Since the underlying purpose of the writer plays an important part in the selection and the arrangement of material for news stories, as well as in the effect that stories produce upon readers, it deserves careful consideration in the analysis of news stories.
=Type of story.= There are two general types of news stories: (1) the informative news story, the chief aim of which is to give the facts of the news; and (2) the feature or human interest story, the chief aim of which is to take material of little or no news value and make it interesting. The fundamental difference between these two kinds of stories is the news value of the contents. The presence or absence of so-called “human interest” is not the basis of this classification, for informative news stories may be developed by bringing out the human interest element in the news.
The informative news story may be one of two kinds: (1) the story the chief purpose of which is to record the facts of the news without particular regard to its effect upon the readers; and (2) the story that presents the facts of the news in such a way as to produce a wholesome effect.
The purely informative news story usually presents the facts of the news so that they can be grasped readily in rapid reading. Its length is determined by the value of its news as measured by the ordinary standards of news values. It may be made interesting by bringing out the human interest element and by any literary device that is adapted to the subject. Usually it has a summary lead.
The informative story of the constructive type aims to interest the reader in the significance of the facts of the news, and the length of the story, accordingly, is determined by the importance of the news from this point of view. By bringing out the human interest element in the constructive type of story, the writer is able to make the emotional appeal to the readers that is particularly effective in accomplishing the purposes of this kind of story. Stories of this type may or may not have a summary lead.
In the entertaining feature story that contains little or no news, the interest lies entirely in the manner in which the facts are told. The literary ability of the writer is here tested to the utmost, for a story is read only so far as it interests. The length of these stories, therefore, is determined by the writer’s success in sustaining the reader’s interest.