News Features

News features depart from the standard reporting found in newspapers, magazines, and Web news sites. They offer insights into key issues facing readers and their communities. Depending on their audience, news features might also focus on state, national, and international issues, as CNN frequently does in the Politics, Tech, and Money sections on its Web site. When news features offer solutions to problems, they tend to follow the relatively standard format of problem definition/problem solution, introducing the problem and leading readers or viewers toward a recommended solution.

The design of news features varies widely, in both format and medium. Magazines, newspapers, and many Web sites offer news features in formats nearly identical to that of standard articles or opinion columns. These news features make use of design elements typically associated with those genres, such as text formatting, the use of columns and sidebars, and the use of illustrations such as images, charts, and tables. News features can also appear in video or audio, however, either with or without accompanying text. When news features are presented on a news Web site such as CNN, NPR, or Fox, for example, they are frequently accompanied by a related article or a transcript.

Readers and viewers of news features expect a clear definition of the problem and a well-defined solution or, if a solution is not offered, some discussion of options that might be considered by people who hope to address the problem. They expect evidence to be provided, in the form of either analysis, direct observation, reports from people who have been affected by the problem, or commentary from experts or authorities. Readers and viewers generally do not expect the sources of evidence to be documented beyond the use of names and titles or descriptions of locations where observations were made.