Newspaper editors should not allow reporters to write the headlines for their own stories. The reason for this is that, while the headlines that reporters themselves write are often clever, what typically makes them clever is that they allude to little-known information that is familiar to the reporter but that never appears explicitly in the story itself. Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument? (A) The reporter who writes a story is usually better placed than the reporters' editor is to judge what the story's most newsworthy features are. (B) To write a headline that is clever, a person must have sufficient understanding of the story that the headline accompanies. (C) Most reporters rarely bother to find out how other reporters have written stories and headlines about the same events that they themselves have covered. (D) For virtually any story that a reporter writes, there are at least a few people who know more about the story's subject matter than does the reporter. (E) The kind of headlines that newspaper editors want are those that anyone who has read a reporter's story in its entirety will recognize as clever. Newspaper Headlines Step 1: Identify the Question The words most strengthens in the question indicate that this is a Strengthen the Argument question. Step 2: Deconstruct the Argument © Ed shouldn’t let reporters write own HL Clever HL have info not in story Step 3: Pause and State the Goal On Strengthen questions, the goal is to find an answer that will make the conclusion more likely. In this case, you are looking to support the idea that reporters should not write headlines for their own stories . Step 4: Work from Wrong to Right (A) This answer weakens the argument, suggesting that the reporter who wrote the story would be in a better position to write the headline because he knows what is newsworthy in the story. (B) This information weakens the conclusion. A reporter is very likely to have sufficient understanding of the story, so he would be able to write the headline. (C) It is unclear if this information relates to whether reporters should write their own headlines. Research about other reporters’ methods might help a reporter if those methods were better, but could also hurt story and headline quality if the other reporters also made errors, such as writing headlines that were too clever. (D) In the context of this argument, knowledge about the story is actually bad because it results in writing headlines that include information not in the story. This answer suggests that people beyond the reporter may actually have this problem as well. If anything, this answer slightly weakens the argument because it suggests that even if a reporter does not write his own headline, the headline could still suffer the same problems if the person chosen to write it knows too much. (E) CORRECT . The argument states that reporters write headlines with information not in the story. Although you might have recognized the problem with this type of headline (how would the average reader see it was clever or understand?), it is not clearly stated that this type of a headline is a problem. Maybe newspapers like having such headlines to attract clever readers or encourage readers to think more deeply about the subject. This answer establishes that the kind of headlines reporters were writing are, in fact, not desired, at least from the perspective of the editor, supporting the idea that the reporters should not write their own headlines. Argument Evaluation Situation The headlines newspaper reporters write for their own stories are often clever only because they allude to little-known information that never appears explicitly in the stories themselves. Reasoning What would most help the argument support the conclusion that newspaper editors should not allow reporters to write headlines for their own stories? The argument's only explicit premise is that the headlines newspaper reporters write for their own stories are often clever only because they allude to little-known information that never appears explicitly in the stories themselves. In order for this premise to support the conclusion that newspaper editors should not allow reporters to write their own headlines, it would be helpful to be given a reason why editors should avoid headlines alluding to such little-known information. (A) This suggests that reporters are likely to write better headlines for their stories than editors are, so it weakens the argument that editors should not allow reporters to write their own headlines. (B) Since a reporter who wrote a story is likely to understand that story well, this does not provide a reason why editors should not allow reporters to write their own headlines. (C) If most reporters did what is suggested, they could perhaps hone their headline-writing skills—unless almost all reporters are weak in such skills, as suggested in the given information. The fact that they do not bother to do so may help explain why reporters' headline-writing skills are weak. An explanation of why this is so does not provide additional support for the argument's conclusion. (D) The people who know more about a story's subject matter than the reporter writing the story might be just as likely to see the cleverness of allusions to little-known information as the reporters are. So, to the extent that this is relevant at all, it slightly weakens the argument by suggesting that obscurely clever headlines sometimes function as intended. (E) Correct . The argument's explicit premise suggests that typically a reporter's headline for his or her own story cannot be recognized as clever by a reader who has read the whole story. So, if editors want headlines that anyone who has read the accompanying stories would recognize as clever, they have a reason not to let reporters write the headlines.

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Newspaper editors should not allow reporters to write the headlines

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agrasan

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13 Jan 2026, 22:27

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Thanks KarishmaB.
I don't understand how do we know that the reporter has a good understanding of the story? I might be missing minor details in the argument to infer this but can you please let me know which line in the argument says this?

KarishmaB

Strengthen the argument means strengthen the conclusion. What is the conclusion here?

Conclusion: Newspaper editors should not allow reporters to write the headlines for their own stories.
The argument supports it by saying that it should be so because readers of the story don't understand the reporters' headlines.

We need to support that the reporters should not write their own headline.
Option (E) supports it by saying that editors want headlines that anyone reading the story should understand. Hence, it supports that reporters should not be allowed to write their own headlines. Makes sense.

Option (B) says that to write a clever headline, the person should have a good understanding of the story.
Ok, we know that the reporter has a good understanding of the story. So how does it indicate that the reporter should not be allowed to write his own headline? It doesn't. Hence it doesn't support the conclusion.

Answer (E)

KarishmaB

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13 Jan 2026, 22:37

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agrasan

Given: ...while the headlines that reporters themselves write are often clever, what typically makes them clever is that they allude to little-known information that is familiar to the reporter but

The reporter researches the story and writes it. He knows it well and is familiar with little known info too. That is why he is the authority to write the story on the topic.

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14 Jan 2026, 07:41

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agrasan

I understand why (E) is correct but unable to eliminate (B) properly. My reasoning is we are given that reporters have "little known information" (according to the line "....they allude to little-known information that is familiar to the reporter...").

(B) says that person writing a headline must have sufficient understanding where as it is not the case with reporters mentioned in the argument so clearly (B) strengthens the argument.

Please let me know where I am going wrong.

The meaning of "little-known information that is familiar to the reporter" is not that reporters have "little information." Rather, it's that reporters have information that is little known, meaning that it is not commonly known.

So, the passage indicates that reporters have information that most other people do not have, meaning that reporters DO have understanding of a story that a headline accompanies.

Thus, what (B) does is explains WHY reporters can write clever headlines, and, if anything, (B) indicates why reporters should be allowed to write headlines, in a way going against the conclusion.

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We need something that most strengthens the argument:-

(A) The reporter who writes a story is usually better placed than the reporters' editor is to judge what the story's most newsworthy features are. - Irrelevant
(B) To write a headline that is clever, a person must have sufficient understanding of the story that the headline accompanies - Irrelevant
(C) Most reporters rarely bother to find out how other reporters have written stories and headlines about the same events that they themselves have covered. - Irrelevant
(D) For virtually any story that a reporter writes, there are at least a few people who know more about the story's subject matter than does the reporter - Irrelevant – Classic statistical real life data trap
(E) The kind of headlines that newspaper editors want are those that anyone who has read a reporter's story in its entirety will recognize as clever – Good – explains the mechanism how the solution helps to reduce problem.

Boil it down:
There is a problem.
Conclusion: A proposed solution will tackle the problem

Gap : Is the problem actually a problem?
· Can the solution help in reducing the problem?