Special feature articles are detailed presentations of (1) matters of recent news that are of sufficient interest to warrant elaboration, (2) timely topics not directly connected with the news of the day, (3) subjects of interest that are neither timely nor connected with current events. They are informative in character and are generally of some length. They are usually published in magazine sections of Saturday or Sunday editions, but in some papers they appear daily.
Editorials have as their purpose the interpretation of news and of current issues and the discussion of matters of general interest, particularly with a view to convincing readers of the truth or the falsity of some proposition and of persuading them to act in accordance with the convictions thus created. In this way they differ from both news stories and special feature articles.
Dramatic, musical, and literary criticism consists of reviewing and passing judgment on current dramatic performances, concerts, and books. To the extent that some reviews of plays and concerts merely give informative news concerning the event, they are like news stories, but in so far as they are critical, they are more like editorials. Book reviews, likewise, may simply give information regarding the contents of a book, or they may undertake to evaluate it by pointing out its merits and defects.
Practical advice and useful information in special fields, humorous matter, and fiction, as given in the daily newspaper, do not differ materially from similar matter published in other forms and cannot be considered distinctly journalistic types of writing.
How news is gathered. Since the day’s news is the essential part of the daily newspaper, the gathering, writing, and editing of news is naturally the chief concern of journalism. From the point of view of newspaper organization for handling news, it is divided into two general classes: (1) local news, and (2) telegraph news. Local news, which is that of the city where the paper is published as well as of its immediate vicinity, is gathered (1) by reporters working under the direction of the city editor of the paper, and (2) by reporters working under the direction of the head of a local news association or bureau, the news service of which the paper uses to supplement its own news gathering. Telegraph news includes all news not local, which comes to the paper by telegraph, long-distance telephone, cable, or mail, whether sent by its own correspondents or by a news association such as the Associated Press or the United Press. The reporters and correspondents of the press associations work under practically the same conditions as the newspaper’s own correspondents, but they are responsible to the division head of the press association, whereas the newspaper’s correspondents are under the direction of the telegraph editor or of the state editor of the paper. The work of news gathering is not essentially different, whether done by a reporter or by a correspondent in the employ of a newspaper or of a news-gathering association.
How news is written. After the reporter has obtained the news, he returns to the office and writes his story as rapidly as possible, in accordance with any instructions that the city editor may give him. If it is inexpedient for him to return to the office, he writes his story quickly at some convenient place and sends it to the office by messenger or by telephone. Under some circumstances, particularly when lack of time prevents his writing the story and sending it in, he telephones the facts to a rewrite man in the office, who writes the story from the data thus secured. The reporter for a local news association prepares his stories, as directed by the news editor of the association, under practically the same conditions as the newspaper reporter.
The correspondent, after writing his story, mails it, files it at the telegraph office, or telephones it to the newspaper office. He, too, may telephone the bare facts to have them written in news-story form by a rewrite man in the newspaper office. The correspondent of a general news-gathering agency handles his news in the same way except that he sends it by mail, telegraph, or telephone to the district office of the association or agency that he represents. At this district office it is edited and sent out to those papers in various parts of the country that use the association’s service.
As news stories, whether local or telegraph, are edited before they are printed, practically all stories as they appear in the newspaper are the work not only of the reporter or correspondent who gathered the news, but of one or more editors and copy-readers. Well-written stories of reporters and correspondents usually undergo little change when edited. A poorly written story, on the other hand, may be made over into a very effective one by a rewrite man, an editor, or a copy-reader.
Conditions affecting news writing. The structure and the style of news stories are determined (1) by the conditions under which they are written, (2) by the character of the readers, (3) by the conditions under which newspapers are read, (4) by the typographical form of newspapers, and (5) by the popular taste.