Media Literacy: Decode This Statistic

Most misleading statistics are not lies; they are framing, missing base rates, and cherry-picked comparisons. This runs a headline figure through the full audit: absolute versus relative risk, the denominator nobody mentioned, the dodgy comparison, and what the number actually means in the real world. Bring the next scary headline.

Statistics in headlines and reports are frequently misleading, not through outright lies, but through framing, base-rate omission, and cherry-picked comparisons. Audit the following statistic.

Statistic: "{STATISTIC_TEXT}"
Source context: "{SOURCE_CONTEXT}"

Audit checklist:
1. Absolute vs. relative risk: does the framing exaggerate or obscure the real-world magnitude?
2. What is the base rate or denominator, and has it been disclosed?
3. What time period, population, or geography is the data drawn from, and could this be cherry-picked?
4. Is there a confidence interval or margin of error? If not, why might that matter?
5. What questions would a statistically literate journalist ask before publishing this?

Conclude with a plain-English sentence that accurately conveys what the data actually shows.