The current spate of sting operations against politicians

Question

The current spate of sting operations against politicians by the media only serves to boost the viewership of the channels. Little or no money is ever recovered. The common man, crushed under the burden of taxes, gains nothing from such exposes. If TV channels are genuinely interested in exposing corruption, they need to target various departments of municipal corporation.

Which of the following is an assumption in the above paragraph?

A. Sting operations are the best means to keep a check on corruption.
B. The common man interacts more often with municipal authorities than with higher echelons of the government.
C. TV channels create awareness about corruption.
D. Sting operations are important as they make the politicians cough up the money they had embezzled. 
E. According to a report Municipal authorities are the most corrupt government organization.

aggvipul · Accepted Answer

That's an easy-peasy
Premise: Common man gains nothing from sting operations exposing politicians; targeting municipal corporation would be best in exposing corruption
Missing Link: Maximum benefit to common man by exposing municipal corporartion

A. Sting operations are the best means to keep a check on corruption.-  This is wrong for 2 reaons, 1. it uses "the best" how on earth would we know that it is the best or "a best" means, such strong words tend to be wrong. 2. Sting operations may be are the best means, but here the logical focus is the use of sting operations for the benefit of common man. Hence it is easy out no.1

B. The common man interacts more often with municipal authorities than with higher echelons of the government.-  Bingo! Notice how this statement is softly put(tends to be right). If the common man interacts more often with MC than with politicians then the common man would get directly benefited by reduction/root out of corruption. We can also try negating the sentence( should be done for assumption questions ) to check if its the right answer. No The common man does not interacts more often with municipal authorities than with higher echelons of the government, see how the premise just collapses

C. TV channels create awareness about corruption.-  Warps the info! even if TV channels create awareness about corruption this does not provide us any proof that targeting MC would be more beneficial. Easy out no. 2

D. Sting operations are important as they make the politicians cough up the money they had embezzled. -  Waaaay out of focus! how would we know that the sting operation would make politicians return the money they have stolen( meaning of embezzle ). Also even if it makes politicians return the money how on earth would we know that string operations are  important  and even if they are important we cant say anything that the money returned would benefit common man, we just dont know to whom would the money be given. This statement is not at all related to the paragraph given. Easy out no. 3

E. According to a report Municipal authorities are the most corrupt government organization.-  Warps the info but it is a runner up, see how it says that Municipal authorities are the most corrupt government organization, now one can think that if MC is the most corrupt then the maximum benefit would get driven from it. But see how subtly this option is wrong for 2 reasons, 1. It uses "the most"(such absolute words tend to be wrong in GMAT), we are in no position to say that it the most corrupt organization. 2. It just gives no relation between the common man and MC, even if MC is most corrupt how on earth would we know that exposing it is going directly going to benefit common man

Hope this helps! if yes let me know it by kudos

push12345 · Answer

Argument says that exposing politicians won't benefit common man.one needs to expose corruption in municipal corporation because it assumes that common man frequently interact with the same.

Choice B clearly states that.
Also on negating statement B conclusion is negated

So B is correct answer

So B

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Nightmare007 · Answer

Can someone please break down the argument for me and provide an explanation for the answer.
What i thought of is:

P2: Exposing Politician won't gain any money to Govt.
P1: A common man gains nothing from media exposing politician.
Conclusion: If channels interested in exposing corruption- Expose Municipal Corp.

I find the premise and Conclusion unrelated. 
Hence we need to bridge a gap- Author is asking media to help common map- Only that way they can help a common man can gain something.

B states it.

However, I am completely down when i am checking whether my reasoning is right and whether my breaking down of stimulus is right. 
Please help me out.

Nightmare007 · Answer

Wow! I got it in my second attempt after 2 months of practice.
E is strengthener 
B is assumption

Conclusion: Media expose the municipal department.

Premise: Exposing Politicians Not aiding any tax payers or Citizens.

Assumption: The exposing municipal department should aid tax payers.

B is direct now.
E is just a strengthener not an assumption.

VerbalBot · Answer

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The current spate of sting operations against politicians

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The current spate of sting operations against politicians

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