According to the Empirical Rule (also known as the 68-95-99.7 rule), for a normally distributed dataset:
- Approximately 68% of the data falls within one standard deviation of the mean.
- Approximately 95% of the data falls within two standard deviations of the mean.
- Approximately 99.7% falls within three standard deviations of the mean.
For this population of journalists with a mean salary of $78,000 and a standard deviation of $12,000:
- The mean (μ) = $78,000
- Two standard deviations (2σ) = 2 * $12,000 = $24,000
Now, calculate the interval for 95% of the data:
- Lower bound: Mean - 2 * Standard Deviation = $78,000 - $24,000 = $54,000
- Upper bound: Mean + 2 * Standard Deviation = $78,000 + $24,000 = $102,000
Therefore, approximately 95% of the salaries fall within the interval $54,000 to $102,000.
Among the provided options, there is no exact match for $54,000 to $102,000, but looking for the closest option to this interval, the choice [48000, 96000] inclusively covers a good portion of that range.
Thus, the answer is [48000, 96000].