Misha Sillifant

Factual Communication is a piece of writing which is entirely based on facts and true information. It is commonly used in many parts of the media, this includes in journalism, campaigns, leaflets, copywriting, lifestyle magazines and much more. Factual writing is used to teach or inform the audience about something, for example if the person reading had very little understanding about the subject written about you’d expect them to have a clear understanding after reading it.

 

Factual writing is also commonly used online on web articles. Examples of this are sport websites and film review websites. Sport websites share live results of football matches making sure that they give the correct accurate information of letting the audience know what team/player scored and what time they scored at. It is important to make sure that they give the correct information as fans will be relying on them to find out the scores. Film review websites or news articles about an upcoming film are then used to release a small amount of clear information so the audience can have an understanding of what the film is about without giving it away too much. These sights also gives ratings and reviews on the film yet an issue with this could be the site being bias. This could be bias due to the site that wrote the review personally knowing someone from the company who created the film. Or this could be because it has been known that companies have paid or give gifts to any website reviewers to give their product a good rating and review. “A publishing giant got into hot water after offering gift vouchers to anyone who would give their textbook a five-star review” (The perils of five-star reviews, 2009).

 

Also bias traits can be found in many different factual writing if it is a very one sided document. This is highly found in is campaign writing. Last Chance for Animals are a campaign group who create campaigns about lab animal transport, banning puppy mills, banning live export, fur and many more. A campaign I have looked at and analysed of theirs is called ‘Fur Trade Facts’ and the title is already a play on words being associated to Fair Trade which is an organisation which tries to make sure that everyone and everything is fair. This then suggests that the campaign that has been written isn’t about fair factors and is going to be an argument against fur and how it is collected as the word ‘fair’ has been replaced with fur. Also in the first two paragraphs it is clear that the argument is against and is bias. The campaign is written very informally and uses a variety of vocabulary suggesting that the article is aimed at an older audience and with the pictures it shows at the bottom of the page not being pleasant to look at also suggests it is not for children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These pictures show what the farm looks like after the animals have been skinned and how they have been left. This is used to surprise people into understanding what the conditions are actually like. It could also be used in an emotional way as people may find the picture upsetting and be more likely to get involved and donate. Under one of the pictures it says “These helpless animals live in misery and die a horrible death. Their skinned remains are forgotten by everyone” (Fur Trade Facts, 2014). Which makes the audience think and the word ‘everyone’ suggests that no one is helping so they need all the help they can get. This is again only sharing one side of the argument and is only showing one example of how animal farms treat the animals. However for legal reasons they haven’t named any of these farms they have just stated how many there were in the United States “In 2009, there were approximately 300 fur farms in the United States. Wisconsin has the most farms (71), followed by Utah (65), Oregon, Minnesota, and Idaho” (Fur Trade Facts, 2014).

 

The first and second paragraph use facts and figures to describe the size of the cage and the area that the animals kept in the farm have to move around in before they are taken to be skinned. This has been included so the audience can again visualise how small the cage actually is and how bad the conditions are. The campaign then continues to describe the conditions and leads to saying what can happen due to this confined space that they are in. This is keeping the article concise and on topic making it a good example of factual communication. Also in the beginning of the third paragraph it says 'Another risk to life in captivity includes' this is another reason which shows that the campaign is bias as it is only giving reasons for one side of the argument. It is including many points but they are only one sided.

 

Another way the LCA like to share their campaigns is through visual posters. The first visual campaign of theirs shows a woman lying down showing off a lot of skin with the caption saying ‘be proud of your skin’ which allows the audience to imagine if they were in that same position as the animals are in and that animals should be able to feel proud of their skin just as much as humans. The poster is trying to promote that fur is just the same as skin and if skin isn’t taken then neither should fur. The sheet that is covering the woman lying down is red which could suggest blood from when the animal has been skinned for its fur as it hasn’t just been used to cover her as it also trails along the floor beside her. She is made to be the main image and is looking directly at the audience to draw them in but the main text that stands out beside her says ‘NO 2 FUR’ in block capitals and is bold in white writing. This text is very bias as it’s saying directly ‘NO’ which shows they stand for not skinning animals for their fur, creating an argument against it. The white writing then stands out over the top of the red sheet, but has little black elements to it suggesting a grunge feeling. This could be towards the animals to say that the places they are being kept aren’t nice and to let the audience know this. Also there are some dashes of red on the text to again suggest blood and pain towards the animals. Overall this visual campaign is quite dark and is trying to get that point across through a dark and emotional message. However all of the writing is very clear, short and precise allowing it to be easy to understand by the small amount of text that has been used. 

 

The LCA’s logo, which is on the bottom of this visual campaign could be associated with a bar code, but also looks like a cage but with two bars bent which could be an indication of supporting this campaign and donating could help set the animals free. The reoccurring black and white is very plain and could suggest that it isn’t a happy campaign as the colours don’t suggest that. The background of the cage is black suggesting that it is a dark place for the animals, but there is a white background behind ‘LCA’ suggesting that there can be light and life for the animals after donating. The 'LCA' text is written in a bold black text which really stands out on the white background. The text of each letter are joined together which also could suggest the joining of people on this campaign. The colours are also the same colours that are used on the yin yang symbol which represents a perfect balance and peace which the LCA want to achieve.

 

Another way factual communication is used is in leaflets, newspapers and magazines. Leaflets or instruction manuals are factual as it gives the reader facts and/or instructions to follow on a certain subject.  This form of factual writing must be clear so the reader knows exactly what to do and points must be broken down easy enough for the reader to follow. It is also important that the writing isn’t confusing and is relevant to the topic. Leaflets are known for quick, easy and to the point reading but still expected to be informed about the subject. Newspapers also are known for giving accurate and clear information on news or things that are seemed of interest to the readers.