Editorial Workflow & Assignments

News Desk separates public authorship from workflow responsibility and applies assignment rules across editorial stages. It provides a centralized Story Drawer for editorial management.

Editorial statuses

News Desk provides four sequential editorial statuses designed to mirror standard newsroom operations:

Status	Operational Meaning	Typical Actions
Idea	A story pitch, lead, or planned topic.	Evaluating viability, gathering initial sources, determining section fit. May remain unassigned.
Writing	An active drafting assignment.	Conducting interviews, writing article text, requesting photography. Requires a designated writer.
Review	The draft is completed and undergoing editing.	Editing, copyediting, checking sources and photo credits.
Ready to publish	The article has reached the final editorial stage.	The article is at the final editorial stage, waiting for native WordPress scheduling or release by an authorized editor.

Editorial statuses operate independently of native WordPress post statuses (draft, pending, future, publish). For example, a WordPress post may remain a draft while its editorial status transitions from Writing to Review and finally to Ready to publish.

The Idea assignment rule

To keep workflow stages clear, News Desk enforces an essential assignment rule:

Ideas may be unassigned, active work requires an assignee

• Ideas can sit in the planning pool without an assigned owner while editors evaluate pitches.
• Moving a story into Writing, Review, or Ready to publish requires an assigned team member.
• If an editor attempts to drag an unassigned card or update its status to an active stage, News Desk requires selecting an assignee before saving.
• Similarly, opening an article in Editor Mode requires that the story is assigned.

This keeps active workflow stages tied to a responsible assignee.

Author vs. Assignee

A frequent question in collaborative newsrooms is the distinction between who wrote an article and who is currently handling it. News Desk separates these roles cleanly:

• Author: The native WordPress author who receives the public byline on your website.
• Assignee: The staff member currently responsible for moving the story to its next operational milestone.

How ownership and bylines interact

When you create a story in News Desk:

1. Initial assignment sets the author: If a story is assigned to reporter Alex Rivera upon creation, Alex is set as both the assignee and the WordPress post author.
2. Reassignment preserves the author: When Alex completes the draft and reassigns the piece to editor Jordan Lee for review, Jordan becomes the Assignee, but Alex remains the Author.
3. Preserving bylines: Reassigning a story across editors or copy desks does not overwrite the writer’s original byline. The byline can still be adjusted manually in the WordPress editor if necessary, but routine workflow handoffs do not disturb it.

Practical example

Writer Alex pitches a city council story. The desk creates it as an Idea and assigns it to Alex in Writing. Alex’s name is recorded as the WordPress author.

Once Alex finishes reporting, Alex moves the card to Review and reassigns it to Senior Editor Jordan. Jordan reviews the draft, checks quotes, and updates the status to Ready to publish.

Throughout this review process, Jordan is the assignee accountable for the deadline, while Alex remains credited as the public author.

Editorial deadlines

Every story can have an optional editorial deadline specifying a target date and time.

• Independent of scheduling: An editorial deadline represents when draft copy or final approval is expected. It is distinct from the WordPress scheduled release timestamp (post_date).
• Overdue indicator: If the deadline passes while the story is still in Idea, Writing, or Review, News Desk displays a red Overdue badge across the List, Board, and Dashboard.
• Due today indicator: Stories due within the current calendar day display an orange Due today notice on the desk’s deadline watch.

Editorial priorities

News Desk supports four priority levels to organize coverage during busy news cycles:

• Urgent: Work requiring immediate attention.
• High: Important or time-sensitive coverage.
• Normal: Standard daily work.
• Low: Work with no immediate deadline.

Priorities are color-coded in both List and Board views, allowing editors to sort the newsroom by priority and organize coverage accordingly.

The Story Drawer

Clicking any story headline in the Newsroom opens the Story Drawer—a slide-over panel that allows editors to manage all editorial metadata without leaving the current view.

The Story Drawer provides immediate access to:

1. Editorial Details: Change status, reassign the story, update deadlines, adjust priority, and record internal newsroom notes.
2. Sources: Review, add, and update named sources and source statuses.
3. Article Health: Inspect pre-flight completeness checks (featured image, excerpt, source, photo credit) and trigger direct in-drawer fixes.
4. Follow-ups: View pending tasks or create new follow-ups tied directly to the story.
5. WordPress Details: View post ID, permalink preview, category taxonomy, and WordPress publication status.
6. Open Editor: Launch the story directly into Editor Mode inside the WordPress Block Editor.