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 presented argument comes from the desk of the business manager of a television station, suggesting that late-night news should feature more local and weather news, than national news. The argument appears to be rather prematurely formed than well calculated for several reasons, some of which shall be elaborated below.
Firstly, most citizens prefer weather and local news in the morning, before leaving their homes for work, and peripheral and national news in the evening, when they return home. Not everyone must be conforming to this norm, but basic trends and a common human tendency suggests that local and weather news will always be more appreciated in the beginning of the day, as people can plan their day according to the news reports to avoid possible hurdles and to stay safe. The same cannot be done if such news is received late in the night.
Secondly, the business manager mentions loss in revenue because of the cancellation of advertising contracts, however the monetary loss has not been quantified at all. The data regarding the number, nature and quality of the companies advertising in the late-night show has not been clarified and hence, it becomes challenging to gauge the loss. On the top of that, since late-night shows have comparatively smaller audience, the former companies may have withdrawn because they did not see a worthy return from the advertisements. The reason specified for contract cancellations may not be as accurate or urgent as portrayed.
Furthermore, it must be noticed that the section of telecast under scrutiny here, is the late-night show. According to several surveys and basic observation, this is when news channels have very less viewewship, regardless of the content and the kind of news telecasted. The manager mentions about complaints, but the number of complaints and degree of seriousness in these objections have not been mentioned. This also fails to guarantee or even estimate the gains, if the complaints are resolved by telecasting more local and weather news late in the night.
As can be seen, the memorandum appears to suggest actions out of panic or desperation, and not after thorough data analysis. The recommendation might be worth a second consideration if the business manager succeeds to come up with numbers and statistics to confirm his concern and the reasons of it. As of now, the argument does not seem to hold much water.
Comments
Essay evaluations by e-grader
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 419, Rule ID: ADMIT_ENJOY_VB[3]
Message: This verb is used with the gerund form: 'reports avoiding'.
Suggestion: reports avoiding
...an plan their day according to the news reports to avoid possible hurdles and to stay safe. The ...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 328, Rule ID: ALLOW_TO[1]
Message: Did you mean 'gauging'? Or maybe you should add a pronoun? In active voice, 'challenge' + 'to' takes an object, usually a pronoun.
Suggestion: gauging
...ified and hence, it becomes challenging to gauge the loss. On the top of that, since lat...
^^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, first, firstly, furthermore, hence, however, if, may, regarding, second, secondly, so, well, kind of
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 16.0 19.6327345309 81% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 11.0 12.9520958084 85% => OK
Conjunction : 21.0 11.1786427146 188% => OK
Relative clauses : 7.0 13.6137724551 51% => More relative clauses wanted.
Pronoun: 16.0 28.8173652695 56% => OK
Preposition: 50.0 55.5748502994 90% => OK
Nominalization: 11.0 16.3942115768 67% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2028.0 2260.96107784 90% => OK
No of words: 395.0 441.139720559 90% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.13417721519 5.12650576532 100% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.45809453852 4.56307096286 98% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.81296014057 2.78398813304 101% => OK
Unique words: 220.0 204.123752495 108% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.556962025316 0.468620217663 119% => OK
syllable_count: 619.2 705.55239521 88% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 4.0 4.96107784431 81% => OK
Article: 11.0 8.76447105788 126% => OK
Subordination: 8.0 2.70958083832 295% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 4.0 1.67365269461 239% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 4.0 4.22255489022 95% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 16.0 19.7664670659 81% => Need more sentences. Double check the format of sentences, make sure there is a space between two sentences, or have enough periods. And also check the lengths of sentences, maybe they are too long.
Sentence length: 24.0 22.8473053892 105% => OK
Sentence length SD: 54.0450838999 57.8364921388 93% => OK
Chars per sentence: 126.75 119.503703932 106% => OK
Words per sentence: 24.6875 23.324526521 106% => OK
Discourse Markers: 6.9375 5.70786347227 122% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 2.0 5.25449101796 38% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 3.0 8.20758483034 37% => More positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 9.0 6.88822355289 131% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 4.0 4.67664670659 86% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.278916232307 0.218282227539 128% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0896021806865 0.0743258471296 121% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0996704375844 0.0701772020484 142% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.155462290607 0.128457276422 121% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0893674933501 0.0628817314937 142% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 15.1 14.3799401198 105% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 47.12 48.3550499002 97% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 12.7 12.197005988 104% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.77 12.5979740519 101% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.98 8.32208582834 108% => OK
difficult_words: 104.0 98.500998004 106% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 14.0 12.3882235529 113% => OK
gunning_fog: 11.6 11.1389221557 104% => OK
text_standard: 13.0 11.9071856287 109% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 66.67 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4.0 Out of 6
---------------------
Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 419, Rule ID: ADMIT_ENJOY_VB[3]
Message: This verb is used with the gerund form: 'reports avoiding'.
Suggestion: reports avoiding
...an plan their day according to the news reports to avoid possible hurdles and to stay safe. The ...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 328, Rule ID: ALLOW_TO[1]
Message: Did you mean 'gauging'? Or maybe you should add a pronoun? In active voice, 'challenge' + 'to' takes an object, usually a pronoun.
Suggestion: gauging
...ified and hence, it becomes challenging to gauge the loss. On the top of that, since lat...
^^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, first, firstly, furthermore, hence, however, if, may, regarding, second, secondly, so, well, kind of
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 16.0 19.6327345309 81% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 11.0 12.9520958084 85% => OK
Conjunction : 21.0 11.1786427146 188% => OK
Relative clauses : 7.0 13.6137724551 51% => More relative clauses wanted.
Pronoun: 16.0 28.8173652695 56% => OK
Preposition: 50.0 55.5748502994 90% => OK
Nominalization: 11.0 16.3942115768 67% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2028.0 2260.96107784 90% => OK
No of words: 395.0 441.139720559 90% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.13417721519 5.12650576532 100% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.45809453852 4.56307096286 98% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.81296014057 2.78398813304 101% => OK
Unique words: 220.0 204.123752495 108% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.556962025316 0.468620217663 119% => OK
syllable_count: 619.2 705.55239521 88% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 4.0 4.96107784431 81% => OK
Article: 11.0 8.76447105788 126% => OK
Subordination: 8.0 2.70958083832 295% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 4.0 1.67365269461 239% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 4.0 4.22255489022 95% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 16.0 19.7664670659 81% => Need more sentences. Double check the format of sentences, make sure there is a space between two sentences, or have enough periods. And also check the lengths of sentences, maybe they are too long.
Sentence length: 24.0 22.8473053892 105% => OK
Sentence length SD: 54.0450838999 57.8364921388 93% => OK
Chars per sentence: 126.75 119.503703932 106% => OK
Words per sentence: 24.6875 23.324526521 106% => OK
Discourse Markers: 6.9375 5.70786347227 122% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 2.0 5.25449101796 38% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 3.0 8.20758483034 37% => More positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 9.0 6.88822355289 131% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 4.0 4.67664670659 86% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.278916232307 0.218282227539 128% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0896021806865 0.0743258471296 121% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0996704375844 0.0701772020484 142% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.155462290607 0.128457276422 121% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0893674933501 0.0628817314937 142% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 15.1 14.3799401198 105% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 47.12 48.3550499002 97% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 12.7 12.197005988 104% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.77 12.5979740519 101% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.98 8.32208582834 108% => OK
difficult_words: 104.0 98.500998004 106% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 14.0 12.3882235529 113% => OK
gunning_fog: 11.6 11.1389221557 104% => OK
text_standard: 13.0 11.9071856287 109% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 66.67 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4.0 Out of 6
---------------------
Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.