argument220 我们的九月小组－－第十二次作业

maggie-leeUID: 2220892

argument220

In this article, the author claims that the people who pursue writing as vocation are supposed to obtain relevant training and experience in writing for television. To substantiate the advocate, the author cites the results of a recent survey on the references in people's talk in a representative day. However, the following two main critical flaws seriously undermine and weaken the credibility of the argument.

On the one hand, the evidence, provided in the article that in a typical day the proportion of people who mention watching television is around 23 times as that of people who refer to reading fictions, is insufficient to prove that the publishing and bookselling industries are in face of possible decline in profit. Firstly, although currently in daily lives, people tend to make references more to the television, rather than reading fiction, it does not imply that the audience rating is on the increase and the number of readers of fictions in dropping. Actually, frequent reference might be simply due to that the programs, such as news, weather forecasts, are closely related to people daily lives. In contrast, the contents or plots of the fictions usually are mentioned when people have some deep communication with the people who have read the same fictions. Secondly, fiction is merely one type of the products in the publishing and bookselling industries, besides magazines, journals, and newspapers are also included in the same industries. Therefore, even the sale of fictions is not so satisfactory, the entire condition in the publishing industry might still be prospective, or at least not hindered seriously. Thirdly, the profit does not depend on sales, but also other relevant factors, including costs, operations etc., hence it seems to hasty to reach the assertion in the article.

On the other hand, even assuming that the profitability of the publishing and bookselling industries is going to decrease, it is unfair for the author to come to the conclusion that the people who want to become writers as a career should be trained for writing for television particularly and to gain relevant experience. Common sense tells us that the writing for television is closely linked with the writing for print media. For instance, some of the prevalent novels or fictions are adapted into telescripts and filmed into TV play series, which are also popular with audience. Therefore, it is not necessary for the writers to gain special training and experience in writing for television.

To sum up, the author fails to provide convincing and sufficient evidences to validate the decline of the profitability in the industry of publishing and bookselling, as well as the necessity for prospective writers to practice writing for television. To substantiate the claimed recommendation, it is indispensable for the author to cite more facts or evidence with respect to how the publishing field is influence by the television industry; the operation condition including the cost, sales and so on in the publishing field; the different requirements for writing capability in different media.