When you want to engage a reader with a deeper look at a topic, a news feature is a great choice. This type of story offers analysis, insights, and interviews with experts in the field and uses a narrative format to make it more compelling. It’s often longer than a standard news story and is sometimes called an evergreen because it will still be relevant in the future.
Like a news story, a news feature should include all of the main points — who, what, where, when, why, and how. However, it’s also important to include background information and multiple perspectives on the topic. The goal is to give readers a full understanding of the topic and how it affects people, organizations, or events. Depending on the topic, the story may use a narrative structure or follow an inverted pyramid approach, where the most important details appear first and the story gets progressively more detailed as it moves down the page.
Unlike news stories, which are typically focused on breaking events, a news feature is more in-depth and often has a human interest angle. It can be a profile of an individual, an exploration of cultural trends, or an analysis of an industry issue. The key is to provide enough detail to capture the reader’s attention, but not so much information that it loses its meaning.
A well-written news feature will entertain and inform its audience, but it’s critical to remember that the writer’s perspective is just as important as the information provided. If the writer’s opinion doesn’t resonate with the reader, the article will fail to be engaging.