Whenever a major airplane accident occurs, there is a

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Whenever a major airplane accident occurs, there is a dramatic increase in the number of airplane mishaps reported, 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 accident, not by an increase in the number of accidents.
Which of the following, if true, would seriously weaken the assertions of the airline officials?
(A) The publicity surrounding airline accidents is largely limited to the country in which the crash occurred.
(B) Airline accidents tend to occur far more often during certain peak travel months.
(C) News organizations do not have any guidelines to help them decide how severe or how close an accident must be for it to receive coverage.
(D) Airplane accidents receive coverage by news sources only when the news sources find it advantageous to do so.
(E) Studies by government regulations show that the number of airplane flight miles remains relatively constant from month to month

B could be the right answer because, hidden in the airline industry officials' speech, is the assertion that the number of airplane accidents does not fluctuate.

They are saying that the number of accidents remains approximately the same from one period to another.

B is saying exactly the reverse, that number of accidents fluctuate. That is why I go for B.

I think its B.. Rest all are either irrelevant or strengthen the argument

B for me. Its the only one that seems to touch upon the topic of an increase in air accidents...

B appears to be best 1 amongst the options available..

IMO C

C & D strengthen the Officials claim so they are wrong answers ,also A & E are irrelevant so B is right answer.

I got B too.

can some please explain why B is the right answer??

Its B

IMO D.

The Stimulus is, in other words, "there is a dramatic increase in the number of airplane mishaps reported not because of an increase in the number of accidents but because of an increase in the number of news sources covering airline accident" is what Airline officials assert.
To weaken this assertion, one has to attack the causality argued by Airline officials by saying "news sources do cover accidants actually occurred not fictitiously occurred," or "news sources are selective about what to report." Statement D says something similar to the latter.

As to B, which most people picked, I don't think it is related to the stimulus or arguement in any way, because it doesn't say anything about "NEWS COVERAGE," which is central subject of Airline officials' grouchy words. Whether airline accidents do occur often during certain peak months doesn't help weaken the assertions.

What's OA?



By screening, we know that A & E are irrelevant, and C is strengthening the arguement.

As explained earlier, if number of accident increases -> number of reports of accidents increases.
So number of reports of accidents are not increasing due to media coverage. B weakens the statement.

As far as D is concerned, i don't really get what do the author means by advantage in reporting the accident.
Is it the number of people watching the news channel or the money they get from the advertisements in those slots or what not.

Ya what but is the OA and source?

I don't exactly know what advantage is either. However, my guess is that D says "MEDIA IS SELECTIVE ABOUT NEWS (whatever the advantage may be)," i.e. they don't report all the accidents.

On the other hand, B does compare the frequences of accidents between peak season and non-peak season, but does not say which of both seasons' accidents get more media coverage. If it says that the accidents during peak season, when accidents are more frequent, is less covered, then B could be a weakening statement. IMO.