Feature and Magazine Writing

1
Feature and Magazine Writing

• Chapter 2

2
Traditional newspaper roles

• Commercial
• Information
• Opinion
• Public forum
• Entertainment

3
Traditional news characteristics

• Conflict
• Human interest
• Importance (Universality for feature writing)
• Prominence (?)
• Proximity
• Timeliness
• Unusualness

4
How to get ideas

• Newspapers, Magazines, TV, Radio
• Local news stories, local meetings,
• Billboards, advertisements, bulletin boards
• Yellow pages, neighborhood, libraries
• News rooms, groups, chats, weblogs,
• Friends, colleagues, other contacts
• Personal experiences

5
Narrow focus of broad ideas

• Idea 1 Overview story about headaches and the
  various treatments for them, using prominent
  local neurologists and university medical center
  physicians as sources
• Idea 2 Profile of a local apartment complex
  designed for the physically disabled