Type of story. News stories in this division may be grouped in two classes: (1) those of display, such as exhibitions, shows, fairs, and parades, and (2) those of banquets, holiday celebrations, and other special occasions, such as college commencements. Although the subject matter covers a wide range, the method of handling the news is much the same.
Purpose. The aim in these stories is not only to portray attractively the events and scenes but to bring out the spirit of the occasion. There is generally a dominant note in all these events, and the effectiveness of the description can be greatly heightened by selecting those details that bring out this note. The selection and presentation of details from the point of view of their value as showing the mood of the occasion results in a story of much greater interest than does the mere recording of the different incidents. Accuracy in news stories of this kind, therefore, is not simply faithfulness to fact, but truth of sentiment. Untruthfulness lies in adding fictitious details in an effort to heighten the appeal, and in substituting sentimentality for true sentiment.
Treatment. The chief problem in writing these stories is to select picturesque and significant phases from the large mass of available material, and to reproduce the scenes and incidents with vividness. These events offer one of the few chances in news writing for pure description. In general the description is of the so-called dynamic type, in that all of the details are selected with the purpose of bringing out one impression rather than of giving a complete picture.
In descriptions of holiday celebrations an emotional appeal is possible because every festival and holiday has its own particular sentiment. Christmas is distinctly the children’s day and is characterized by generosity. Memorial day is marked by patriotic reverence for dead heroes, Fourth of July by patriotic jollification, and Thanksgiving day by the idea of feasting. For banquets and similar occasions in which the spirit of good fellowship is the dominant note the descriptive method in a lighter vein is particularly appropriate.
When speeches and toasts are delivered in connection with these events, they are treated like other speeches and are fitted into the story as incidents of the occasion, or, if they are of sufficient significance, they may be played up as the feature.