This is an article about the referendum held yesterday Sunday, October 1, 2017 to decide whether the Spanish region of Catalonia should become independent fro the Kingdom of Spain. It was written by BBC News anchor in Barcelona Tom Burridge. He is recognized as the author of the article, and he transmits a neutral voice; he is being perceived as an unbiased Speaker, and he does so by citing the views of Spanish and Catalan political figures as an appeal to credibility, giving specific quantities and percentages in order to appeal to logic, and through his word selection. Burridge uses words the way shown in the article to convey a sense of realism and intensity, transporting the reader to the time and the place of the event.
The occasin of this article is the 2017 Catalonia Independence Referendum in Spain. This is an event that catches the author's attention and creates a response to it (in this case, a news column for BBC News of how a peaceful people try to express their will through vote, and are violently sent away by the Civil Guard and the Police), and it would be classified as an immediate occasion. There has been recent controversy around the Referendum and Catalonia itself: The Spanish Government calls the voting illegal, but does it give them right to repress their fellow countrymen over a cultural discrepancy? That is the question Burridge transmits in his article to his public. The intended Audience of this writing are mainly adults interested in world politics, since this happenings are more attractive to grown-ups than to younger audiences, and since news of political nature are so common in today's society, adults pay attention to them. Another audience are adults with Internet access. Since this article comes from BBC News website, people who can enter internet are most likely to read it than people who get the news through Television or Radio. These audiences are not explicitly identified in the writing, but it is assumed these are a potential public. Knowing then the When, the Where, and the Who, the Why can be found. Burridge's purpose is to inform his Audience about the situation in Catalonia and its Independence Referendum. He wants people to know what is happening thousands of miles across the Ocean, learn what the prominent men and women in charge of Spain and Catalonia think and say, and what repercussions does the average Catalan citizen undergoes in relation to the recent events in the region. He gets his intention across by using quotes, presenting statistics, and keeping sentences short and concise so that the reader will not be bored with the extensive information. With breaking down the Purpose comes breaking down the main ideas. The recurrent idea, or Subject, is that Spain is going through an unprecedented political and identity crisis. All the facts show this: Spanish courts calling the Catalan voting process illegal, the Catalans going deliberately against the orderings of the Courts, the controversy behind the referendum, the Government's intention of suspending the powers of the Generalitat, Catalonia's governing body, the thousands of voters attending to the voting locations, and the hundreds of injured peaceful people at the hands of the Spanish security bodies. These ideas are presented gradually and revealed consistently in order to avoid overwhelming the reader. All the elements mentioned and explained above rely on one key element so that the entirety of the article is transmitted efficiently: The Tone. Burridge assumes a neutral, objective, sincere Tone when relating the facts of the Referendum Day in Catalonia, and transmits no apparent inclination for one side or the other, which increases his own credibility. He includes testimoies from both Spanish and Catalan politicians (i.e. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Catalan President Carles Puigdemont) in order to represent both sides of the argument fairly, much in the manner of a neutral moderator. He also uses simple, common words so that his message is delivered easily and accurately. His sentence structure is also simple, and it keeps the article interesting; using words and sentences in this manner leads to a earnes Not much emotion is present, and Burridge is rather straight-forward in his accounting of the events. Through this, the author gets his point across effectively.
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