A news feature is a more in-depth story than the quick, bulletin-style news stories normally carried on radio or TV. It can include interviews, pictures, sound and video and may explore a more subjective topic. A good news feature will entertain as well as inform and should be memorable for its reporting, craft, creativity and economy of expression.
In a longer news feature, the news angle often reappears at the end to wrap the whole segment or program together and bring it full circle. This is a good time to remind listeners or viewers what the story was about and how it is relevant in the present day.
Your audience should be top of mind from the start of planning your news feature and all the way through to production. Keep them interested and inspired to want to tune in, to listen to the whole thing and to remember it – to talk about it, even.
You should have a treatment (similar to the script for a movie) to guide you in gathering the pieces of your news feature together and editing them into a finished product. As in movie making, the treatment often develops as you discover new facts, people, talent, music etc while working on your news feature.
Depending on the nature of your topic, you may need to plan for travel, access and recording problems. For example, if you are planning to interview military personnel and use audio from a base that is normally off-limits to journalists, you will need to make arrangements in advance with your station or organisation for permissions.