🎉 Kick Off 2025: Fresh Ideas, Big Stories, and Cold Weather Tips

Welcome to the ‘5-Minute Newsroom!’ 🕛️ 

The mission of this newsletter is to help journalists at all levels of experience and sizes of publications ideate and innovate in a rapidly moving media landscape. Each week, we’ll look ahead to the stories everybody in the United States will be covering — with ideas on how to make the most of them.

2024 Year-End Ideas

News

📅 Year-End Content Ideas to Engage Your Audience

✨ A Top 10 Most Popular Stories list is always a hit—but remember, the most popular stories aren’t always the most important. Here's how to balance it:

📰 Highlight the Year’s Most Important Stories: Ask your newsroom to identify key stories you covered in 2024. Create an article around them and amplify it with engaging social content.

🎥 Tip: Go live on your socials and ask your audience what they think were the biggest stories of the year!

🔮 Look Ahead to 2025: Write a story with your newsroom’s predictions or New Year’s resolutions. Bonus: This is a great opportunity to involve your audience! Go live and ask them.

📹 Tip: Invite your readers or viewers to submit a vertical video (under 1 minute!) sharing their predictions or resolutions for the year ahead.

📋 Don’t Forget New Laws & Rules: Highlight any changes taking effect on Jan. 1. This is easy, engaging content:

• 🎙️ Green screen: Read your story with the text as a background.

• 🖼️ Carousels: Break down new rules with text images and explain them in captions.

Your audience will appreciate the thoughtful wrap-up—and the forward-looking inspiration! 🎉

Sports

🏆 Relive the Glory: Repurpose Your Sports Coverage!

🏈 Did your community celebrate a college bowl win or a state championship this fall? Don't let that content fade away—repurpose it! Here's how you can give your audience another chance to relive those incredible moments:

📱 Create Social Reels & Stories: Share those unforgettable highlights in snackable formats.

📖 Craft Look-Back Stories & Retrospectives: Reflect on the journey and the big wins.

🎥 Compile a Longer-Form YouTube Video: Showcase the season's best moments in one epic recap.

This approach works for any sports team with big 2024 wins. Your audience will love reminiscing about the victories you helped capture. 🏅✨

Looking Ahead To January

❄️ New Year, New Opportunities!

📅 Update Your Copyrights: Double-check copyright signatures on all platforms. A fresh “2025” shows your audience you’re on top of things!

❄️ Prepare for an Arctic Blast: Weather models predict significantly colder temps across much of the U.S. during the first two weeks of 2025. Use this as a chance to create helpful content:

• 🧣 Staying Safe & Warm: Tips to protect yourself in extreme cold.

• 🏡 Maximizing Home Warmth: Simple tricks to keep cozy.

• 🔥 Fire Prevention: Avoiding hazards in the winter months.

• 🛌 Shelter Options: Share resources for those in need.

🇺🇸 Plan Your Inauguration Coverage: Whether it’s the presidential inauguration or local events like gubernatorial or mayoral ceremonies, there are tons of storytelling opportunities:

• 🎤 Spotlight Community Members: Is anyone from your area attending? Tell their stories!

• 📸 Collaborate for Content: Ask attendees to share photos and videos.

• 📱 Try a Social Takeover: Let someone on the ground run one of your channels for the day!

💳 Pro Tip: Start the year right by auditing all your platform and tool subscriptions. Check for expired cards and ensure accounts are in the correct names.

🤖 AI Tip of the Week

At '5-Minute Newsroom,' we’re all about using AI tools progressively and ethically. Here's a tip to help you improve your copy editing and make your stories clearer and easier to read.

💡 Try This Prompt:

"Copy edit this news story for grammar, punctuation, and clarity, as well as for Associated Press style. Do not change anything in quotes (“”), and do not add anything to the story. This is strictly a copy edit."

🔍 Why It Works:

• The specificity ensures your edits stay focused and aligned with journalistic standards.

• Use it to refine your drafts without sacrificing your voice or accuracy.

✍️ Pro Tip: After getting your edited copy, ask the AI why it made specific changes. It’s a great way to learn and teach better writing techniques to your newsroom!

⚠️ Reminder: Never share proprietary or sensitive information with an AI GPT. Only input copy you plan to publish publicly. Stay safe, stay ethical! 🚨

Let’s kick off 2025 with impactful stories and a great week, 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].