Whenever a major airplane accident occurs, there is a dramatic increas

Hey,

There seems to be enough confusion surrounding this to merit the full MGMAT treatment. So let's do it!

Whenever a major airplane accident occurs, there is a dramatic increase in the number of airplane mishaps reported in the media, a phenomenon that may last for as long as a few months after the accident. Airline officials assert that the publicity given the gruesomeness of major airplane accidents focuses media attention on the airline industry, and the increase in the number of reported accidents is caused by an increase in the number of news sources covering airline accidents, not by an increase in the number of accidents.

Conclusion: Increase in reported accidents caused by increased media attention, not increased accidents
Premises: After major accident, dramatic increase in reported accidents
Assumption: There's not some other reason accidents may increase

This question fits nicely into a category we call "Eliminate alternate causes", in which case the assumption is always that there isn't some other cause. All we need to do is weaken that assumption, and we're good to go.

A. The publicity surrounding airline accidents is largely limited to the country in which the crash occurred.
PROBLEM: This doesn't change any of the facts as we know them. All we care about is the inarguable fact that reporting goes up after a major accident. It doesn't matter where.

B. Airline accidents tend to occur far more often during certain peak travel months.
ANSWER: This explains why there might be lots of accidents that arrive in groups: because of peak travel times. This means it actually is more accidents causing the increased coverage.

C. News organizations do not have any guidelines to help them decide how severe an accident must be for it to receive coverage.
PROBLEM: This means that reportage might be a bit arbitrary, but like answer choice A, it doesn't change the facts. We want to know WHY reporting of accidents goes up. To say that there is no guideline to connect severity to newsworthiness does NOTHING to address the issue of why reportage goes up after a major accident.

D. Airplane accidents receive coverage by news sources only when the news sources find it advantageous to do so.
PROBLEM: Still, we don't know WHY they would find it advantageous to report more airplane accidents at some time than at others, so this doesn't help us.

E. Studies by government regulations show that the number of airplane flight miles remains relatively constant from month to month.
PROBLEM: This actually strengthens the argument. If flight miles are constant, it wouldn't make sense for there to be more accidents at one time than another, so it must just be a question of reportage.

Hope that helps!

-t