Feature: Meaning and Types

Meaning of Feature

A feature is a special, non-news article that goes beyond the bare reporting of facts to explore a subject in depth — its background, causes, effects, and human interest. Unlike a straight news story, which answers the five Ws and H quickly and follows the inverted pyramid, a feature is written in a freer, more literary style. It informs, entertains, and often moves the reader, using description, anecdote, dialogue, and personal observation. Features are usually longer than news reports, carry a by-line (the writer's name), and are not tied to the urgency of a deadline. In short, a feature is "the story behind the news" — it humanises events and gives them colour and meaning.

Types of Features

Newspapers publish several kinds of features, each serving a different purpose:

1. Human interest feature — Deals with the emotional, personal side of people and events — a widow's struggle after a disaster, the daily life of a street child. Its aim is to touch the heart and create empathy.

2. Profile or personality feature — Presents the life, work, and character of a person — a politician, artist, sportsperson, or unsung hero. It goes beyond biography to reveal the person's motivations and quirks.

3. News feature — Takes a current news event and explains it in depth — the background, causes, and likely consequences. It supplements the news report by answering "why" and "how."

4. Backgrounder or explanatory feature — Provides context and analysis of an issue — an election, a budget, a treaty — so readers can understand its significance. It is more analytical than a news feature.

5. Seasonal or festive feature — Written around festivals, seasons, or special days — Dashain, Tihar, New Year, monsoon, harvest. It captures the mood, customs, and activities of the occasion.

6. Travel feature — Describes a place — its scenery, people, culture, and attractions — to inform and inspire readers. It blends reporting with personal experience.

7. Historical feature — Recalls past events, anniversaries, or heritage, linking them to the present — for example, the history of a landmark or a freedom movement.

8. Scientific or technical feature — Explains scientific discoveries, health, environment, or technology in simple language for the general reader.

9. Humorous feature — Uses wit, satire, or light-hearted observation to amuse while making a point.

10. How-to or service feature — Gives practical guidance — cooking, gardening, health, career, consumer advice — directly useful to readers.

How They Differ from One Another

The types differ mainly in purpose, subject, and treatment:

• Purpose: Human interest and humorous features aim to entertain and move; news and explanatory features aim to inform and explain; how-to features aim to guide.
• Subject: Profiles focus on a person; travel features on a place; seasonal features on an occasion; backgrounders on an issue.
• Treatment: Some are emotional and descriptive (human interest), some analytical (backgrounder), some instructional (how-to), and some light and witty (humorous).
• Timeliness: News features are tied to current events; seasonal features to the calendar; historical features to the past; profiles and travel features may be timeless.

Thus, all features share the common qualities of depth, human interest, and literary style, but they differ in what they cover and what they seek to achieve — informing, explaining, entertaining, or helping the reader.

Two types of features are the news feature (a feature based on a current news event, providing background, analysis and human interest) and the human interest feature (a feature that focuses on the emotions, experiences and everyday life of a person or group). Other commonly recognized types include the profile feature, historical feature, seasonal feature, travel feature, and how-to/instructional feature.

Any two of the following:

1. Impact of social media on the reading habits of teenagers — a current, relatable issue with plenty of scope for interviews, examples and analysis.
2. Growing problem of cyberbullying among school students — a socially relevant topic that allows case studies, expert opinions and possible solutions.

Other acceptable topics: load-shedding and its effect on small businesses, the declining reading culture among youths, road traffic congestion in Kathmandu, the rise of online journalism, or the effects of labour migration on families.

While writing a feature, two aspects to consider are:

1. Human interest – the feature should focus on people, their experiences and emotions, so that readers connect with it personally.
2. Accuracy and factual detail – facts, figures and descriptions must be correct and well-researched, since a feature informs as well as entertains.

Five Characteristics of Feature Writing

1. Human interest and emotional appeal A feature is built around people and their experiences rather than bare facts. It appeals to the reader's emotions—sympathy, curiosity, admiration or amusement—so that the reader identifies with the subject. For example, a feature on a flood victim focuses on the family's suffering and courage, not merely on the statistics of loss.

2. Interpretative and in-depth treatment Unlike a news report that answers the basic questions quickly, a feature goes deeper. It explains the why and how of an event, provides background, analyses causes and consequences, and helps the reader understand the issue in its full context.

3. Flexible structure and style A feature does not follow the strict inverted-pyramid structure of news. It may begin with an anecdote, a quotation, a question or a striking description, and then develop the theme gradually. The writer has freedom in organising paragraphs, using dialogue, description and narration, and in choosing the angle.

4. Literary and creative language Feature writing uses figurative, colourful and descriptive language—metaphors, imagery, vivid details and personal touches—to create pictures in the reader's mind. It lies between journalism and literature, which is why it is often called "soft news" or creative non-fiction.

5. Timeliness is not compulsory A news story loses value once the event is over, but a feature has a longer shelf life. It can be written on any topic—a person, place, festival, social problem or trend—at any time, and it remains readable because its appeal lies in human interest rather than in immediacy.