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 discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate
the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.

In the given memorandum, the business manager has made an argument in

favour of increasing broadcast time devoted to local news and weather to its former
level on the television station's late-night news program. The manager cites loss
of advertising revenue from local businesses and complaints regarding the coverage
of weather and local news as the primary reasons for his proposal, but makes a
fallacious argument, which must be carefully assessed by executives at the
television station before any steps are taken.

Firstly, the manager states that ever since greater time has been devoted
to national news, most of the complaints from viewers are regarding local news and
weather coverage. But, there is no mention regarding the number of complaints
before and after this change. If the overall number of viewer complaints have
reduced by a considerable number, while the viewership figures have remained
steady, then there is no reason to revert back to the previous format of the
program. Furthermore, even if it is ascertained that the number of complaints has
risen, the next logical step would be to determine whether the complaints are
pertaining to the screen time of local news and weather, or whether there is an
inundation of complaints about the quality of the coverage of these fields. If it
is a case of the latter, a change in personnel would be more advisable.

Next, the business manager forms a relationship between local news and
weather content, and loss in revenue due to the termination of advertising
contracts by several local businesses, which can be described as tenuous at best.
No mention has been made about whether there has been any significant loss in the
overall revenue generated by the program. If the loss in advertising revenue is
being compensated by greater viewership, there is no cause for concern. In fact, if
the viewership has risen, other local businesses would likely be willing to sign
contracts with the program, at least partially compensating for the loss. The
reason behind the cancelation of contracts by various companies must also be
determined. It could have nothing to do with less time being devoted to weather and
local news.

Thus, in order to evaluate the argument of the business manager,

unambiguous evidence must be provided regarding the yearlong viewership figures of
the late-night program before and after the changes were made. The nature and
magnitude of the complaints made by viewers must be determined, and an inquiry
should be made into the reasons behind the cancelation of advertising contracts by
local businesses. It must also be determined if these advertising contracts can be
replaced by similar, or even better deals in the near future.