While fiction lets writers explore creativity and essays dig deep into analysis, news writing aims to inform audiences with accuracy and objectivity. From breaking stories about global events to uplifting profiles of local champions, news features deliver essential information with compelling storytelling and brevity. Understanding the difference between a news story and a feature article helps you create content that delivers your audience’s needs effectively.

What is a News Feature?

Unlike news stories, which focus on timeliness and report on developments and occurrences that are happening now or will happen soon, a news feature is a journalistic piece that covers an aspect of the world that’s interesting and important. While a news article still includes the necessary elements like alternative leads, nut grafs and fact-based endings, a news feature is more narrative and less structured than a traditional news story. It is more about the human experience and often contains anecdotes, quotes and images to engage the reader.

There are many different types of news features, including profile, trend and personal stories. Profile features include a biography of a person that relates to a newsworthy topic, such as an uplifting profile of an AIDS survivor or a journalist who chronicles her journey in war zones. Trend stories explore emerging trends in culture, business or society and offer insights into their impact. Similarly, how-to feature articles give readers step-by-step instructions on how to achieve something.

A participatory feature is a form of journalism where the reporter experiences an event firsthand and writes about it. This type of feature article usually includes a personal angle and is written in the first person, but reporters should strive to keep their own emotions and reactions out of the story as much as possible to maintain objectivity.