ABSTRACT
This chapter talks about the golden rule of feature writing. A feature may argue a case, and the personal views of the writer may be prominent. Where the objective of news is to convey a sequence of facts as efficiently as possible, in features the writer is often trying to provoke an emotional response. While color, description, opinion, analysis, narrative, quotes, dialogue and historical contextualizing may be important in a news feature, they are all still built on the cement of factual detail and a sharp news sense. The journalist has to be aware of the particular kind of profile sought by their publication. Many profiles rely on an entertaining mix of quotes and background detail, the journalist subjectively selecting the material and remaining invisible in the copy. But some profiles exploit the journalist-interviewee relationship and make the journalist intentionally intrusive.
