The commercial news media emphasize exceptional events such as airplane crashes at the expense of those such as autom...

Naz March 12, 2015

This isn't a Sufficient & Necessary question, so there is no need for diagramming.

We are told that commercial news media emphasize exceptional events such as airplane crashes at the expense of those such as automobile accidents, which we are told occur much more frequently and represent a much bigger risk to the public. And we know that the public tends to interpret the degree of emphasis the news media give to these occurrences as indicating the degree of risk they represent.

Thus, even though automobile accidents pose more of a risk, the public will not believe that automobile accidents are as a big of a risk as airplane crashes, since they interpret the degree of emphasis the news media gives as indicating the degree of risk and the news media emphasizes exceptional events like airplane crashes more than automobile accidents.

Thus, answer choice (D) is correct: "Where commercial news media constitute the dominant source of information, public perception of risk does not reflect actual risk."

Hope that was helpful! Please let us know if you have any other questions.

MichelleRod July 11, 2017

Hi - so I get why D is correct, but why would E not also be correct? If the rarer disease is less serious, wouldn't the more exceptional cholera outbreak receive more attention? Thanks!

Mehran July 21, 2017

@MichelleRod (E) does not pass the Must Be True test.

First, (E) is far too specific. We really can't say how the media would cover these two events. Compare that with (D), which is a much more general statement, so easier to prove with 100% certainty.

Second, notice in the stimulus, the airplane crash is the rarer event when compared to an automobile accident.

Hope that helps! Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Ceci September 20, 2018

Hi, why could it not be C? Maybe I'm just reading it wrong, so please explain :)

Mehran September 25, 2018

@Ceci (C) is not directly supported by the information in the stimulus. In fact, the stimulus never even mentions having control over events. The stimulus is about commercial news media coverage and how people relate such coverage to perceived risk of events.

J.T February 14, 2019

The passage does not state that the commercial media is the dominant source

Ravi February 19, 2019

@J.T,

You're right, the passage never states that the commercial media is
the dominant source.

However, what we're being tasked with is to pick the answer choice
that is most strongly supported by the stimulus.

(D) says, "Where commercial news media constitute the dominant source
of information, public perception of risk does not reflect actual
risk."

We know that the media's depiction of exceptional events doesn't
accurately reflect the true risk of the activity. (D) gives us an
additional premise (where commercial news media constitute the
dominant source of information), and if we accept that there are
places where commercial news media constitute the dominant source of
information, then it must follow (based on the information in the
stimulus) that the public's perception of risk doesn't reflect what
the actual risk is.

Does this make sense? Let us know if you have any other questions!

Nathnael-Alazar January 31, 2021

So I'm assuming "tends to" does not play any role in diminishing the chances of "D" being the right answer? I just thought that the language was too strong in "D" for what was laid out in the premises.

PhoebeIman May 12, 2021

Hello! The answer explanation talks about "pivot" words. I don't remember learning about pivot words. Can you explain please?