Journalistic Genres: News, Features, Editorials, and Interviews

Journalism: Definition and Key Concepts

Journalism is the collection and treatment of written, oral, visual, or graphic information in all its forms and varieties. A journalist is a person professionally engaged in a newspaper, an audiovisual medium, a literary work, graphic information, or creating opinion.

Classification of Journalistic Genres

News Genres

In news genres, the journalist tries to express information of general interest or specific to any group of people in an impersonal way, adjusted to reality. The most used forms are the story, the chronicle, and the report.

The News

The news is the main informative subgenre. It is characterized by a complete yet brief presentation of a current fact of interest, carried out with objectivity. The news must attract the reader through the proximity of the facts, their importance, their uniqueness and currency, the public impact of the protagonists, and the fact of being unknown. It is usually arranged as follows:

• Headline: A short and attractive presentation of the news. It could include a title and sub-headline or subtitle. In print, the title is highlighted with a larger font and is sometimes accompanied by a sub-headline or subtitle. In television and radio news, headlines are often accompanied by a tune at the beginning of the program.
• Lead (Entradilla): This is the summary of the news. It is normally highlighted with a different font.
• Body: The development of the story itself. It begins with the basics and ends with accessory data. The information is presented in a hierarchical order.

The Feature

The feature is a text of informative journalism that requires thorough documentation and research work by the journalist, who will describe or narrate the events in depth. Features must be broadly based and address the subjects treated with rigor. The feature differs from the news in the extent of the presentation and that it does not necessarily have to focus on a current or unknown fact. It also tends to include plenty of audiovisual or graphic material, to the extent that it is possible to speak of photographic reporting.

The Chronicle

The chronicle is another variety of information that combines the assessment of the journalist with objective facts. Therefore, it is sometimes classified as a genre of opinion. It is often used to report sports events, bullfights, etc. It is important when writing a chronicle to respect the order in which events occurred.

Opinion Subgenres

In opinion subgenres, journalists not only tell us about an event, but they also interpret it, take sides, and argue for and against. In short, they express and create public opinion. Often, these writings are intended to influence and condition the attitude of readers or listeners. The most important are the opinion article, the column, the editorial, and the interview.

The Article

The article is the opinion of a journalist on a current event. It is signed and can vary in length.

The Column

The column is a text close to the article, but more concentrated, and has a fixed space. It is usually signed by persons of public importance and prestige in the cultivation of the language. The column is a text type highly conducive to reporting facts that the author considers unacceptable and which should lead to profound reflections on readers. Because of its short length, it features intensive communication.

The Editorial

The editorial is an unsigned article expressing the newspaper's opinion on a current topic. It is often placed on the front pages of the newspaper. Usually, the reader already knows the news and seeks the press to guide its interpretation from their point of view. The paper will try to convince you of its position, as the editorial defends the ideological orientation of the publisher.

The Interview

The interview reflects the conversation between a journalist and a person who expresses their views on a current issue or on the activities for which they are known. Interviews are very common in Sunday supplements.