How feature writers convey people’s affection by topical or news events

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Scope of the essay
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Feature writing in journalism involves coming up with an article that focuses on a specific person, an aspect of a major event and unlike news, it is normally written in an individual style. In addition, many feature writers normally rely on facts in their stories and work hard to ensure that facts presented in their work have a clear basis (Hennessy, 2006).

The origin of feature writing can be traced back to the time when news reporting on contemporary issues that are within the public domain was initiated by many media houses. This indicates that the art of feature writing can be traced back to the time when print media was initiated.

The main focus of this essay is to outline what feature writing is all about and how it affects how people are affected by topical or news events that are conveyed to them through news reporting.

In specific terms, this essay seeks to explain how feature writers go about their task of conveying how people are affected by topical or news events and how this is different from news reporting. As Ricketson (2004, p2.) puts it, feature writing can is the result of everything in newspaper that is not news.

Scope of the essay

This essay will discuss the following areas of feature writing

Feature writing techniques
Interviewing techniques
Difference between feature writing and news writing

Feature writing techniques

When it comes to writing news features that are to appear in any given newspaper, there are several skills that the writer needs to be equipped with. First of all, the writer needs to be well versed with all the basic writing techniques that include a good command of the language being used to write the article and the ability to present ideas in a systematic and accurate manner.

The writer also needs to be armed with skills that can go far in ensuring that the story being written for readers is interesting to follow and inclusive of strong quotations that will serve to attract and convince the reader to follow every line of the story.

The writer needs to be equipped with skills that can help in narrowing down the feature to focus on one specific aspect of a person or event. Mencher (2003) on his part argues that feature writing looks like a movie camera in that at the beginning, it focuses on the small side but gradually becomes wider.

Lastly, the writer of any feature needs to have a ability to deeply criticize what is being written about and all these factors are important in ensuring that the writing turns out to be interesting.

Interviewing

To effectively write a feature for an aspect on an event or a person, an early choice of method of interviewing and prior preparation of questions is quite helps so much when it comes to saving time (Wheeler, 2006).

This is because understanding the method that will be applied in interviewing and having questions that will be used in the interview adequately prepares the writer for the interview and eliminates cases whereby questions are formulated during the interview which normally results into time wastage.

For example, if a writer is out to formulate a news feature that touches on a recent bill that affects gender balance, a proper and sensitive interview plan coupled with right questions ensures that accurate and relevant material is gathered within a short period of time. A proper selection of interviewing method and questions to be asked ensures that the writer has all that is required to make the feature interesting.

Difference between Feature writing and News Writing

It is important to note that there exists a difference between feature writing and news writing when it comes to the format, language and content that is delivered in the two kinds of writing (Garrison, 2004). Whereas news writing involves delivering factual information that is intended mainly to inform the reader of what is currently going on, feature writing involves extrapolation of the aspect that is being written about.

This is normally meant to ensure that the writing is appealing to the emotions of the reader and to some extend to ensure that it is both interesting and entertaining. News writing involves presentation of facts that are thought to be informative to the reader while what is thought not to be important is normally left out.

On the other hand, feature writing involves detailed explanation of the aspect of the event or person who the feature is being written about (Aamidor & Fadem,2006). In an example, news reporting about an new bill passed by congress to advocate for gender equity will involve presenting information of what the bill is all about while feature writing on the other hand will involve a detailed explanation of how the bill might affect women.

Conclusion

It can therefore be noted that feature writing involves selecting a certain aspect of a person or a news event and coming up with an article that holistically discusses this aspect. This requires special skills on the part of the writer such as the ability to ensure that the article is interesting and entertaining for the reader to follow which requires adequate preparation. It can therefore be noted that feature writing impacts on the way people are affected by topical or news events since it differs from news.

References

Aamidor, A., & Fadem, S, S., 2006. Real feature writing: story shapes and writing strategies from the real world of journalism. Mahwah: Erlbaum associates.

Garrison, B., 2004. Professional feature writing. Mahwah: Erlbaum associates.

Hennessy, B., 2006. Writing feature articles. Boston: Focal Press.

Mencher, M., 2003. News reporting and writing. Boston: McGraw Hill.

Rickeston, M,. 2004. Writing feature stories how to research and write newspaper article.NSW: Crows well.

Wheeler, S,.2009. Feature writing for journalists. London: Routledge

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