factual writing, task 1
TRANSCRIPT
FACTUAL WRITING, TASK 1
Jess Britton
We were asked to produce examples of factual writing, the first one that I chose was of an article from the Guardian. The guardian are
known for writing factually, and this example is no different. The article is news from the court case surrounding old News Of the World
staff. The article is very concise, it produces all the facts and doesn’t have any opinions. The only opinions that it might show is that of
people that have been interviewed and quoted. Articles from the Guardian and the Times for example are always like this. These are classed
as broadsheet newspapers, because they don’t show any bias. The newspapers that are quite biased are tabloid newspapers, which include
The Sun and The Mirror. These newspapers only have a few facts to a story, and they are normally very opinionated. With this example from
the Guardian, the facts are all written down very accurately and clearly, which shows on the first few opening lines. These shows what the
article is going to be about and what information they have got to write the article. This article, along with other factual articles from
broadsheet newspapers, have as few words as possible; they couldn’t use any less because then all the facts wouldn’t be there. This article
seems like it is accurate because of the way the writer seems to have been at the court at that time. When the journalist says “on the forth
day in the witness box, Brooks also said…” this shows that the journalist must have been writing from inside the courtroom, so the story
would be accurate. The way the journalist have written the piece shows that the story is unbiased and concise. This shows because they
don’t go off topic; they have written down all the facts that they know about and they haven’t said anything extra. For example they have
gone on to talk about their opinions on the people involved, they have clearly stated the facts like they should. This goes on to shows that
the journalist has avoided ambiguity. They have talked about everything clearly, and they have produced facts throughout. If you read this
article it is clear that you can’t really interpret the story in a different way, because there are too many facts to argue with. It is clear that
this journalist has written this article factually because they haven’t used any abbreviations, they have written formally and, because of this,
the article is clear and easy to read. This article shows evidence of the argument involved because it shows the views of the people at the
court, including the News Of the World journalist that is being questioned. There are quotes from the journalists barrister, the journalist
herself and facts of the whole trial. I believe that none of this is biased, if the article wanted to be biased then the journalist writing the
article wouldn't have got quotes from Brooks, just other people like maybe the judge and people that she had apparently hacked. The
quotes that have been taken have been clearly stated; it is easy to understand where they came from and they back up the facts in the
article. This is good referencing, and it helps show that the facts are true. There are a few legal constraints that this journalist would have
to take into account. For example they couldn’t try to produce hatred towards a certain person or group. The journalist who wrote this
shows that they aren’t trying to personal harm anyone else, they are clearly stating facts from a court case. They have written their article
in a way that shows that they don’t have any opinions on the case, they are just trying to get the information out to the public. There could
be issues with contempt, but this article shows that there wasn’t any issues. The codes of practice that apply would be ones that stop the
journalist from saying thing that they shouldn’t do because its an on going court case.
With this example I can see that the information that has been given is very clear and concise. There
isn’t that many aspects that with distract the viewer from the facts, and I believe that this leaflet is easy to
read. It produces the facts about puppy farming quite boldly, which is what they would have been wanting
because they would have made this leaflet to shock and inform people. This leaflet is easy to read because
the writing is on a white background, there are different paragraphs that talk about different issues, and
there are also bullet points to show what the reader can do to get more information. The information that
has been written on this leaflet is accurate, there is a link to a legit website and the facts that have been
produced show that they know what they are talking about. There isn’t a way for this information to be
interpreted different ways because of how many facts there are. This shows that the writer has avoided
ambiguity because readers won’t be able to interpret the facts differently. I don’t believe that there is any
vagueness in this leaflet, the facts are clearly laid out and it doesn’t drift off to talk about anything
different, or share opinions. There is however some bias in this leaflet, which will almost be the same with
any charity leaflet that is produced, since they are trying to inform and persuade. There is however
evidence supporting the bias, because the writer has produced facts to support their argument. The
language that has been used in this leaflet shows they the writer knows that what they are saying is true,
and that they can back up the facts that they produce. They seem well educated and professional, which
makes the leaflet look formal and factual. The issues have been clearly stated in this leaflet, but there is
only one side to the puppy farming argument.. They didn’t have a quote from anyone that works on one of
these farms, which makes the leaflet look biased and doesn’t really show the evidence for their argument.
This leaflet doesn’t reference a lot of different sources, because they only talk about the facts they know
and how to get involved. To make this better they could have referenced where they got this information
from. There isn’t many legal constraints and codes of practice that apply, the only ones that would, would
be the ones that state that the charity cannot produce products that are made to directly harm and upset a
certain person or a group of people. To do this they haven’t named any places that have been known to use
puppy farms, or anybody in particular that would be involved. If they did this then they could face a libel
case.
This example is an instruction manual on how to put up flat pack furniture. The information
on these leaflets are clear an easy to read. They use an arrow to direct people, like a step by
step guide. This makes the leaflet easy to understand, and people will be able to understand
what they need to do. The information is very concise; there isn’t much text and the text that
is used will simply help people understand the guide better. These leaflets look accurate, the
information has come from a company that makes tools to put up flat pack furniture. The
information wont be able to be interpreted in different ways, simply because of the use of
images. These images clearly state the steps that people need to take. Without these images
the information that is used might be uncertain to people. This shows that the leaflets avoid
ambiguity, because they are able to show clearly what they mean through their images. Since
this is a step by step instruction guide, there is no room for bias. The steps or factual and it
won’t contain any opinions. An instruction guide will normally be written formally, which this
example does. Its written in a professional manner, which is what the company would have
been aiming for. This is no argument and opinions in a guide like this, so there will be no
evidence for this. There are no references either, only to the one that links the guide to their
own personal company, which is all an instruction leaflet like this needs. There won’t be any
legal constraints either, ad the codes of practice that apply are only the ones that state that
they can’t use information from other sources and not reference them.