The kind of news and information that appears most often in
magazines and in sections of newspapers that focus on subjects such as the
arts,
entertainment and
culture. Unlike
hard news, soft news is
not time sensitive. Articles about events that took place in the past can safely be reported as soft news.
Soft news may be reported in the inverted pyramid style (with the most important information at the article's beginning for time and space purposes) but since it is assumed that the reader has more time to read soft news than hard news, soft news pieces do not always follow this format. Soft news pieces may begin in medias res and their leads do not have to contain the 'five W's'.
Types of soft news include music and film reviews, feature and profile writing, editorials and opinion columns. Soft news is far more subjective than hard news and allows writers to use literary devices and be more descriptive in their writing.
Another popular name for soft news is new journalism.