Argument Essay Evaluation

[ioke09]

Hi,

Could you please evaluate the argument essay below and provide feedback? Thanks.

 

Topic:

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 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 just canceled their advertising contracts with us. Therefore, in order to attract more viewers to the program and to avoid losing any further advertising revenues, we should restore the time devoted to weather and local news to its former level."

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.

 

The business manager of the television station states that in the past year the late-night news program has devoted increased time to national news and less time to weather and local news. In addition, most of the complaints received from viewers were concerned with the station's coverage of weather and local news. Furthermore, local businesses have canceled their advertising contracts with the late-night news program. The author asserts that in order to attract more viewers to the program and to avoid further losses, the time devoted to weather and local news should be restored to its previous level. It is understandable that the station business manager wants to prevent further losses and attract more viewers to the program, but it is not clear that restoring the time devoted to weather and local news would be sufficient for rectifying the situation.

 

Citing evidence over the past year, the author notes the change in the amount of time devoted to national news and less time to weather. It remains unclear the exact time when this change occurred and the effects the change would have over a longer period of time such as five years. For example, the late-night news program may see a surge in viewers to the program and increased advertising revenues after the first year. The trends over one year observed by the business manager may not be reflective of any longer-term trend in the number of viewers and advertising revenues of the late-night news program. Furthermore, trends among the viewers of news during different times of the day such as morning, evening, and late night could prove helpful in determining the need to increase the time devoted to weather and local news. The author should investigate into these matters further before restoring the time devoted to weather and local news.

 

In addition, the author does not address the reasons for the local businesses that canceled their advertising contracts with the late-night news program. The author makes the assumption that local businesses canceled their advertising contracts due to the decreased time of weather and local news. The advertising contracts could have been canceled for a multitude of reasons such as the local businesses decide to reduce their operating costs and therefore canceled the advertising contracts. Another possibility the local businesses pulled their advertisements could be due to the offensive language contained in the advertisements that the general public would find controversial. To strengthen the argument, the author should determine if the only reason the local businesses canceled the advertising contracts was due to less weather and local news coverage.   

 

Furthermore, we also need to find out the nature of the complaints about the local news and weather programming. The viewers may be complaining about the broadcasters reporting the weather and local news, rather than the decreased time allocated to weather and local news. It is not clear whether the complaints are only about the late-night news program or other programs during the day as well. A survey could be distributed to the viewers to collect data on what programs they like to watch and what they dislike about the programs. This data would help the business manager determine if increasing the time devoted to weather and local news is necessary.   

 

In conclusion, the business manager needs to determine the reason for fewer viewers watching the late-night program, perhaps they watch other programs during different times of the day. The author also needs to find out if the only reason local businesses canceled their advertising contracts is due to the shortened weather and local news coverage. For these reasons, the business manager should investigate the issue further before deciding to allocate more time to weather and local news.   

[namarie]

I'd give this a 5. I think it's really good!