Q18 - Sociologist: The intended function

[mrudula_2005]

I did pick D as the correct answer and I can see how it is clearly correct, but what exactly makes A go wrong? Would it be correct if it stated that "News that serves its intended function cannot be primarily entertaining?"

Thanks!

[ManhattanPrepLSAT2]

A is a really attractive answer, especially if you get sucked into over-thinking the conditional logic. However, a couple of characteristics prevent (A) from being a required assumption --

1) "should" isn't a great fit for the context (what one "should" or "shouldn't" do doesn't impact what "can" and "can't" be)

2) there is a significant difference between news being primarily entertaining and news being entertaining.

Hope that helps!

[aaronwfrank]

In regard to answer choice A, this still leaves open the possibility that news can be entertaining while still giving information on which to act.

Answer choice D eliminates this gap. "Does not" is much stronger than "should not."