Their goal is to inform the general population about a current event (something that just happened or is currently happening in the world).
Their authors are most often journalists (i.e., reporters), not experts analysing the event.
Here are the typical features and pattern:
- Headline
- Lead: Essential information in the first paragraphs that answers What, Where, When, Who (and possibly Why or How) about the event
- Less important details in later paragraphs
There is no introduction and they typically don't use headings in the text. There may or may not be an image with the article.
One and two sentence paragraphs are common. This is thought to make the articles more enjoyable to read for more kinds of readers.
Useful links: