"Playing up the Feature." Before the reporter begins to write, he must determine what is the most significant and interesting phase of his piece of news; in other words, the "feature" of it. It is this phase that must be emphasized, "played up" or "featured," as newspaper men say. As the "feature" of a piece of news is the most interesting phase of it, the reporter must apply to his raw materials of fact the tests of news values discussed in Chapter II. The element of his news, therefore, that will be of greatest interest to the greatest number as measured by these tests, he should select as the "feature." In addition to the "feature" he must present all the important facts that are necessary to make clear the "feature" and its relation to the rest of the news of which it is a part.
In accordance with the principle of emphasis at the beginning of the paragraph, the "feature" of the story should be placed in the first group of words of the opening sentence of the lead. Although any of the essential points may be "played up," some are less likely than others to deserve that emphasis. The time of the event, for example, is generally not a significant point in the story, and therefore stories should seldom begin with "Early this morning," "At two o'clock this afternoon," "Yesterday," or similar unimportant phrases. Occasionally the exact hour of some action, such as the adjournment of Congress or of the state legislature, which has been anticipated but could not be definitely fixed in advance, has enough interest to warrant giving it the initial position in the lead. The names of persons should not be placed at the beginning unless they are sufficiently prominent to deserve this emphasis. When a man is not known to a number of readers, his name is of less interest than details of the news in which he is involved. Names of prominent persons, on the other hand, attract
