Practice Task # 2

*this exercise asked us to pretend like we had not already written the leaflet from practice task 1*
Questions:
1. How might practices likely to discredit your employer, and disseminating false or misleading information, even inadvertently, help you approach your writing task?
2. What steps might you take to satisfy yourself that the information you have about the expansion, and its impact on the local traffic, is accurate?

1. When approaching my writing task I would keep in mind what those who are unhappy with the expansion are concerned about. I would address every complaint that I heard, even those that are false or misleading, and show that the company is taking all of these concerns into consideration while planning the expansion. These complaints will be helpful because I will know what the key messages in my leaflet should be. Though deception and not giving the full truth seems like the easiest way to reassure the people this expansion will not have any negative affects, I will be sure to tell the truth because in the long run that will be best for the company’s reputation. The fear of unhappy citizens seeking legal action because of lies would be a major concern of mine, so I would want to write only truthful things in my leaflet. I would hope that the honestly in my leaflet would gain the company credibility, and that the citizens who live near the expanding factory will begin to trust us. The negative comments from the local activist will be helpful in determining what concerns to address in my leaflet. In this case, I would be sure to mention that the expansion will not lead to road closures and traffic redirections.
2. In order to ensure that the information I have about the expansion is accurate, I would take it upon myself to do first hand research. Though the company has stated facts about their plans in the expansion, they might be skewed. I would make sure that I knew everything about the expansion plans, and not trust just what the company has said. I would also do first hand research about the citizens that would be affected, and make sure that their concerns are justified. I would also research the local traffic trends to find out what times would be affected so that I could focus my research on that. Another step I would be sure to take would be taking information from multiple sources and making sure the information given matches up. I would fact check everything before finalizing my leaflet and I would make sure that everything being stated is accurate. Without all of this research, the company cannot inform their publics fully and provide accurate and credible information.