Reporting on a civil war, a journalist encountered evidence that refug

Question

Reporting on a civil war, a journalist encountered evidence that refugees were starving because the government would not permit food shipments to a rebel-held area. Government censors deleted all mention of the government’s role in the starvation from the journalist’s report which had not implicated either nature or the rebels in the starvation. The journalist concluded that it was ethically permissible to file the censored report because the journalist’s news agency would precede it with the notice “Cleared by government censors.”

Which one of the following ethical criteria, if valid, would serve to support the journalist’s conclusion while placing the least constraint on the flow of reported information?

(A) It is ethical in general to report known facts but unethical to do so while omitting other known facts if the omitted facts would substantially alter an impression of a person or institution that would be congruent with the reported facts.

(B) In a situation of conflict, it is ethical to report known facts and unethical to fail to report known facts that would tend to exonerate one party to the conflict.

(C) In a situation of censorship, it is unethical make any report if the government represented by the censor deletes from the report material unfavorable to that government.

(D) It is ethical in general to report known facts but unethical to make a report in a situation of censorship if relevant facts have been deleted by the censor unless the recipient of the report is warned that censorship existed.

(E) Although it is ethical in general to report known facts, it is unethical to make a report from which a censor has deleted relevant facts, unless the recipient of the report is warned that there was censorship and the reported facts do not by themselves give a misleading impression.

nusmavrik · Answer

A : constraint (if the omitted facts would substantially alter an impression of a person or institution)
B : constraint (unethical to fail to report known facts that would tend to exonerate)
C : constraint (if the government represented by the censor deletes from the report material unfavorable to that government.)
D : constraint (unethical if relevant facts have been deleted by the censor unless the recipient of the report is warned that censorship existed.) ----> Since report is "warned" there is no constraint now.
E : constraint (the reported facts do not by themselves give a misleading impression)

D it is.

cano · Answer

Yeah, clearly D, though it takes a lot of time to read and understand what we are asked.
I wouldn't say it was difficult, but time consuming (which for the sake of GMAT is almost the same).

mvictor · Answer

i reached to D, read the part in blue...clearly D is the winner.
E is close, but D is better.

Gokul20 · Answer

Hi Experts,
If someone can explain the approach for this problem, would be helpful. I did get it right, but took a lot of time understanding and deciphering each answer choice. Are there any better ways to get this quickly? Any help with such questions would be much appreciated.

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

Hi Gokul

This is a typical Strengthen the Conclusion question. We need to assess the premises and the conclusion presented in the stimulus.

Conclusion:  It was ethically permissible to file the censored report.

Premises on which the conclusion is based:

1) Refugees were starving because the government would not permit food shipments to a rebel-held area.
2) Government censors deleted all mention of the government’s role in the starvation.
3) The report had not implicated either nature or the rebels in the starvation.
4) The journalist’s news agency would precede it with the notice “Cleared by government censors".

Clearly, the ethical question is whether to file a report which does not clearly identify the perpetrator of the starvation, even though the information is available with the journalist. So we are looking for an answer option which allows this, with the notice of censor possibly acting to mitigate this exclusion.

(A) It is ethical in general to report known facts but unethical to do so while omitting other known facts if the omitted facts would substantially alter an impression of a person or institution that would be congruent with the reported facts.  If it is unethical to omit facts which alter the impression, then filing this report is clearly unethical because it omits to mention the government's role in the starvation. Eliminate.

(B) In a situation of conflict, it is ethical to report known facts and unethical to fail to report known facts that would tend to exonerate one party to the conflict.  Similar to (A) - the omitted facts here clearly exonerate the rebels, thus making this report unethical. Eliminate.

(C) In a situation of censorship, it is unethical make any report if the government represented by the censor deletes from the report material unfavorable to that government.  Since the government here has deleted material unfavorable to itself from the report, this option too makes the report unethical. Eliminate.

(D) It is ethical in general to report known facts but unethical to make a report in a situation of censorship if relevant facts have been deleted by the censor unless the recipient of the report is warned that censorship existed.  Correct. Since the news agency will carry the notice of censor, the condition for the report being unethical is not satisfied, making the report ethical.

(E) Although it is ethical in general to report known facts, it is unethical to make a report from which a censor has deleted relevant facts, unless the recipient of the report is warned that there was censorship and the reported facts do not by themselves give a misleading impression.  The reported facts  may  give a misleading impression here, since the role of the government is completed omitted thereby leaving all parties potentially liable in the eyes of the reader. We cannot convincingly rule out the unethical nature of the report. Eliminate.

Hope this helps.

sayan640 · Answer

GMATNinja  @veritaskarishma  generis

Posted from my mobile device

VerbalBot · Answer

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Reporting on a civil war, a journalist encountered evidence that refug

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