# Plan newsroom coverage of a breaking news event

A first-hours coverage plan with assignments, story formats, verification steps, and a publishing cadence across channels.

- Topic: Projects & Operations
- Framework: RTF
- Level: Standard
- Tags: Writing, Design, Rewrite & Edit, Plan, Fill-in Template
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/plan-newsroom-coverage-of-a-breaking-news-event

## Prompt

```text
Help me plan our coverage of a breaking news event.

**What is happening:** [WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR, and what is unconfirmed]
**Our outlet and audience:** [local / national / trade; who reads us and why]
**People available:** [reporters, editors, photo/video, social, data - with locations and skills]
**Channels:** [website, live blog, app alerts, newsletter, social, broadcast]
**What competitors have already published:** [IF KNOWN]

Build the plan in these parts:
1. Our angle: what we can add that our audience can't get elsewhere.
2. Story list for the first 6 hours and next 24 hours: the first short news story, live blog, explainer, reaction, visual or data piece, and the follow-up questions to pursue.
3. Assignments table: person | task | location | deadline | editor.
4. Verification protocol: how we confirm casualties, names, images, and video from social media; who signs off before anything is published; how we label what is unconfirmed.
5. Publishing cadence: when to send alerts, update the live blog, and post on social, and the bar for sending a push alert.
6. Care and safety: reporter safety on the ground, handling graphic images, contacting victims' families, and identifying people only once confirmed.
7. Hand-over notes for the next shift.

Never treat unconfirmed reports as fact. Mark every unverified detail in the plan as [UNCONFIRMED] and attribute anything we can't verify ourselves.
```

## What to fill in

- WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR, and what is unconfirmed
- local / national / trade; who reads us and why
- website, live blog, app alerts, newsletter, social, broadcast
- IF KNOWN
- UNCONFIRMED

Free to copy and use. From ThinkWithPrompt (https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/), a library of 2,663 curated AI prompts.