Hard News:
* Purpose: To deliver timely information about current events, focusing on facts and objectivity.
* Content: Covers breaking news, important events, political developments, and other newsworthy occurrences.
* Style: Concise, objective, factual, and written in an inverted pyramid style (most important information at the beginning).
* Focus: On reporting the "who, what, when, where, why, and how" of a story.
* Examples: Newspaper front page stories, breaking news reports on television, news website articles.
Feature Article:
* Purpose: To explore a topic in depth, offering insights, analysis, and often a personal perspective.
* Content: Often focuses on human-interest stories, trends, social issues, or in-depth analysis of a specific event or topic.
* Style: More narrative, descriptive, and engaging. It often uses literary devices like metaphors, similes, and vivid imagery.
* Focus: On providing context, exploring perspectives, and telling a compelling story.
* Examples: Magazine articles, long-form journalism, in-depth reports, profiles of individuals.
Here's a table summarizing the key differences:
| Feature | Hard News | Feature Article |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | To deliver timely information | To explore a topic in depth |
| Content | Breaking news, important events | Human-interest stories, trends, in-depth analysis |
| Style | Concise, objective, factual | Narrative, descriptive, engaging |
| Focus | Reporting facts | Providing context, exploring perspectives |
| Examples | Newspaper front page stories, breaking news reports | Magazine articles, long-form journalism |
In essence, hard news is about immediacy and objectivity, while feature articles are about depth, analysis, and storytelling.
Note: There are also "soft news" articles, which fall somewhere in between hard news and feature articles. They often focus on lighter topics, such as entertainment, lifestyle, or human-interest stories, but they still aim to be informative and objective.