Feature story
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A feature story is an article in a newspaper, a magazine, or a news website that is not meant to report breaking news, but to take an in-depth look at issues behind a news story, often concentrating on background events, persons or circumstances. While there are no clear guidelines on what exactly consists a feature story, they often add a more human touch to reporting, while the time elapsed between an event and breaking the story is less critical than in traditional news reports.[1]
The features themselves are written in a less urgent fashion than news stories, sometimes taking several paragraphs to arrive at the main story while trying to engage the reader and keep them reading by employing narrative hooks.[2] Feature stories often delve deeper into their subjects, expanding on the details rather than trying to concentrate on a few important key points. The writing style of the articles can be more colorful and employ a more complex narrative structure, sometimes resembling the style of a nonfiction book more than a news report.
As the print media faces ever stiffer competition from other sources of news, feature stories are becoming more common because they can be more engaging to read. At many newspapers, news stories are sometimes written in "feature style," adopting some of the conventions of feature writing while still covering breaking events. Wire services such as the Associated Press, which previously made a point of distributing only news, now also include feature stories.
The Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing is awarded annually for a distinguished example of feature writing in an American newspaper or magazine, giving prime consideration to high literary quality and originality.
[edit] References
- ^ Marshall Soules. Feature Writing. Retrieved on September 6, 2006.
- ^ Bangkok Post. Teaching feature stories. Retrieved on September 6, 2006.
