I'm using a new textbook, 中級を学ぼう- the blue cover, not the orange. And the grammar point is using という at the end of the sentence. It means the same as そうだ・らしい。The explanation says that it is frequently used in writing, so my question is why would I use this grammar point? Especially when I can use である。
Example sentence: 今年の冬は記録的な暖冬だという。