A feature story is a piece of non-fiction writing about news covering a single topic in detail. A feature story is a type of soft news, [1] news primarily focused on entertainment rather than a higher level of professionalism. The main subtypes are the news feature and the human-interest story .
A feature story is distinguished from other types of non-news by the quality of the writing. Stories should be memorable for their reporting, crafting, creativity, and economy of expression. [2] Unlike news reports that mainly focus in factual evidence, feature stories tend to be subjective. Features vary in style, focus, and structure but overall, maintain an entertaining tone rather than strictly informative.
A feature story differs from straight news reporting. It normally presents newsworthy events and information through a narrative story, complete with a plot and story characters. [3] It differs from a short story primarily in that the content is not fictional. Like literature, the feature story relies upon creativity and subjectivity to make an emotional connection with the readers. It may also highlight some universal aspect of human nature. [3] Unlike straight news, the feature story serves the purpose of entertaining the readers, in addition to informing them. [3] Although truthful and based on good facts, they are less objective than straight news.
Unlike straight news, the subject of a feature story is usually not time sensitive. [3] It generally features good news. [4]
Feature stories are usually written in an active style, with an emphasis on lively, entertaining prose. [3] Some forms, such as a color story, uses description as the main mode. [3]
Feature stories are stories with only one feature, but are creative and true. While the distinction between published features and news is often clear, when approached conceptually there are few hard boundaries between the two. It is quite possible to write a feature story in the style of a news story. Nevertheless, features do tend to take a more narrative approach, perhaps using opening paragraphs as scene-setting narrative hooks instead of the delivery of the most important facts. A feature story can be in a news article, a newspaper, and even online. News stories are more so focuses on facts about and event whereas features stories analyze the significance of an event. [5]
The feature is one of the most wide-ranging categories of journalism appearing in more than just newspaper articles. A feature tells more than just a story. It emphasizes a certain tone, whether that be entertaining, humorous, saddening, serious or light. It involves and engages readers to the creative, subjective, informative, or entering aspects of the article, [6] differing from informative news.
Among sports writers, features tend to be either human-interest stories or personality profiles of sports figures. [7] A profile presents information about a person, but it differs from a biography by focusing on the person's personality or anecdotes, rather than the factual data about birth, education, or major achievements. [8] Features may also cover aspects of business, political matters, media and entertainment, etc. The level of seriousness and characteristics differing it from hard news can range. [9]
In order to create and write a feature, the idea of the writing can be very individualistic. Ideas are inevitably everywhere and in the surrounding environment you are in right now. Of course, many ideas become overlooked. What someone sees as ordinary or may consider a basic topic, may have potential to becoming a feature story. All of which depends on the lens and viewpoint the writer looks through. Yet, the viewpoint a writer may have does have to be narrowed down, allowing for specification. [10]
Characteristics that attribute to feature stories include exploring a topic or issue that is of importance to the writer(s). Features follow the outlines of having a plot, a complication, if any, and a conclusion. [11] Paragraph structures may vary. Unlike a newspaper article that is usually separated in a vertical grid pattern, features are separated into concise short paragraphs. The writer has control to convey their perspective, whether to make it angled in a certain direction or to be unbiased.
It is important to continuously acknowledge that the focus should also revolve around engaging the reader's imagination and portraying an engaging story. [12] Of course, all while allowing the main statement of the feature to be understood.
"Put people into the story, tell a story and let the reader see and hear for him or herself." - Benton Patterson 1986 [6]
The Pavilion describes this structure as a "roller coaster" effect where the reader is purposely prepared for the focus statement and taken along a path describing characteristics, complications/conflicts, and then gently given the resolution with descriptions at the very end . [12]
The intro to the Feature Story will outline the lead/purpose for your article. A statement highlights the focus and the body of the article is a great place to elaborate upon that focus. The body of article can be broken down into smaller sections that allow the readers to identify complications and digest the resolution proposed by the writer. Feature stories end with a conclusion that does not necessarily persuade readers but rather reiterates the focus, giving them the entire experience of growth and gaining new knowledge throughout the entire piece. [12]
News style, journalistic style, or news-writing style is the prose style used for news reporting in media, such as newspapers, radio and television.
Horrible Histories is a series of illustrated history books published in the United Kingdom by Scholastic, and part of the Horrible Histories franchise. The books are written by Terry Deary, Peter Hepplewhite, and Neil Tonge, and illustrated by Martin Brown, Mike Phillips, Philip Reeve, and Kate Sheppard.
The inverted pyramid is a metaphor used by journalists and other writers to illustrate how information should be prioritised and structured in prose. It is a common method for writing news stories and has wide adaptability to other kinds of texts, such as blogs, editorial columns and marketing factsheets. It is a way to communicate the basics about a topic in the initial sentences. The inverted pyramid is taught to mass communication and journalism students, and is systematically used in English-language media.
An advertorial is an advertisement in the form of editorial content. The term "advertorial" is a blend of the words "advertisement" and "editorial". Merriam-Webster dates the origin of the word to 1946.
The news media or news industry are forms of mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public. These include news agencies, newspapers, news magazines, news channels etc.
A review is an evaluation of a publication, product, service, or company or a critical take on current affairs in literature, politics or culture. In addition to a critical evaluation, the review's author may assign the work a rating to indicate its relative merit.
New Journalism is a style of news writing and journalism, developed in the 1960s and 1970s, that uses literary techniques unconventional at the time. It is characterized by a subjective perspective, a literary style reminiscent of long-form non-fiction. Using extensive imagery, reporters interpolate subjective language within facts whilst immersing themselves in the stories as they reported and wrote them. In traditional journalism, the journalist is "invisible"; facts are meant to be reported objectively.
"The Death of the Author" is a 1967 essay by the French literary critic and theorist Roland Barthes (1915–1980). Barthes' essay argues against traditional literary criticism's practice of relying on the intentions and biography of an author to definitively explain the "ultimate meaning" of a text. Instead, the essay emphasizes the primacy of each individual reader's interpretation of the work over any "definitive" meaning intended by the author, a process in which subtle or unnoticed characteristics may be drawn out for new insight. The essay's first English-language publication was in the American journal Aspen, no. 5–6 in 1967; the French debut was in the magazine Manteia, no. 5 (1968). The essay later appeared in an anthology of Barthes' essays, Image-Music-Text (1977), a book that also included his "From Work to Text".
In journalism, a human-interest story is a feature story that discusses people or pets in an emotional way. It presents people and their problems, concerns, or achievements in a way that brings about interest, sympathy or motivation in the reader or viewer. Human-interest stories are a type of soft news.
Text types in literature form the basic styles of writing. Factual texts merely seek to inform, whereas literary texts seek to entertain or otherwise engage the reader by using creative language and imagery. There are many aspects to literary writing, and many ways to analyse it, but four basic categories are descriptive, narrative, expository, and argumentative.
In an essay, article, or book, an introduction is a beginning section which states the purpose and goals of the following writing. This is generally followed by the body and conclusion.
Science journalism conveys reporting about science to the public. The field typically involves interactions between scientists, journalists and the public.
Environmental journalism is the collection, verification, production, distribution and exhibition of information regarding current events, trends, and issues associated with the non-human world. To be an environmental journalist, one must have an understanding of scientific language. The individual needs to put to use their knowledge of historical environmental events. One must have the ability to follow environmental policy decisions and environmental organizations. An environmental journalist should have a general understanding of current environmental concerns, and the ability to communicate information to the public in a way that is easily understood.
Narrative journalism, also referred to as literary journalism, is defined as creative nonfiction that contains accurate, well-researched information. It is related to immersion journalism, where a writer follows a subject or theme for a long period of time and details an individual's experiences from a deeply personal perspective.
The New Journalism is a 1973 anthology of journalism edited by Tom Wolfe and E. W. Johnson. The book is both a manifesto for a new type of journalism by Wolfe, and a collection of examples of New Journalism by American writers, covering a variety of subjects from the frivolous to the deadly serious. The pieces are notable because they do not conform to the standard dispassionate and even-handed model of journalism. Rather they incorporate literary devices usually only found in fictional works.
The rhetorical modes are a broad traditional classification of the major kinds of formal and academic writing by their rhetorical (persuasive) purpose: narration, description, exposition, and argumentation. First attempted by Samuel P. Newman in A Practical System of Rhetoric in 1827, the modes of discourse have long influenced US writing instruction and particularly the design of mass-market writing assessments, despite critiques of the explanatory power of these classifications for non-school writing.
A lead paragraph is the opening paragraph of an article, book chapter, or other written work that summarizes its main ideas. Styles vary widely among the different types and genres of publications, from journalistic news-style leads to a more encyclopaedic variety.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to journalism:
Article structures in journalism encompass various formats to present information in news stories and feature articles. These structures reflect not only a writer's deliberate choice but also a response to editorial guidelines or the inherent demands of the story itself. While some writers may not consciously adhere to these structures, they often find them retrospectively aligned with their writing process. Conversely, others might consciously adopt a style as their story develops or adhere to predefined structures based on publisher guidelines.
This glossary of journalism is a list of definitions of terms and concepts used in journalism, its sub-disciplines, and related fields, including news reporting, publishing, broadcast journalism, and various types of journalistic media.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location (link)