🚨 Breaking News, Obit Ideas, + AI Tips to Elevate Your Journalism

📰 5-Minute Newsroom, Edition 2: Let’s Do This!

👋 Welcome back! It’s Monday morning, and we know how busy this week will be. Let’s dive right in with the tools you need to stay ahead in the newsroom chaos.

This week, we’re revisiting a major pre-New Year headline: the passing of former President Jimmy Carter.

🧠 Remember: You’re the content expert, but ‘5-Minute Newsroom’ is your secret weapon for the stories that make your coverage stand out. Obituaries don’t have to be just the basics. Let’s explore ideas to elevate your memorial coverage.

💡 Obituary, Memorial, Tribute story ideas

📸 Social Media Tribute Post
Create an editable image template (like a PSD file) that’s ready to go in advance.

🖼️ Photo Galleries or Slideshows
Share local or archived images with detailed captions. Use AP photos if you’re a subscriber.

💬 Reactions from Lawmakers & Dignitaries
Round up their statements for a separate story.

📣 Viewer Reactions
Highlight comments, memories, or tributes from your audience.

📷 User-Generated Content
Ask viewers to share their photos or stories about the individual and build content around those submissions.

📝 Listicles or Timelines
Create engaging pieces with “10 Things You Didn’t Know About…” or a timeline of their life events.

🏙️ Local Connections
Did this person ever visit your area? Are there folks who can share those stories?

📼 Archived Content
Reshare TV packages, newspaper stories, or ads from the person’s heyday.

🎥 Livestream Discussions
Host a roundtable with journalists or community experts, then repurpose clips for social media.

💻 Interactive Memorial Page
If your site allows comments, create a page for viewers to leave messages.

📅 Event Coverage
Stream or document memorial services, public gatherings, or candlelight vigils.

🤔 ‘What’s Next?’ Coverage
Explore who will carry on the person’s legacy or what remains unfinished.

💡 Pro Tip: The more you plan ahead for notable individuals, the less stressful these moments will be when the time comes. A little prep goes a long way!

📰 5-Minute Newsroom: Mastering Breaking News Coverage

🚨 New Orleans & Las Vegas Tragedies

On New Year’s Day, two devastating incidents unfolded:

• In New Orleans’ French Quarter, a 42-year-old man drove a truck into a crowd, killing 14.

• Outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas, a 37-year-old man died by suicide in a Tesla Cybertruck, injuring several others.

WWL in New Orleans led with exceptional, comprehensive coverage of the Bourbon Street attack. It was the story everyone was discussing that morning.

💡 Lessons for All Newsrooms

Big breaking news isn’t just for national outlets. Even if it’s not local, it’s relevant. If your publication wasn’t covering this story last Wednesday morning, seriously consider “why not?”

🌍 Find Local Connections:

• Was anyone from your community involved?

• Do your viewers have relatives or friends in the area?

• Connect the dots to make the story resonate locally.

🔑 Speed + Strategy = Success:
Act quickly but always prioritize accuracy, care, and fairness.

WWL’s Masterclass in Breaking News Coverage:

📌 Main Story – Comprehensive details: who, what, when, where, why.
📌 Perpetrator Report – A “what we know so far” update.
📌 Impact Stories – Event postponements, citywide effects.
📌 Victim Profiles – Highlighting personal stories by mid-afternoon.
📌 Victim List – A complete, respectful memorial.
📌 Contextual Reporting – Security issues like removed bollards.
📌 Official Reactions – Statements from leaders and agencies.
📌 Resource Guides – “Who to call if you’re searching for loved ones.”

WWL’s response shows the power of thoughtful, resourceful journalism at scale. 📰

👉 Your Takeaways

📖 For Newsrooms:
Create a digital breaking news playbook. It should include:

• Who’s on-call for any time, day or night (or overnight).

• Assignments for main storylines and sidebars.

• Workflow tips for speed and accuracy.

• Best practices for real-time updates across platforms.

📣 For Comms/PR Pros:
While it’s inappropriate to “newsjack” a tragedy, adopt a similar playbook for crisis communication. Transparency, empathy, and helpfulness should lead your strategy.

Breaking news isn’t just an opportunity — it’s a responsibility. Handle with care.

🤖 AI Tip of the Week: Idea Partner

At 5-Minute Newsroom, we’re all about using AI tools to enhance your journalism — ethically and effectively. This week’s tip: leverage AI platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude to uncover fresh story angles.

💡 Prompt of the Week

Every story has untapped potential. Use this AI prompt to explore new angles:
"Here are some angles we’re looking into to cover (this story): (Angle 1), (Angle 2), (Angle 3). What are 3-4 different angles we’re not thinking of?"

👩‍💻 Pro Tips for Prompting:

• Don’t stop if the first response misses the mark. Ask the AI to try again and explain what you’re looking for.

• Use iterative feedback: “This feels too broad — can you make it more specific to [audience/topic]?”

⚠️ Stay Safe & Ethical

🚨 Never share proprietary, sensitive, or unpublished information with AI tools. Stick to the content you’re preparing for public release.

💡 Pro Tip: When brainstorming or copy editing, strip out identifiable details and keep prompts as generic as possible.

🌟 Why It Matters

AI isn’t replacing journalists — it’s empowering them to do more with less time. Use these tools as thought partners to:
✅ Uncover overlooked angles.
✅ Polish your prose.
✅ Spark ideas for deeper, more engaging stories.

🎉 Let’s start 2025 strong, turning great ideas into impactful journalism. Go get ‘em, newsies! 📣✨

👀 Businesses: Activate Like A Newsroom!

Imagine what your public relations and communications efforts could be if your teams truly activated like a newsroom.

• Going direct-to-audience with your messages

• Owning the narrative

• Capturing attention faster

It’s what I do in my new post-newsroom life: work with businesses, brands and entrepreneurs to show them how to ‘activate like a newsroom’ to level up the attention they need to succeed at scale!

Visit my website at doabledigitalmedia.com, or message me anytime at [email protected].