Feature Style

Journalists talk about "straight news style," meaning unbiased infor­mation presented straightforwardly using the summary lead to open the story and the classic inverted pyramid organizational structure with facts presented in descending order of importance.

On the other hand, "feature style" treatment is considered appro­priate for news about trends, interesting people, and product informa­tion that is part of a marketing public relations campaign.

"Teasers" are one kind of feature lead, and sometimes they take the form of a question:

Why is John Milgram moving for the third time in three years . . . and why has his family decided to stay behind this time? (Article on special real estate services for corporate and military personnel. )

A salad with seventeen ingredients, including not only lettuce and other greens but fruit, meat, and cheese as well That' s what you'd have to eat for every meal if you followed your doctor's advice while dieting. (Article about a new weight-loss program that provides all basic nutrients in a "liquid salad. ")

"Suspended interest" feature leads tell a story in chronological order:

Mary Angelinas was on time, as usual. Her car pulled out of the driveway exactly at 8 and she was on the freeway headed for Center City by 8 :10 . The deejay on the radio kept her mind off all distractions . . . including the slight pain in her chest. (Article about heart attacks in working women, sponsored by a pharmaceutical company.)

Marketing public relations features often speak directly to the reader in order to involve him or her with the information:

Let's face it, you have better things to do with your time than remodel the entire house. But try getting a tradesman to work for you on the weekend when you can be home to supervise the painting, carpentry and plumbing. (Fea­ture on do-it-yourself remodeling shortcuts, sponsored by a home improvement products company.)

' Every year you vow to "try something new" for holiday peals. But then your family requests all the traditional fare: turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and pies for dessert. This year you can have your cake (or creamed onions) and eat it too. New recipes and menus developed by General Foods art fully blend something new and something old for your festive table.

Feature treatment usually makes liberal use of quotes, as well as lists, charts, and other items that make the information more interest­ing and useful to the reader. Use of a spokesperson—such as home re­pair expert Bob Villa for Sears, or home decorator and party planner Martha Stewart for K mart—allows for feature releases written in the speaking style of the personality associated with the product or ser­vice. Articles may even be written in the first person and carry the by­line of the expert spokesperson.

The family living section of the newspaper welcomes feature treat­ment. Nationally distributed features sometimes come with a list of suggestions for ways the editor can localize the story by adding infor­mation from area businesses or personalities. The public relations agencies that package such features are more than happy if columnists or editors absorb the information (and the feature writing style) into their own columns or features, since that adds extra credibility to the information being placed.

The public relations department or agency is fortunate if a news re­lease is used in its entirety. Often several news releases from various organizations are combined by the editor into one piece. The mention of your organization may be brief and at the end, instead of lengthy and high in the article as you envisioned it. That's the tradeoff for get­ting "free" publicity.

Many times you can enhance the placement of your news release by actually offering more information—or at least information that is broken into more than one news release. We'll see now how the sidebar and the press kit can increase your chances of getting a news release placed.