How to write news features

In our lecture on Monday we discussed features and feature writing. These are the main feature format used in the news outside the designated 'feature' section. They shouldn't be confused with hard news stories and they are usually longer. Often they are usually located near or on the news pages of a newspaper.

Quite often they can be classed as 'wrap up' articles and a good example I found in one of today's tabloid papers was 'Ten Interesting Facts About Buttons' which was an article that used a news 'peg' of Jensen Button winning the world Formula One title.

I also managed to find 'Top Ten Tips for Writing Effective News Features from News USA which provides some interesting advice:

1. Write for your audience.

Your feature should appeal to a broad, general newspaper readership. All through the course we have been taught to avoid technical jargon and overly complicated sentences, news features are no exception.

2. Follow The Associated Press Stylebook, the universally accepted journalism standard.

Use this style and editors will be inclined to give your feature serious consideration. Break the rules and your feature may not place.

3. Make a keen statement in your first paragraph.

Features are all about grabbing the readers attention so a good idea is to lead with a question or a statistic that highlights the most important point of the feature.

4. Think in terms of “news you can use.”

Readers enjoy nothing more than to read information and tips that can help them and/or that they can apply to their daily lives. Articles along these lines could be very successful.

5. Avoid commercialism. If your feature reads like an ad or press release, editors won’t run it.

Product promotions don’t work well except around the holidays — and even then, they should be accompanied by consumer tips.

6. Remember, the shorter the better.

Editors at all publications have limited space to fill so he chances are your article will have to be trimmed down to fit the space you have been allocated.

7. Use quality photos or graphics.

We learnt that because of the lighter tone of the feature, they are often heavily reliant on photos and graphics. Include these in a feature to make it more appealing and pleasing on the eye.

8. Keep headlines and captions short and to the point.

News organisations often use standard typesetting guidelines, so headlines will need to be kept short but it is important to remember to include all the relevant information needed to lure the reader to the story.

9. End your feature with a Web site, e-mail address or phone number.

Readers need to know where they can get more information.


You can see the original top tips here: http://about.newsusa.com/corporate/Getting_Started/pdfs/top_10.pdf