While I know writing features doesn’t require adhering to the strict set of guidelines established for hard-news stories, I don’t think feature writers should be able to write whatever they chose under the guise of being “creative” or “free spirits”.  A writer is a writer, regardless of what topics they write about or what style they write in and all writers should be held accountable for their copy.  Last week I was particulalry annoyed when I editing a “feature” story that contained no less than five fact errors.  Not grammar mistakes or issues with AP style — fact errors (including misspelling a performer’s last name and getting a band’s name completely wrong.)  It irritates me that a feature writer would be so careless as to not even check his copy for accuracy.  One of the main tenets of journalism is accuracy, and feature writers are journalists too.  While some writers may think their feature-like style of writing is “cool” enough to pass off as journalism, if they can’t get facts correct, they have no right in the reporting world.