Hard News
vs
Feature Story
MCOM 101:
Intro to communication
Hard news articles
 Hard news articles are written so the reader can stop
reading at any time, and still come away with the whole
story.
 This is very different from an essay, which presumes that
the audience will stick around to the end, and can
therefore build to a finish.
 There is no need to put a "conclusion" on a news story
 Each individual reader will "end" the story whenever he or
she gets bored.
 A particularly interested reader will keep reading to the
end.
The Headline
 Convey the general message in as many words as will
fit (usually quite a small space).
 A headline should be informational, and can be clever,
as long as the cleverness does not interfere with the
information or earn groans from readers.
The Lead
 The lead, or the first sentence of the story, is arguably the most
important part of the article.
 Based on the content of that first sentence, a reader will either look
deeper into the story, or move on to the next one.
 Therefore, how you craft your lead is very important.
 There are some basic rules one can follow:
 The who, what, when, where, how, why lead.
 Basically, just like it sounds. This lead tries to answer the 5 w's and one h
in one sentence.
 Examples:
 A 15-minute operation involving a forklift, 20 firefighters, seven police
officers and one scared pig ended a two-hour traffic delay on Interstate
94 Sunday morning.
Experimental Leads
 If you answer the "5 w's and one h" on the second or
third sentences, you can be more creative with the
first. The results can flounder and die, or have a great
impact. Some examples for the pig story:
 Tailgate the pig lay snoring in the middle of Interstate
94, oblivious to the fire trucks and squad cars that had
gathered around him.
 Geoffrey Saint never could have imagined what he'd
meet in the middle of Interstate 94 during his drive to
church Sunday morning.
Journalism Example
 Wild pig causes two-hour traffic delay on I-94
 By Joe Student (MyTown January 24)
 A 15-minute operation involving a forklift, 20 firefighters, seven police officers and one
scared pig ended a two-hour traffic delay on Interstate 94 Sunday morning.
 The wild pig, whom the fireman affectionately nicknamed "Tailgate," apparently
wandered onto 1-94 around 8 a.m. and fell asleep in the middle of the two-lane
freeway.
 St. Paul resident Geoffrey Saint was the first to come upon the 200-pound animal.
 "He practically took up the whole road," Saint said. "I barely slammed on my breaks in
time." Saint said the cars behind him followed suit, each stopping short after reaching
speeds of up to 70 mph.
 Saint stayed in his car and phoned area police, who responded at 8:20 a.m.
 Lieutenant Terry Frank was the first officer on the scene. "I couldn't believe my eyes,"
Frank said. "Here was this huge, sloppy pig, just napping in the middle of the road,
oblivious to what was going on around him."
 Frank said she attempted to rouse the pig by poking him with a stick. "He just kept on
snoring," she said.
 By 9 a.m., three fire trucks and four patrol cars had responded to the "sleeping pig"
call. "We just sat there and wondered what in the world we could do," Frank said.
Use of Quotes
 Direct Quotes:
 Quotes breathe life into a story, but can be abused. Don't quote
material that isn't quote -worthy. For instance, if Frank had said,
"Officers arrived on the scene at about 9:00 a.m.," you wouldn't
quote that.
 If she had said, "That huge pig just sat there with tears running
down his face and I thought my heart would burst," well, that's far
more quote-worthy.
 Paraphrased Quotes:
 Here is where you could use what Frank had said and rewrite it:
Officers arrived on the scene around 9:00 a.m., Frank said. No
quotes needed, but the information still needs to be attributed to
Frank-- she's the one who said it.
 Inverted Pyramid
 In a straight news story, it's best to get the most important information
in your story up to the top-- your reader will often stop reading after the
first few paragraphs, so its important that they have a good grasp of the
story. Put the least important stuff at the end, and leave the unimportant
stuff out altogether.
 Length of Paragraphs
 This is different than a term paper for English class. Keep your
paragraphs short (one or two sentences) and make each of your points
concise. Readers grow tired of big blocks of text, so it's best to break it
up a bit.
 Objectivity vs. Opinion
 Your readers aren't interested your opinion on the latest Clinton scandal -so keep yourself out of the story. Attribute every claim or opinion you
report to someone else, and don't editorialize. If you do, you take the
entire element of objectivity-- and thus, truth-- out of your story.
Hard Vs Soft News
 All media provides two different types of news: hard news and feature
news.
 Feature news is also called soft news. The following compares the two types
of news.
 Hard news...
 tells about a current event that affects the audience.
 Some examples are:
 Gas prices up again
 Rash of murders in a two-mile radius
 School bus driver gets a D.U.I.
 These articles:
 Are timely and concise
 Include all key information (who, what, where, why, when and how) in the first
paragraph
 Present the more important information first and the less important details toward
the end
Feature news (soft news)...
 Appeals to the emotional side and doesn't directly affect the
audience.
 Some examples are:
 A day in the life of an Iraqi soldier
 A child that saves four puppies from drowning
 A town's history
 A person getting an award
 These articles:
 Do not need to be timely or concise
 Can be written less formally than a hard news story
 Might include an interesting, odd or heartwarming story
 Are presented in a variety of journalistic styles
How To Write a Feature Story
 What Are Feature Stories?
 Feature stories are human-interest articles that focus on particular
people, places and events.
 Feature stories are journalistic, researched, descriptive, colorful,
thoughtful, reflective, thorough writing about original ideas.
 Feature stories cover topics in depth, going further than mere hard news
coverage by amplifying and explaining the most interesting and
important elements of a situation or occurrence.
 Feature stories are popular content elements of newspapers, magazines,
blogs, websites, newsletters, television broadcasts and other mass
media.
How To Write a Feature Story
 A feature story is not meant to report the latest breaking news, but rather an in-depth
look at a subject.
 Feature articles range from the news feature that provides sidebar background to a
current event hard news story, to a relatively timeless story that has natural human
interest.
 Features generally are longer than hard-news articles because the feature penetrates
deeper into its subject, expanding on the details rather than trying to concentrate on a
few important key points.
 In hard news stories, often referred to as inverted pyramid style, the reporter makes
the point, sets the tone, and frames the issue in the first paragraph or two.
 In a feature story, on the other hand, the writer has the time and space to develop the
theme, but sometimes postpones the main point until the end. The whole story does
not have to be encapsulated in the lead.
How To Write a Feature Story
 Typical types
 Human Interest: The best-known kind of feature story is the human-interest story
that discusses issues through the experiences of another.
 Profiles: A very common type of feature is the profile that reveals an individual's
character and lifestyle. The profile exposes different facets of the subject so
readers will feel they know the person.
 How-To: These articles help people learn by telling them how to do something. The
writer learns about the topic through education, experience, research or
interviews with experts.
 Historical Features: These features commemorate important dates in history or
turning points in our social, political and cultural development. They offer a useful
juxtaposition of then and now. Historical features take the reader back to revisit
an event and issues surrounding it. A variation is the this date in history short
feature, which reminds people of significant events on a particular date.
How To Write a Feature Story
 Typical types
 Seasonal Themes: Stories about holidays and the change of
seasons address matters at specific times of a year. For
instance, they cover life milestones, social, political and
cultural cycles, and business cycles.
 Behind the Scenes: Inside views of unusual occupations,
issues, and events give readers a feeling of penetrating the
inner circle or being a mouse in a corner. Readers like feeling
privy to unusual details and well kept secrets about
procedures or activities they might not ordinarily be exposed
to or allowed to participate in.
How To Write a Feature Story
 Non-fiction stories
Feature stories are journalistic reports. They are not
opinion essays or editorials. They should not be confused
with creative writing or works of fiction.
 The writer's opinions and attitudes are not important to the
story.
 The writer keeps herself or himself out of the story.
 Writing in the third person helps maintain the necessary
distance.
How To Write a Feature Story
 Telling stories
Hard news stories report very timely events that have
just occurred. Feature stories, on the other hand,
are soft news because they are not as timely, not as
swiftly reported. Feature writers have the extra time
to complete background research, interviews and
observation for their stories.
How To Write a Feature Story
 Suggestions for polishing feature writing skills and developing an eye for
feature story ideas.
 Feature stories give readers information in a pleasing, entertaining format
that highlights an issue by describing the people, places, events and ideas
that shape it.
 Feature stories are really more like nonfiction short stories than hard news
stories.
 While there should be a news peg for the existence of a story at a particular
time, the immediacy of the event is secondary in a feature story. In fact,
sometimes there is no immediate event.
 The power of a feature story lies in its ability to amplify the focus on an issue
through first-rate story telling, irony, humor, human appeal, atmosphere and
colorful details.
 Features have a clear beginning, middle and end and are longer than hardnews stories.
How To Write a Feature Story
 Gathering data
 Journalists use three tools to gather information for stories: observation,
interview and background research.
 After completing these, the writer brings the story to life through colorful
description, meaningful anecdotes and significant quotes.
 These elements are obtained when interviewing and observing by jotting
down everything encountered – smells, noises, colors, textures, emotions,
details seen and heard in the surroundings.
 The journalist keeps an open mind while interviewing subjects and
researching sources.
 The writer avoids steering the story or imposing personal ideas on the
sources.
 The writer avoids deciding on the theme of the story until sufficient
information has been gathered to show a direction or point of view.
How To Write a Feature Story
 Story format
 The information in a feature is organized differently from
hard news stories. Sometimes a writer uses several
paragraphs of copy at the outset to engage the reader before
getting on with the main elements of the story.
 After the title and opening paragraph grab a reader, narrative
hooks are used to persuade the reader to continue reading.
 These hooks are attractive story elements such as action,
mystery, drama or appealing characters intended to pull the
reader forward through the story. They are complex
narratives that come to life through colorful description,
meaningful anecdotes and significant quotes.
Narrative hook
 A literary device used at the beginning of a story or a novel for the purpose of arousing a
reader's curiosity and encouraging him to read further.
 A narrative hook may take any number of forms—a startling quotation, a mention of murder
or disaster, a vivid description of a fascinating character.
 Anything that stimulates a reader's curiosity and promises action to come makes an effective
hook; but it should be accomplished in approximately the first two hundred words. Other than
that, there are no rules.
 Compare the narrative hooks of two classic novels: Moby Dick's "Call me Ishmael" and the
opening paragraph of A Tale of Two Cities:
 It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of
foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of
Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we
had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we
were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period,
that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the
superlative degree of comparison only.
 The two hooks have nothing in common except that each is a single sentence—yet no one
who has read either one can forget it.
How To Write a Feature Story
 Story format
 In hard news stories, the reporter makes the point, sets the tone,
and frames the issue in the first paragraph or two.
 In feature stories, the whole story does not have to be
encapsulated in an inverted pyramid lead. The writer can develop
the storyline in a variety of ways and choose to postpone the
main point until later in the copy or even the end.
 A writer can choose to tell the story out of order to engage the
reader's interest.
 A story could begin with a dramatic moment and, once the
reader is curious, the story could flash back to the history needed
to understand it.
How To Write a Feature Story
 Story format
 A story-within-a-story could be used with a narrator in the outer
story telling the inner story to satisfy the curiosity of readers.
 A storyline could alert readers that the story began in a way that
seemed ordinary, but they must follow it to understand what
happened eventually.
 As with any news reporting, feature stories are subject to the
journalistic standards of accuracy, fairness and precision. The
quality of a story is judged on its content, organization and
mechanics.
 Features writers use The Associated Press Stylebook for correct
journalistic style.
How To Write a Feature Story
 How long are these articles?
 `Newspaper features often are 500 to 2500 words in length.
 Magazine features usually are 500 to 5,000 words.
 Features on websites and blogs generally range from 250–
2500 words, but hard drive space is relatively inexpensive so
the length could vary dramatically through the use of nonlinear hyper linking of content.
 Any medium might use a shorter or longer story than usual,
depending on its perceived value.
 Attention spans seem to grow ever shorter so brevity is
valued. More than ever, all writing today needs to be clear
and concise.
How To Write a Feature Story
 Illustrations
Every story is illustrated, usually with one or
more photographs, but the art can be drawings,
paintings, sketches, video, colorful graphs and
charts, or other creative expressions depending
on the medium for which the feature is
packaged for dissemination.
How To Write a Feature Story
 Is this just for Print journalists?
 As newspapers and other print media face stiffer competition
today from Internet news media, more feature stories are
published because they can be more engaging to read. Wire
services, such as the Associated Press and Reuters, which once
distributed mostly hard news, now send feature stories to
members.
 Public relations professionals frequently write feature articles.
For instance, a company newsletter story profiling employees
voluntarily helping the local community could benefit employees
and their families as well as the firm's stockholders. Or a profile
of a corporate CEO could be released to media when the firm
makes news.
How To Write a Feature Story
 Is this just for print journalists?
 Broadcast journalists use human interest stories, profiles,
historical pieces, seasonal packages, behind the scenes
revelations and even how-to descriptions. These can be seen
and heard everywhere in television and radio news.
 A typical television news package includes an edited set of
video clips for a story narrated by a reporter following a
written script. Unlike a magazine article, for example, the TV
feature story also will have audio, video, graphics and video
effects. A news anchor with an over-the-shoulder graphic will
be seen reading a lead-in introduction before the package is
aired and concluding the story with additional information
called a tag.
STRUCTURE OF A MAGAZINE
FEATURE ARTICLE
 The Intro:
 The purpose of the intro or lead is to capture the attention of
the readers and entice them to read further into the story.
The following are several well-known ways to do this:
 The question intro poses a question of the readers. If they
want to find out the answer, then they must read on.
 The anecdote intro uses a short account of some interesting
or humorous experience to get the readers interested.
 The quote intro lets the subject of the article do the talking
right from the beginning. It is often used in personality
profiles.
STRUCTURE OF A MAGAZINE
FEATURE ARTICLE
 The Intro:
 The action/adventure intro begins with a high point of
excitement.
 The description intro can describe either places or
people.
 The summary intro gives details about the subject in a
brief lead. These details have to be interesting enough
to made the readers want to continue.
 The shock/horror intro uses sensational information to
get the readers to read on.
STRUCTURE OF A MAGAZINE
FEATURE ARTICLE
 The Body:
 Am I allowed in? A magazine writer can use ‘I’ in certain
circumstances. However, writers must remember the readers are
not interested in them, but instead in the subject of the article.
 Quotations can be used to add life and personality to an article.
However, a quote should appear only when necessary. Long, drawn
out and ordinary quotes should be avoided. Quotes normally give a
sense of getting to know a person and readers expect a quote to
reveal something important.
 Pace. A magazine feature article should develop to give the reader
only as much information in each paragraph as is needed. Too much
too soon kills the article and has the effect of boring the reader.
STRUCTURE OF A MAGAZINE
FEATURE ARTICLE
 The Body:
 How long should a paragraph be? It should not be so
long as to discourage readers from reading it, but unlike
the newspaper feature article, it can be of any length.
Nevertheless, a regular pattern is usually preferred.
 Moving right along…Paragraphs should flow so that the
reader does not feel any sudden jolting changes of
subject. The trick is to use a transitional/connecting
word or phrase.
STRUCTURE OF A MAGAZINE
FEATURE ARTICLE
 The Conclusion:
 A conclusion should tie everything together and sum up the
article. There are many ways to conclude. A few are listed
below:
 An anecdote or story that explains the point of the article.
 A return to some earlier statement that now means more
than it did.
 Saving an explosive piece of information until the last
paragraph.
 An unexpected twist.
 A ‘call to action’ or a recommendation.