Apart from imparting news and information to audiences, citizen journalists also write articles to shine a light on varied issues affecting their communities. Citizen journalists’ articles can range from politics to education to economy to health care, to mention some examples. As hard news needs research and the citation of credible sources, so do articles. Feature article writers need to research what they write to provide a well-rounded perspective to the public.
Citizen journalists subjectively write articles and interweave storytelling and character development elements. Utilizing those artistic elements, participatory journalists engage readers and simplify complex topics to make them more relatable. They start their writing with a hook that captivates readers and makes them show interest in reading the entire particular article. A hook introduces the central idea of a topic. An article’s hook can be an anecdote, a surprising fact, or a provocative question. After grabbing readers’ attention, feature articles proceed to discuss the topic at hand and increase tension to engage readers in the discussed theme. They present insights, revelations, and interesting points.
Balance and fairness are the cornerstones of any principled piece of writing. Depending on what they write about, participatory journalists need to strive for balance and fairness and refrain from biased and prejudiced perspectives. Although all writers and readers are biased, citizen journalists ought to present their arguments and deliberations in a balanced manner and accommodate diverse opinions.
Fairness materializes when citizen journalists’ articles are not one-sided but present opposing viewpoints. While accuracy and truth are subjective in the eyes of readers, writers have to endorse their arguments by presenting empirical evidence whenever necessary. Having said that, the individual writer cannot support validate and support two viewpoints at the same time. That particular writer ought to support one side while giving some exposure to the other side of the argument. By doing so, citizen journalists earn credibility, trust, and valour.
Article writing is an art. Feature articles are longer than stories containing timely sensitive hard news. Unlike hard news, though, feature articles dissect matters and expose different views on an issue in detail. Both hard news and feature articles complement one another as they aim to disseminate information and inform the general public.