This web site contains a great deal of information for both journalism instructors and students. 
The chapter also discusses the different types of stories that a beginning reporter will have to master. These include speechs and meetings, obituaries, weather and crime.
One of the most important concepts in any writing but particularly in journalistic writing is that of editing. First, students should understand that within news organizations, an editor holds sway. Editing decisions can be made without the consent of the writer, although this does not happen a great deal. The point is that a writer should expect to be edited and should look at that experience and process as a way to improve writing.
Students should also get into the habit of editing themselves effectively. Effective editing is more than just giving copy a once-over to check for grammar, spelling and style mistakes. Editing should be a deliberate and systematic part of the writing process. Developing good editing habits is a vital part of the process of learning to write well.
Many students come to journalism professing more of an interest in featuring writing than in news writing. They believe feature writing to be less pressurized by deadlines and generally more interesting than straight news writing. Those beliefs may be true in some cases, but good feature writing requires the same reporting and writing skills as news writing. Information and ideas must be presented accurately. The words that people say must be quoted correctly and exactly. Feature writing requires understanding a story and the people within the story in a way that straight news writing does not.
Most importantly, there is nothing easy about feature writing.
Key terms and concepts
The following are key terms or concepts that the student should understand.
Feature story — The feature story is something that students should be able to distinguish from the news story.
Verbs — the part of speech that denotes action or state of being. For the writer, verbs are more than just a part of speech. They are the engines of the language, and writers should pay attention to the verbs they use, trying to select the most accurate and descriptive verbs for the information they have.
Wordiness — Most writers suffer from the disease of using too many words. Students should be taught how to eliminate wordiness from the things they write.
Profile — a type of feature story that is about an aspect of a person's life. It is not a full biography, although it should contain many biographical details. The writer must select the part of the person's life that he or she finds most interesting to write about.
Links and resources
Copy editing corner. This is a public message board to discuss the process of copy editing. Whether you consider yourself a reporter or a copy editor, a visit to this site might help you clear up issues commonly found in reporting copy.
Mobile and Internet researcher – guide to feature writing. There are various types of reporting required depending on the story that needs to be told. This site provides techniques for improving feature reporting, which will also strengthen media writing in general.
Feature writing guide. Feature writing is a skill unto its own. This site addresses 12 parts of successful feature writing from a public relations perspective.
Writing a news story. This is a site for students who want a quick overview of news as well as tips for succeeding in the reporting and writing process.
Chapter notes
Writing obits. For generations, the journalism culture demanded that young reporters cut their teeth on obituary stories – “writing obits,” we would say. The thinking was that obituaries were easy to write and possibly not very interesting or important. Today, in many newspapers (except for the larger ones), the obit story has been relegated to a classified advertisement. But writing obits is important work. It always has been. Bert Barnes spent 20 years at the Washington Post writing obituaries before retiring in March 2004. He has written an article for the Post about his experiences on the obit desk. In it he says:
I loved that work. It taught me that even in the monotony of the daily grind, life could be funny and beautiful, surprising and strange. Death is no big deal if you don't love life. I only wish I could have met more of the people I wrote about.
One of the first exercises I had in a beginning news writing class in college was to write my own obituary. All of us in the class had to do that, and we had a lot of fun with it. I remember trying to figure out who the pallbearers would be. I still think that’s a good assignment for a beginning student because they have all the information available without having to interview anyone or look anything up. For an example of an obituary story and its standard parts, a handout is available at JPROF.com as a HTML file or as a PDF file. Either of these can be downloaded and duplicated for classroom use.
Responsibilities of the editor. Getting your editing students in the right frame of mind to become editors is a challenge for any editing teacher. JPROF.com has a set of discussion notes that contain many of the points you might want to make with your students at the beginning of an editing class. Above all, students should be taught that editors are the people who make decisions about the entire publication or web site, and they have to take responsibility for what is included in the publication. A reporter's mistake becomes their mistake if they do not take steps to correct it. More
Expensive misspelling. Tell your students (as you undoubtedly do) that they need to spell correctly and that they should check their spelling. Not doing so can turn out to be an expensive proposition. That's what the folks in Livermore, Calif., found out in 2004 when they spent $40,000 for a mosaic for their new library. The artwork contained 175 words, many of them names of writers, scientists and artists. Some 11 of those words were misspelled. They included Shakespeare (Shakespere), Einstein (Eistein), and Gauguin (Gaugan). The Miami artist who executed the work at first claimed artistic license (maybe some of your students have used the same excuse) but later said she would fix the problem words. Unfortunately, the city of Livermore is having to pay her $6,000 plus expenses to do that. California law requires that public artwork cannot be changed without the consent of the artist. Some people are blaming city and library officials as well as the artist, saying they should have checked the spelling before approving the artwork. You can read more about this in the news stories of the San Francisco Chronicle and the Contra Costa Times. (Posted Aug. 10, 2005)
