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 period, most of
the complaints received from viewers were concerned with our station's coverage of
weather and local news. In addition, local businesses that used to advertise during
our late-night news program have canceled their advertising contracts with us.
Therefore, in order to attract more viewers to our news programs and to avoid
losing any further advertising revenues, we should expand our coverage of weather
and local news on all our news programs."

Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the
argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what
the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.

In the memorandum of the business manager, it is concluded that the television

station should expand their coverage of weather and local news on all of their news
programs in order to avoid losing further advertising revenes and to attract more
viewers. The manager has come to this conclusion based on the complaints received
from the viewers and on the cancellation of advertising contracts by the local
businesses. However, the argument is presumptuous and makes sweeping conclusions
even when there is insufficient evidence to draw any solid conclusion.

First unstated assumption is that the complaints made by the viewers are due to the
re-allocation of time devoted between national news and weather and local news. It
is not necessary that the complaints are related to the re-allocation of time in
the late-night news program. It is possible that the complaints are because of the
reduced quality of the content being shown on the other news programs throughout
the day where local and weather news is covered. It could also be possible that the
reallotment of time has resulted in the reduction of total number on complaints
from the viewers over the past year since the statistcs regarding the total number
of complaints havent been specified by the manager. If any of these examples hold
any merit, then the argument is significantly weakened.

Secondly, the manager is assuming that the cancelation of the advertising contracts
by local businesses is because of the reduction of time alotted to the weather and
local news. It is entirely possible that the reason behind this can be something
else. For example, the advertising contracts with this televsion station can be
canceled due to the other television station offering better deals to the local
businesses. Further, there is also a possibility that it is a mass problem with the
local businesses and hence they are cancelling advertising contracts with every
television station and thus, has nothing to do with more time being devoted to
national news instead of weather and local news. If any of the above is true, then
the argument holds no water.

In conclusion, the argument, as it stands, is considerably flawed due to its

reliance on several unwarranted assumptions. If the manager is able to provide more
evidence regarding these assumptions, it will be possible to fully evaluate the
viability of the proposed recommendation.