6.1: Feature news leads

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Feature news reader. (Unsplash free-to-use license; Roman Kraft)

Large portions of this chapter are remixed, revised, and amended from Writing for Strategic Communication Industries, https://ohiostate.pressbooks.pub/stratcommwriting/  

Feature news leads come in a variety of flavors. They prioritize hooking the reader with a compelling anecdote or some delicious scene setting description rather than hammering them with the facts right away.

Feature stories cover topics, issues and stories that can't be summarized in a few paragraphs listed in descending order of importance based on the prevailing sense of the status quo and what is normal. Make no mistake, for most readers, for most stories, the straight news story structure complete with summary lead works just fine. If a story can be covered as straight news, at least in the short term, it probably should be because that format delivers necessary information in a way that balances comprehensiveness and convenience.

However, there is more to life than the minimum list of need-to-know facts, and sometimes readers want more context to better understand a story, or they want to be entertained by a story that is both true and intriguing.

Great feature stories are not just based on a true story. They are accurate and verified. They go through the same fact checking processes that straight news stories do.

While it can be challenging to captivate an audience with a nonfiction story, many of the best tales, even ones that seem wild and unbelievable, are, in fact, real.

You can look it up

As a classroom exercise, find the most outlandish nonfiction news feature you can and share it with your class in an online or in-person discussion. It is essential for this practice that you do not include works "based on a true story." Use only carefully vetted feature news articles or briefs.

Consider these questions: What makes this story stand out? Are the story subjects presented as well developed characters who change over time? How are they described? Does the writer, or do the writers use descriptive language well? How did the writer verify story facts and demonstrate their accuracy? If any of the stories presented in class went viral, do readers and social media users spread accurate versions? Provide complete sentence responses.

Is it a feature, though?

The story topic, the amount of details necessary to convey essential information and the news values appealed to typically determine if a news story is covered as a feature instead of straight news.

If a straight news story touches on an issue that should be addressed in depth, or if readers indicate they want to know more, reporters may pitch a feature news follow up.

Feature articles give writers the creative freedom to develop a narrative. This can be a relief or a challenge to news writing students depending on their existing skill set, but, with practice, every media writing student is capable of writing feature news.

Let's start at the beginning

Feature news articles do not start with a summary lead. There are many ways to start a feature story well, and of course there are many examples of bad feature leads too. Often, bad feature leads use "journalese," the term we use for phrases that seem to appear only in news stories.

The only rule for writing feature leads is that you need to grab the reader's attention without resorting to using clickbait or other trite tactics.

Unlike a summary lead, a feature lead can be a few sentences long and does not necessarily include the story's essential, Who, What, When, Where, Why, or How.

The most common types of feature leads are anecdotal leads and descriptive leads. Other styles or approaches should be covered in more advanced journalism courses and texts. This chapter focuses on these two types of leads. The next section covers the story structures that flow from them.

Anecdotal leads

An anecdotal lead tells a brief story that grabs the reader's attention and engages them in a way that makes them curious about the rest of the story. The anecdotal lead should give readers a sense of the tone of the story. It should also introduce the main subject or one of the main subjects of the piece.

Anecdotal Lead Example

Consider this lead used with permission from The Lens, an indie news site based in New Orleans:

"For years, people incarcerated on the disciplinary tiers at David Wade Correctional Center in north Louisiana — including those with mental illness —  were confined for too long in cells that were too small, sometimes without bedding or without anything except a paper gown. 

They were not given meaningful access to mental health care beyond psychotropic medication — and even that was administered haphazardly.

Those were the findings of U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Foote of the Western District of Louisiana in 2022."

Note that this lead is three sentences long. It tells a brief story about deplorable conditions faced by some prisoners at the correctional facility in question. It is relatively broad as far as anecdotes go, but this is necessary to establish the scope of the abuse. The lead involves multiple "characters." It sets a bleak tone, and it includes details that would not be included in a summary lead.

Anecdotal leads may bend the rules discussed in the straight news chapter. For example, this one delves into history a bit, but the purpose is not to focus on history. Instead, the purpose is to draw readers in with a brief, compelling story about documented cases of prisoner abuse.

From this lead, readers get the sense that the main characters in this article will be prisoners who suffered mistreatment. Readers will understand that the court system has uncovered a social ill that needs to be addressed, and they can see that claims will be backed up by court records.

In other words, this signals to readers that they are in for an investigative news story with serious implications about real human characters.

Descriptive leads 

Feature stories that start with a descriptive lead do not strive to tell a story-within-a-story but instead aim to set the scene before continuing to the nut graf. 

Scene-setting descriptive leads should appeal to the reader's senses. Think about the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and textures that will immerse a reader in the story and capture details to the best of your ability.

Descriptive Lead Example

Note the details included in this lead also from The Lens:

"At the back of the old McDonogh 35 school on Marais Street, near the trash bins and uneven ground that fills with water after rainstorms, is a special room.

The baby blue classroom has bright carpets, toys, puzzles, whiteboards and tables of varying heights. A full kitchen is equipped to teach life skills. Next door is a 'cool down' room, with padded walls and floors and an observation window."

This lead is two sentences long. It does not introduce a main character but instead sets a scene. The careful, accurate, but selective use of details lets readers know that the rooms in question are near trash bins that might sometimes be swamped with rainwater.

The lead juxtaposes bright colors and items you would see in an early childhood education setting with images of uneven tables and padded walls and floors. The takeaway message is that this is a space for children with behavior issues in a school that is not the most well funded.

News feature stories find creative ways to hook readers and convey essential information while holding other facts back. Feature leads do not always convey the full set of news values being addressed in the story. Instead, they quickly develop a sense of trust between writer and reader that this story matters both because of what is covered and how the story will be told.