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

The manager mentions that over the past year, there has been an increased time allocated to national news and reduced time to weather and local news. He states that as a result of this change, there have been more complaints from viewers regarding the coverage of weather and local news. Furthermore, he claims that local businesses that advertised on the station during the late-night news program have cancelled their contract as a ramification of the reduced time devoted to local news and weather. The manager proposes that the times attributed to weather and local news on the station be reverted to their original levels. The managers reasoning is myopic as he left out a lot of detail that results to a poor and untenable argument.

The manager adumbrated that more complaints received from the viewers were concerned with the stations coverage of weather and local news, but does not elucidate the type of complaints, whether they were concerned with the quality and reliability of the information communicated or specific to the time allocation. It is possible that the viewer’s complaint are not regarding the change in the schedule or the station but rather with other affiliated incidents, such as the nature of the news being discussed, or perhaps the attitude of the reporters being subjective rather than objective. It is not unlikely that the complaints are more because the viewers are more invested in the happenings presented in the local news and weather, and would be easily agitated with the news presented or with the accuracy of the weather report.

Also the manager’s claim that most of the complaints made by the viewers are concerned with the local news and weather coverage, is vague, as it does not mention how many viewers filed complaints and whether they were more in number than they were in the previous years, before the change in the stations schedule occurred. The manager only stated that most of the complaints were concerned with the weather and local news coverage, this could be interpreted to mean that the complaints attributed to national news was less compared to the complaints concerned with the local news coverage and not necessarily more in sheer number compared to complaints attributed to local news and weather the previous years. The manager should provide sound statistics regarding the exact number of complaints and their subject.

The manager assumes that the reason the local businesses have cancelled their advertising contracts, is as a result of the decreased time allocated to local news and weather coverage. However, the author does not give any rational explanation as to why the businesses abrogated their contract with the station. There could be convincing reasons for the annulment of the contract, such as the cost of advertisement demanded by the station or perhaps there were more efficient stations emerging within the region that were offering better services in an attempt to attract clients. The manager should carry out a thorough investigation and try to demystify the reasons behind the loss of advertising clients.

In conclusion, the manager’s claim that accuses the reduction in time allocated to coverage of local news and weather is gratuitous and unsound. To make a more cogent argument, the manager should clearly state out the reasons and subject of the complaints from viewers, the number of complaints compared to previous years and the severity of the complaints. The manager should also question the businesses for the reason regarding their disaffection.