists did not necessarily provide a balanced analysis of events."). Does the word "balanced" in this answer choice mean bi-partisan? If it does, then I understand why it is the answer
gmatconqueror2018
Interesting Passage. Easy to understand but questions not the easiest. 8:10 total with about 3:20 to read the passage. 4/4. Question 3 was tricky but probably the only pertinent choice as the author says the first amendment protections have expanded in scope. B says they have become ABSOLUTE which is quite extreme and hence the author would disagree with. Question 4 does test vocab but even if you had no idea what libel or any other legal words meant, choice C is something the passage talked repeatedly as having more leeway over the years. Difficulty level of the passage/questions? Probably Mid 600's?
kchen1994 wrote:
Take a look at the first sentence of paragraph 2. "While conservatives and liberals alike claim that today's mainstream media is biased, opinionated, and devoid of objectivity and balanced analysis, American newspapers at the time of this nation's birth were all partisan, believing that their responsibility was not to report news, but to convey, without apology, a particular political position".
If Americans newspapers at the time of the nation's birth were all partisan, we can infer that the journalists who wrote those papers probably provided coverage of events that wasn't as balanced and hence more partisan. Let me know if this makes sense.
zac123 wrote:
Can someone explain Q3 and 4 .
In the last paragraph, the author mentions how the press has gotten more leeway or flexiblity with what it says/reports from the course and therefore has more opportunity to express itself. Choice B uses the word ABSOLUTE, which is very strong and not what the author would agree with (author would say the powers of the press have grown/become more influential but not absoulute)
If the vocab is an issue, use POE to your advantage. Choice C is something the passage talks about quite a bit (how the press has, since the birth of the nation, to now has the ability to express a partisan viewpoint) It is the outlier among the 5 choices. I was able to understand the content of those terms and was able to get to C but using the strategy that I mentioned would definitely get you to the right answer.
PriyankaPalit7
Schools: ISB '21 (A)
Question2:
Which of the following statements about American newspapers is supported by information contained in the passage?
What does "political affiliations" in option E refer to?
i thought that political affiliations referred to presentation of political position of political parties. From the quoted statements below, I could infer that newspapers of the past made clear which parties they supported.
"While conservatives and liberals alike claim that today's mainstream media is biased, opinionated, and devoid of objectivity and balanced analysis, American newspapers at the time of this nation's birth were all partisan, believing that their responsibility was not to report news, but to convey, without apology, a particular political position."
"Two centuries ago, newspapers subsidized by Andrew Jackson's Democrats and Henry Clay's Whigs were dependable supporters of their parties. "
Can anyone please explain where I am going wrong?
GMATNinja
a) articles deemed maliciously defamatory of individuals - libel
b) articles viewed as offensive to society's views of decency - obscenity
c) articles that comment negatively on a political affiliation - NOT MENTIONED - Correct answer
d) articles clearly dangerous to national security - NOT MENTIONED Can anyone help me find out where this is mentioned?
e) articles that contain language intended to incite rebellion - sedition
Priyanka1293
Schools: Kellogg '22 (S), Ross '22 (S), Stern '22 (S), Yale '22 (S), Kelley '22 (A$), LBS '22 (S)
Can some expert please help with Question 4?
Where is D (the point about national security) mentioned in the passage ?
Priyanka1293 wrote:
The word "sedition" . It is to incite people against the government. This can be a danger to national security.
All the Gods, All the Heavens, and All the Hells lie within you.
dcummins
Concentration: Technology, Strategy
Schools: LBS '22, INSEAD Jan '20
GPA: 3
WE: Management Consulting (Consulting)
OFFICIAL VERITAS EXPLANATIONS:
Whenever a question asks which choice is "supported by information contained in the passage," it is asking you to make an inference. In this case, it's asking you to make an inference about American newspapers. Since that is the main topic of the entire passage, your mental map from your STOP reading of the passage won't be useful until you look at the answer choices. So use your answers as assets go back to the text and try to find evidence that either confirms or disproves each!
Answer choice (A) can be refuted using the information found in the second paragraph. While it can be inferred from the second paragraph that both early American newspapers and today's newspapers are partisan, there is no reference to the specific content or form of either. This means that you can eliminate choice (A).
Answer choice (B) can be eliminated using your understanding of the passage as a whole. The passage stresses the similarity in tone between papers at the time of America's founding and modern papers, so the implication that the press has "matured" is wrong. In addition, the idea of maturation in this case is nebulous and could mean any number of changes to the press.
Answer choice (C) runs counter to the main idea of the passage, which argues that the American press has always been biased. The best example, according to paragraph 2, comes from the 1920s, not the modern press. Answer choice (C) can be eliminated.
Choice (D) is almost directly stated in paragraph 2, which says that "American newspapers at the time of the nation's birth were all partisan." That they did not necessarily provide an unbiased view of events is understood, since they wanted to "convey, without apology, a particular political position," not necessarily the news. Answer choice (D) is correct.
Answer choice (E) isn't addressed within the passage and can be eliminated since the passage gives no way to compare how newspapers have reported their affiliations throughout history.
Choice (D) is correct.
Correct answer: (B)
Correct answer: (C)
Here's how I went from 430 to 710, and how you can do it yourself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGY5vxqMeYk&t=
warrior1991 wrote:
Actually if anything, "Sedition" rules out C as the answer.
VeritasPrepBrian can you please clarify why D is incorrect and why C is correct?
The official explanations in the exam packs I bought don't say anything about (D).
If articles comment negatively on political affiliation it could incite at least SOME people, who agree with these comments, to go against the authority.
Definition of sedition: conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of a state or monarch.
ridhiagarwal
can someone please explain question 2?
ashokk
Can someone please explain Q2?
SajjadAhmad
Senior RC Moderator
Re: When views can freely flourish in the marketplace of ideas [#permalink]
Hello ridhiagarwal ashokk
Official Explanation
Difficulty Level: 700
The opening paragraph states, "American newspapers at the time of this nation's birth were all partisan, believing that their responsibility was not to report news, but to convey, without apology, a particular political position." Therefore, one can conclude that early American journalists did not always present a balanced perspective, making (D) the correct response.
(A) is incorrect because the passage does not compare the form of past newspapers with that of today's papers.
(B) is incorrect because it is in sharp contrast to what the fourth sentence of the first paragraph states. "Yet, since the time of America's founding, the politicized nature of the press has not fundamentally changed."
(C) is incorrect because the press has always been politically biased; it is not a recent phenomenon.
(E) is outside the scope of the passage. The passage says nothing about whether newspapers of the past reported more reliably their political affiliations than those of today.
PS: All official explanations are already posted almost twice, maybe new members are not aware of spoiler's functionality, please click on the spoiler button for Official Explanations. See screenshot below.
1.jpg [ 106.54 KiB | Viewed 1329 times ]
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I got this passage earlier on in a Veritas exam - it took me 8:13 to solve all three questions correctly which completely threw off my pace for the rest of the test. Since its a long passage with three questions - whats the correct strategy to approach it? I was going with 4mins for reading and 4 mins for solving. Thanks in advance.
gmatapprentice wrote:
Hello gmatapprentice
RC is toughest and very dry section to test on the GMAT, There is no secret formula to ace RC except to be master blaster reader and that is not possible without practice. This is a 700-Level passages, i don't know what the difficulty level were during your exam because question reveals difficulty level not the passage text or passage length. If the difficulty level of three questions were 700 then 7 minutes to that passage was OK and not alarming. 4 Minute for reading is also not alarming for long passages like this one, probably you have spent more time while attempting each question. After reading in 4 minutes your time per question should not have been more than a minute.
Different strategies works for different GMAT students i.e some feel comfortable reading with full attention and don,t go back to the passage on individual questions other just read first para with complete attention skim the rest of the passage and read the last para again with full attention. With this strategy they most of the time needed to go back to the passage and read again for some questions. I don't know your style of reading but keep one thing in mind that you should stick to your style of reading. If you reads all the text and didn't skim then you don't need to go back to passage to pick up the answer. If you go back reading again you will definitely waste much time.
Students with a V40+ didn't solve tough RC with 4 questions in less than 8 minutes always, what they do they Master all the sections and save a lot of time from SC to invest that time in CR and RC. without mastering each section you cannot save time. here is a thread in which i have complied all of the RC strategies by different expert, visit below link i hope it will help you in some way.
https://gmatclub.com/forum/how-to-read- ... 00886.html
Many thanks - couldn't agree with you more on the reading pace. How I prefer to do is spend a good time reading the passage take full four mins and in some cases more to grasp the passage and solve the questions without referring back to the passage unless required. I just did a full analysis of my test I spent almost 29 mins on 12 RC ques (all in 650-700 level on veritas) at 83% accuracy. I believe this came at the cost of time spent in last few questions (6:30 mins for 6 questions whereas I believe there should be a min of 10). I got all 6 wrong unfortunately and ended with V35. I believe I did save time on SC and RC but not without a massive drop in accuracy. Not sure what to do with three days left for the test. Any suggestions? I will be doing another mock tomorrow to build speed and stamina. Thanks in advance.
Re: When views can freely flourish in the marketplace of ideas, individual	[#permalink] 19 Jan 2020, 11:49
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by Reading Comprehension (RC)