T.V. and Radio vs Print

Television and radio writing are different than print writing. The writing is more simple, to the point. Audio/visual impact is important because people are seeing and hearing the reporter’s voice so they need to be aware of how they are portraying stories.

Stories are short with television and radio. Reporters need to use the inverted pyramid and say the most important points within 20 and 30 seconds so they can start with the next story.

Interviews are also different because the audience can actually listen to the person’s voice as opposed to just reading it. Interviews can go long though so reporters need to choose which sound bites to put into the story and which ones they leave out.

As long as the writing is short and to the point, the story will have done its job. The main point is to inform the audience in as little time as possible.

T.V. and Radio Writing

When writing news for television or radio, writers emphasize timeliness, information, audio and visual impact, and people.

The most important criterion of news writing for t.v./radio is timeliness. As most of us know, breaking news is top priority in a newscast. When an event occurs determines whether it will be included or excluded from the broadcast.

In t.v. and radio, airtime is valuable and costly so getting the most important information in the newscast is crucial. Writers have to sum up the important parts of the story in as little as 20 to 30 seconds.

Newspapers lack the ability to evoke strong emotions from people the way t.v. and radio news can. By showing video footage of a sad event or allowing people to hear a powerful Presidential speech, citizens feel strongly about the news.

People is another crucial aspect of writing news for t.v. and radio. By interviewing other citizens on camera or with a recorder, viewers can get a stronger feel for their pain or emotions. It also makes viewers feel more connected to the story.

When writing news for t.v. and radio is it important to give the most important information immediately, write in a conversational style, be short and to the point, and to always be clear.

The Showdown: Features vs. News Stories

Two of the major pieces of writing that journalists can scribe for their respected outlets are news stories and feature articles.

News stories are the most common form of writing for newspapers, websites, etc. These stories usually cover a certain event that has just happened that the outlet feels its readers need to know about. The story usually starts with a lead that answers the main questions of who, what, where, when, why, and how, and then goes into more depth later on with interviews and detailed information.

Feature articles are usually done as a chronicle of one individual person, place, or thing focused on providing the reader with more information about the topic than they already know. Features are also usually written in soft style that focuses more on creative writing than the straight facts and information that encompasses a news story.

Features are a good way to rate the performance of a writer when taken out of their comfort zone. Any journalist can bang out a well written news story, because they are given most of the information and just need to put it in written form, whereas a feature allows more to be seen of how creative the journalist is in their method of getting the most people to hear what they have to say.

Feature Stories vs. News Stories

News stories and feature stories may be similar in certain ways, but they are very different from each other. Most news stories tell you something that you have to know. Feature stories may be important but usually they are not something that you have to know about. For an example, a news story that you should know about would be an earthquake in another country. Would that be as important as a feature story about a man visiting Europe?

Feature stories are great because journalists can have fun when they write or broadcast them. News stories are not meant to be fun, because the journalist's main goal is to get the story out, and educate the reader/viewer. Usually, news stories can't be told from the journalist's point of view, but in some cases, feature stories can. Many feature stories are about what a person experienced, or something that is entertaining. Features stories should entertain the reader/viewer, but news stories usually shouldn't. A news story should always educate the reader. News stories may also be more of a priority than a features story. That is why news stories usually appear in the front of the paper, and feature stories don't.

What is the Difference?

News stories and features stories have as many similarities as they do differences. Both news and feature stories need strong leads that will entice the audience and make them want to continue reading as well as informing the audience what the story is going to be about.

A news story is all about the facts. It is important to distinguish the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the story so the audience knows exactly what happened. Quotes that support the facts of the story are also important. Experts on the subject, eyewitnesses, or other people involved with the story are excellent resources for quotes. The audience wants to know straight forward what happened in the story.

A feature story is more about the details. Descriptive sentences will add to the story and make the audience feel like they were involved in the story. Features are more about interest. The reporter needs to be sure that readers are interested in the piece and will continue reading.

News stories vs. Feature stories

Both news stories and feature stories are important to media and should have a strong lead, but they differ in many ways.

A news story answers the questions who, what, where, when, why and how. They also should be written in inverted pyramid style.
A feature story uses different techniques to interest the reader such as narration techniques like dialogue, foreshadowing and reconstructing vivid events.

Another difference in this two types of stories is the timeliness factor; a news story should be current or else it has no use whereas a feature story is an interest piece, it can be written about something very far in the past.

News stories are written about everyday events like robberies, fires, car crashes etc.

Feature stories on the other hand are written about interesting things that people will want to read about.

News Stories vs. Feature Stories

There are many ways to write a story for a newspaper or magazine. News stories and feature stories are just a couple of options.

The difference between a news story and a feature story is that news stories contain the Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How questions in them. They contain detailed information to give readers a clear idea of what happened in the event. Everything in a news story happened recently, you couldn’t write a news story for a paper that happened 30 years ago, it’s just not news.

In features, it doesn’t matter when the event occurred. The feature is an interest piece. The writer is able to use elaboration, interpretation, mood, context, descriptions, emotion, or humor in their piece. The goal of a feature story is to bring the truth to life in a different way than a hard news story.

Finally, the most important difference between a news story and a feature story is that news stories are current; they are about events that just happened. Feature stories on the other hand, provide the readers with an interesting topic that brings the truth to life.