Featuring YOU!

From reading the three sample feature stories, I really got a feel for what feature writing is all about, and thoroughly enjoyed reading each of the three examples. I particularly liked the first one about New York woman Romona Moore, not because of the content or the harsh reality of what she suffered, but the fact that Sean Gardiners writing really caught my attention and truly hit an emotional nerve with me, making me want to continue reading and find out what happened to this girl.

I felt that his approach to telling the story was effectively done via the perspective of Romona’s mother Elle Carmicheal as this gave even more urgency in trying to find her. When reading this article, you weren’t just looking on as an outsider, you were right there in Elles shoes.

In writing this story, Gardiner would’ve had to develop a very close relationship with Carmicheal, especially considering how personal this event was to her. But on the other hand, another point that the story seeks to publish is the fact that no attention was paid to the case until it was too late. In writing this article, I suppose it provides the media coverage the family were looking for.

I also like the second article ‘Pearls before breakfast’- it was a cute stunt that was purely for fun and everyone involved got a good laugh out of it. This is an example of a colour feature story that is written for entertainment and to add some joy to the otherwise bleak and serious pages of the daily paper.

This article was well written and I especially liked the fact of how many times it was emphasised that Bell was a master musician in different ways. My favourite is when it is mentioned that even at the age of 4 years old, he was pulling strings across his drawers and opening/closing them to alter the tempo.

This article is different to the other two because it was based on a stunt that was purposely planned by the Washington post. In this case, it would’ve been easier to get an interview with Joshua Bell considering he was completely in on the joke from the start. Even the passers by who donated money or even just stopped to listen I believe would not of been very difficult to interview, considering the fact that they appreciated the music to begin with, they would’ve been more than happy to answer questions about it as well.

I think that this story would’ve taken approximately 3-4 days to complete, after all, the main event itself was only forty five minutes early one morning, and it was all recorded for evidence later, including every spectator that would be contacted for the interview.

Finally, the third feature story I believe was the more serious article out of the three and the one most like a hard news story of sorts. It still had the descriptive effect of what a feature story is, but included a lot more historical facts about the 1939 and 1983 bushfires.

Also, there was a lot more investigation done in terms of what weather forecasts trigger these horrific bushfires. Like the first article, this one would have been a very touchy issue to raise, especially when conducting interviews with survivors of the 2009 Black Saturday fires. This being this article is still as effective as the other two, one of the main reasons being because it is more localised, each person reading it will remember where they were at that point in history.

Underbelly feature story

Here’s the lead and plan for the feature story version of Dick’s article ‘Underbellyis disgraceful, says former judge.’

Who said popping a pill or two wasn’t fun? From the swallow of a “dance candy” to a snort of some “power powder”, all of this is a side dish for what really goes on at nightclub hotspots, or so channel nines new series of underbelly would have you believe about Sydney’s infamous Kings Cross.

The third series of the Australian drama went to air this week with a whopping 2, 327,000 viewers, all bent on watching the inner workings and power plays of Sydney’s drug trafficking trade.

The rest of the plan i will go on to write about the corruption of the police even in contemporary times. Not much has changed in terms of the nightclub scene- drug use is still rampant even in the local Melbourne scene where owners turn a blind eye to what is happening inside their establishment. If drugs are what is keeping the patrons coming in, then the club owners are not likely to stop that any time soon.

In relaion to this as well, I will expand on the corruption that the show establishes about the police force and how again, this still happens in present day nightclubs. The drug dealers are kept out of jail while the cops are left with a significantly heavier wallet.

The point in the article where it speaks about impressionable youth watching will be the next point that i will elaborate on in my feature story. The article mentions Underbelly as giving crime a sexy and powerful image and this link between young people and the show is seen via one of the main characters Johnny ‘the boy’ Ibrahim as  a 17year old high school drop out who takes over the Cross. Kids can relate to him because the very first episode he attends his formal, creating  a common ground for teens, but also has high hopes for his future. With this, I’ll use the quote from the original article: “ theres nothing honorable or admirable in relation to the people who are depicted in these programs. For the impressionable kids out there watching these programs, they think it’s a lot of fun.” Former supreme court judge James Wood.

Hard vs. Soft

This weeks blog entry for the Easter readings will examine the limitations and advantages that hard and soft news writing styles present to the reader.

The first two articles ‘RBA’s Stevens warns against housing speculation’ and ‘Push to end underquoting as market stays hot’ are examples of a hard news format. The advantage of writing a news story like this is that all the necessary facts are written down for the reader and they won’t be bored having to read through unimportant fluff. The first article in particular uses several statistics which signifies further background research being done, therefore making it somewhat more believable that this is the truth.

Interviews and first person perspectives are important to add to hard news stories too as it provides a sense of legitimacy that this incident has actually happened. I particularly like the example in the second article ‘Push to end underquoting as market stays hot’ because the quote from Prahran buyer Chris Tollis makes us feel the anger and frustration involved in looking for a home.

Disadvantages of a hard news format however is that it is told in a very matter of fact way and there is no emotion in it at all. Personally, I do not favour this format as the punchy and very staccato tone it has bores me! But then again, this type of style appeals to different audiences. Early morning commuters do not have time to read the airy fairy minor detail in the morning newspaper when they are in a rush to get to work- all they care for is what happened, who’s involved and where.

The complete opposite of this would be found in a glossy magazine or community paper; mediums read when there is time to spare. The last three articles ‘Naan violent protest’, ‘Flying in the face of convention’ and the Melbourne Food and Wine festival review are all examples of soft news formats and clearly written for people who care to learn more. All three articles use very colourful and colloquial language to get the message across, as well as speak to the reader like they are a part of it.

I particularly like the use of images in the Food and Wine festival review published in the Melbourne gastronome. I am unsure as to whether this is soft news story etiquette, to include picture, by it certainly works in my point of view. To be able to see exactly what it being described makes the story twice as impacting and therefore, making me choose soft news stories as my preferred way of writing format.