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25 Jan 2017, 12:24
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Argument:
The following appeared in an announcement issued by the publisher of The Mercury, a weekly newspaper.
“Since a competing lower-priced newspaper, The Bugle, was started five years ago, The Mercury’s circulation has declined by 10,000 readers. The best way to get more people to read The Mercury is to reduce its price below that of The Bugle, at least until circulation increases to former levels. The increased circulation of The Mercury will attract more businesses to buy advertising space in the paper.”
Answer:
The circulation of a newspaper,The Mercury,has declined by 10,000 readers since a competing lower-priced newspaer,The Bugle,was started five years ago.The publisher of The Mercury states that the best way to get more people to read The Mercury is to reduce its price below that of The Bugle,at least until circulation increases to former levels.The increases circulation,the publisher believes,will attract more businesses to buy advertising to buy advertising space in the paper.The conclusion of the argument relies on assumptions for which there is no clear evidence. Hence, the argument is unconvincing and has several flaws.
First,the publisher readily assumes that the decline in circulation of The Mercury is caused by the introduction of a lower prices newspaper,The Bugle.The publisher ignores the possibility that there are several other factors which could have caused the declines in circulation of The Mercury.For example,it it possible that the quality of the content in The Mercury has reduced in the last five years,resulting in many readers switching to other newspapers.The argument could have been much clearer if it provided evidence explicitely stating that the lower priced newspaper,The Bugle,is solely to blame for the reduced circulation of The Mercury.
Second,the argument claims that reducing the price below to that of The Bugle,will increase the circulation of The Bugle to former level.This is again a very weak and unsupported claim as the argument fails to adress several issues.For instance,The Bugle,respoding to the price reduction by the Mercury,can reduce its price even more.Such reduction in price by The Bugle will prevent The Mercury from achiving its goal.If the argument had provided evidence that The Bugle would not respond to the price reductions by The Mercury,it would have been more convincing.
Finally,the argument states that increased circulation of The Mercury will attract more businesses to buy adversing space in the paper.It unreasonably assumes that,for businesses choosing a newspaper to buy adverising space in,the circulation of a newspaper is the most important factor to consider.It is possible that the businesses are more concerned about the price of buying space,which The Mercury might have to increase to ofset any losses incurred by reducing the newspaper's price.The argument could be strengthened if it provided reasons that would lead one to believe that increased circulatation will attract more businesses to buy advertising space in the paper.
In summary, the argument is flawed and therefore unconvincing. It could be considerably strengthened if the author clearly mentioned all the relevant facts. In order to assess the merits of a certain situation, it is essential to have full knowledge of all contributing factors.
The following appeared in an announcement issued by the publisher of The Mercury, a weekly newspaper.
“Since a competing lower-priced newspaper, The Bugle, was started five years ago, The Mercury’s circulation has declined by 10,000 readers. The best way to get more people to read The Mercury is to reduce its price below that of The Bugle, at least until circulation increases to former levels. The increased circulation of The Mercury will attract more businesses to buy advertising space in the paper.”
Answer:
The circulation of a newspaper,The Mercury,has declined by 10,000 readers since a competing lower-priced newspaer,The Bugle,was started five years ago.The publisher of The Mercury states that the best way to get more people to read The Mercury is to reduce its price below that of The Bugle,at least until circulation increases to former levels.The increases circulation,the publisher believes,will attract more businesses to buy advertising to buy advertising space in the paper.The conclusion of the argument relies on assumptions for which there is no clear evidence. Hence, the argument is unconvincing and has several flaws.
First,the publisher readily assumes that the decline in circulation of The Mercury is caused by the introduction of a lower prices newspaper,The Bugle.The publisher ignores the possibility that there are several other factors which could have caused the declines in circulation of The Mercury.For example,it it possible that the quality of the content in The Mercury has reduced in the last five years,resulting in many readers switching to other newspapers.The argument could have been much clearer if it provided evidence explicitely stating that the lower priced newspaper,The Bugle,is solely to blame for the reduced circulation of The Mercury.
Second,the argument claims that reducing the price below to that of The Bugle,will increase the circulation of The Bugle to former level.This is again a very weak and unsupported claim as the argument fails to adress several issues.For instance,The Bugle,respoding to the price reduction by the Mercury,can reduce its price even more.Such reduction in price by The Bugle will prevent The Mercury from achiving its goal.If the argument had provided evidence that The Bugle would not respond to the price reductions by The Mercury,it would have been more convincing.
Finally,the argument states that increased circulation of The Mercury will attract more businesses to buy adversing space in the paper.It unreasonably assumes that,for businesses choosing a newspaper to buy adverising space in,the circulation of a newspaper is the most important factor to consider.It is possible that the businesses are more concerned about the price of buying space,which The Mercury might have to increase to ofset any losses incurred by reducing the newspaper's price.The argument could be strengthened if it provided reasons that would lead one to believe that increased circulatation will attract more businesses to buy advertising space in the paper.
In summary, the argument is flawed and therefore unconvincing. It could be considerably strengthened if the author clearly mentioned all the relevant facts. In order to assess the merits of a certain situation, it is essential to have full knowledge of all contributing factors.
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