Media claims

The following headlines call for the reader or viewer to believe something that will presumably be justified in the story to follow.

• Marry for a longer life
• School girls are smokers, drinkers
• Beer gets blame for violent crime
• Men cause more car accidents
• Home-alone kids shock
• Shack owner cops 1000%

These sentences from the media make claims that at first glance may sound believable but warrant further investigation.

• In reaction time trials in the US, people with brown eyes performed better, making them more likely to succeed at football, hockey, and rugby.
  You can read an analysis of this claim in the article on the AAMT website called Eye Colour and Reaction Time: An Opportunity for Critical Statistical Reasoning.
• [Facial cream] is clinically proven to firm eyelids, smooth out fine lines and wrinkles and instantly brighten the under-eye area.
• About 6 in 10 US high school students say they could get a hand gun if they wanted one, a third within an hour, a survey shows.