The following is a memorandum from the business manager of a television station.‘’Over the past year, our late-night news program has devoted increased time to national news and less time to weather and local news. During this time period, most of the com

The argument that supports restoration of the late-night news program to its former style omits some important concerns that must be addressed to substantiate the argument. In the statement, there are some missing points which weaken the basis of the proposition.

Most conspicuously, the argument makes a tacit assumption about the complaints are mainly related to late-night news program. Nevertheless, this point is not comprised in the argument. Even though there are some complaints related to changes in the coverage of weather and local news, it is not clear that what percentage of complaints is specifically related to late-night news program. Maybe the reason that people complain about the coverage of weather and local news is that morning and afternoon news do not give enough emphasis on these subjects, and maybe they do not even watch the late-night news at all.

In addition to that, the business manager gives an erroneous conclusion that local businesses canceled their advertising contracts with them because of the new structure of late-night news program. However, there might be more important underlying reasons for this cancellation. As an illustration, economy might be down, and local businesses might try to reduce their costs by cancelling late-night advertisements. In another case, they might observe that late-night advertisement is not creating profit, but just a cost. Accordingly, local businesses can stop making contracts with television stations for the late-night news programs.

If the argument stated that the complaints from viewers are mostly related to late-night news program, then the first missing point would be covered. Secondly, if the manager stated that local businesses realized a decrease in the rating of late-night news program and decided to cancel their advertisement, the conclusion would be more consistent. What is more, the manager should specify how many complaints were made during that period to make the argument stronger.

Because the argument does not state aforementioned key points, it is not sound or persuasive. If it included the items discussed above instead of making tacit assumptions, the argument would have been more thorough and convincing.