Journalist · Scholastic newsrooms · Free for schools · Early access · 2026

The complete newsroom desk — assignment board to published print and online edition, adviser approval built in, free for school newsrooms

Journalist is the student newsroom desk that runs the whole editorial chain in one place: story pitches land on the assignment board, reporters file drafts that move through a three-stage editing queue, and nothing reaches the publication button without the adviser gate clearing — enforced at the data layer, not by an honour system. Print layout and online edition publish from the same cleared story file. Roster-linked bylines pull from the school staff roster, not from free-text entry. Free for school newsrooms. Early access — no contract, no billing, no signup today.

Start free How it works

Complete editorial chainpitch → assignment board → editing queue → adviser approval → published edition

Fail-closed adviser gatestory cannot publish without clearing the adviser; enforced at the engine, not by convention

Print and onlinestory-to-spread for print layout; same cleared copy to the online edition; one adviser approval

Free for school newsroomsno contract, no per-student fee, no subscription; the full desk at no cost

The editorial chain — why it has to be enforced in the data layer, not in the handbook

A deadline is not when things slow down — it is when a bypassed step becomes a published mistake

A school newsroom runs on deadlines. The Thursday press deadline. The Monday online publish. Under that pressure, the temptation is to move a story directly from the reporter’s draft to the adviser’s desk — skipping copy edit because the copy editor is out sick, skipping section edit because the editor-in-chief is confident the reporter got it right. The result is a misquoted source, a misspelled name, or a factual error that runs in print across the whole school.

The editing queue on Journalist does not rely on people remembering to follow the process under pressure. The engine refuses the transition. A story at copy edit cannot be promoted to adviser review by clicking a button; the button does not exist at that stage because the engine does not permit that move. Copy edit must clear. Section edit must clear. Then and only then does the adviser see the story. The adviser gate is the same: the publication button does not appear until the adviser approves. The chain is not a reminder — it is the structure.

The multi-surface editor, the assignment board, the three-stage editing queue, the roster-linked bylines, and the adviser fail-closed approval gate are all built and production-ready. The public-facing edition archive is in active development. The platform is free for school newsrooms and available for early access.

Start free Full platform

How it works

The newsroom cycle in four stages

Journalist runs on the editorial cycle: story pitch on the assignment board, reporter draft through the editing queue, adviser review and layout, and publication with an edition record. Every stage is described as it is built today.

Step 1 · The pitch and the beat — story pitches to the assignment board

A reporter identifies a story — a district budget decision, a state-title run, a new voice in the faculty. The pitch goes to the assignment board. An editor-in-chief or section editor reviews the board, assigns the story to the reporter (or approves the self-assignment), and attaches a deadline. Beat reporters have standing assignments tracked on the staff roster: the school board beat, the arts beat, the athletics beat, the opinion desk. The assignment board shows every open story, every claimed story, and every overdue story. The newsroom starts each issue here, not in an email thread.

Step 2 · The draft and the editing queue — reporter files, editors work the queue in order

The reporter files the draft in the editor. The story enters the editing queue at copy edit: the copy editor works through the story for accuracy, grammar, and style, then approves or returns it with notes. A cleared story moves to section edit: the section editor reads for voice, structure, and news judgment, then approves or returns with notes. A cleared story moves to the adviser review stage. Every transition is a step in the engine — not an email, not a shared folder, not a group-chat message that someone might miss. The reporter can see where their story sits in the queue at any point; the editor can see the full queue for every story in the issue.

Step 3 · Adviser review and layout — the fail-closed gate, then print and online

At the adviser review stage, the adviser reads the story as it cleared copy edit and section edit. The fail-closed rule is enforced here: the story cannot move to print layout or online publication without the adviser gate clearing. The engine refuses the transition. An approved story enters story-to-spread flow: the cleared copy lands in the print layout editor with headline, byline, captions, and photos placed to column. The adviser also publishes the online edition from the same cleared file. One approval, two surfaces, no second reformatting step.

Step 4 · Publication and the archive — the edition record, and the next issue begins

When the print edition is complete, the PDF is generated and the edition record is stored in the adviser desk view. The online edition is live under the school’s publication. The bylines, staff box, and masthead for the issue are recorded from the staff roster. The adviser-visible edition history shows every past issue. The public-facing archive interface for readers is in active development. The assignment board is ready for the next issue. Consent for student data continues as-set; the school controls what is visible and to whom.

The full platform

Five engines — honest about what is built and what is in development

Every feature is labelled honestly: Built means the underlying engine is production-ready. In development means the surface or public-facing interface is in active build. We do not claim otherwise.

Assignment board — pitches, beats, deadlines, and reporter assignments

The assignment board is where the next issue begins. A story pitch lands on the board: a reporter claims it, or an editor-in-chief or section editor assigns it to a specific reporter on the staff roster. Beat assignments tie a reporter to a coverage area across issues — not just for a single story but for the whole season. Deadline tracking is per story: filed, in copy edit, in section edit, at adviser review, cleared for layout, published. Every stage has a visible status the whole desk can see, so an editor knows at a glance which stories are on track and which are late. No story falls through the gap between a reporter’s notebook and the section editor’s queue. The assignment board is built and production-ready.

Built · production-ready

The three-stage editing queue — copy edit, section edit, adviser review, enforced in order

The editing queue enforces the editorial chain at the data layer. A story filed by the reporter moves through three gates in sequence: copy editing, section editing, and adviser review. A story cannot jump from reporter-filed to adviser review without first clearing copy edit and section edit — not because a form makes it inconvenient but because the engine refuses the transition. At each stage the editor reads the story, leaves in-line notes, and either approves the story or returns it to the prior stage with the notes attached. Returned stories carry the editor’s notes and return to the reporter or the stage specified. An adviser at the final stage sees the story in its fully edited state, not a draft that came through a side door under deadline. The three-stage editing queue is built and production-ready.

Built · production-ready

Print layout and online edition from one desk — story-to-spread flow

The multi-surface editor publishes to print and online from the same desk and the same cleared story file. A story that clears the editing queue and passes adviser review moves into layout through the story-to-spread flow: the approved copy lands in the print layout editor with headline, byline, captions, and photos placed to column. The same story file also drives the online edition — the adviser publishes to the web version from the cleared copy, not from a separate paste-in or a second round of reformatting. The print layout covers the newspaper edition; the online edition carries the same published text with its own responsive template. A single cleared story file, two publication surfaces, one adviser approval gate. The multi-surface editor and story-to-spread flow are built and production-ready.

Built · production-ready

Roster-linked bylines, staff box, and beat roster — masthead from the school roster

Every byline on a published story resolves to a real entry on the school staff roster — not typed in free-form by the reporter or section editor. When a story is assigned, the byline is linked to the reporter’s roster entry; when the story publishes, the byline is the reporter’s roster name, not a copy-pasted string that could drift. The staff box and masthead for each issue are generated from the same roster: editor-in-chief, managing editor, section editors, copy editors, reporters, photographers — each position linked to the person who holds it for that issue. Beat assignments are tracked on the roster record across issues, so a section editor can see which reporters cover which beats and for how long. If a reporter’s status changes, the roster update propagates; past bylines remain as the historical record. Roster-linked bylines are built and production-ready.

Built · production-ready

Edition archive — past print PDFs and online editions per school, public interface in development

Edition records are built and stored per school: every published print edition generates a PDF record in the edition history, and every published online edition is stored under the school’s edition archive. The adviser desk view shows every past issue — story by story, editor by editor, beat by beat — with the edition PDF available for download from the desk. The public-facing archive interface — the browsable edition index a reader can open to find last autumn’s issue or the paper’s founding volume — is in active development. Edition records are built and stored; the public-facing browsing surface is being built. The adviser-visible edition history is available now; the public reader archive is honest-off today: in active development, not yet live for public access.

Edition records built · public archive interface in development

Who uses it

Built for the reporter, the editor, and the adviser — the whole newsroom staff on one desk

Reporters and photographers

A reporter sees the assignment board: open pitches, their own assigned stories, beat commitments, and deadlines. They file drafts in the editor and watch the story move through the queue. When a copy editor returns a story with notes, the reporter gets the notes attached to the returned draft — not in a separate email thread that gets buried. A photographer’s credits are on the staff roster alongside the reporters; photo bylines resolve the same way as text bylines.

Copy editors, section editors, and the editor-in-chief

A copy editor sees their editing queue: every story waiting for copy edit review, in order of deadline. A section editor sees the section queue: stories cleared by copy edit, waiting for section review. The editor-in-chief sees the full issue queue — every story, every stage, every deadline. Beat assignments on the roster show which reporters cover which areas, so a section editor can balance coverage. The masthead and staff box for each issue are generated from the roster, not assembled by hand.

The newsroom adviser

The adviser has visibility over the full editing queue at any time. Stories reach the adviser review stage only after clearing copy edit and section edit. The adviser approves a story to print layout and online publication, or returns it with notes. There is no bypass: the publication button does not appear until the adviser gate clears. The adviser can also publish the online edition from the cleared story file, separate from the print layout step. The edition record, including the PDF and the full issue history, is in the adviser desk view.

Adviser editorial approval — the fail-closed gate and what it means for press law

The adviser’s editorial authority is not advisory — it is structural

A scholastic journalism adviser carries editorial and legal responsibility for the publication. In most school districts, the adviser has the authority to review and decline to publish stories that raise legal, factual, or editorial concerns — and in many jurisdictions, that authority is backed by the school board’s publication policy. That authority means nothing if a reporter can publish to the school website directly, bypassing the queue under the deadline.

Journalist builds the adviser gate into the structure of the platform. The adviser does not need to be watching every story in real time; the engine will not permit publication without the gate clearing. The adviser can hold a story at the review stage indefinitely, return it to any earlier stage with notes, or approve it. No reporter, copy editor, or section editor can promote a story past the adviser gate. This is the editorial authority the adviser is supposed to have — made structurally real.

Student data & consent

Newsroom data belongs to the school. Student profiles are never public without opt-in.

Student journalist data — reporter profiles, beat assignments, draft text, published bylines — is owned by the school, not by the platform. No student data is sold to or shared with outside companies or advertisers. Reporter profiles are never made public without explicit opt-in: a reporter’s name appearing on a published byline is a publication credit, not a public-facing profile page that anyone can find. Minor student data is consent-gated: a student must have a valid school roster entry and a school-granted staff role to be on the newsroom desk. The newsroom desk uses no facial recognition — staff are matched to the roster by their school-granted role, not by any face-based lookup.

Consent can be updated or withdrawn at any time. The school controls who has access to the desk, to student draft content, and to the edition records. One-click data export is available in writing — if the school ever leaves the platform, every record leaves with it: edition history, assignment records, byline credits, and staff roster data.

What is built and what is coming — plainly stated

The newsroom desk is built. The public archive interface is in development.

Built and production-ready today: the assignment board (pitches, beat assignments, deadline tracking, full-issue queue visibility); the three-stage editing queue (copy edit, section edit, adviser review, enforced in order at the data layer, return-with-notes at any stage); the multi-surface editor (print layout with story-to-spread flow, online edition publish from the same cleared file); roster-linked bylines (staff box, masthead, beat assignments, all from the school roster); and the adviser fail-closed editorial approval gate (no publication without adviser clearance, enforced at the engine layer).

In active development today: the public-facing edition archive — the browsable index a reader can use to find past issues. Edition records are built and stored, and the adviser desk view shows the full edition history. The public browsing surface for readers is being built; it is honest-off for public access today. There is no live billing or subscription checkout: the platform is free for school newsrooms, and early access is by conversation or free-start interest form, not by live account provisioning. We say all of this directly because journalism advisers and editors-in-chief deserve to know exactly what is production-ready and what is still being finished.

Connected to the school publishing platform

The newspaper desk and the yearbook share one staff roster, one photo library, and one publishing platform.

Journalist is the newspaper desk. yearbook.press is the yearbook desk on the same platform: the same full-surface layout editor, the same roster, the same photo library. A school running both its newspaper and its yearbook shares one staff entry per student, one adviser account, and one pool of cleared photography. Editorial chains are separate — newspaper adviser approval and yearbook adviser approval are distinct gates — but the desk infrastructure is shared. Seen is the recognition layer: the programme that ensures every student journalist, photographer, and editor lands on a page in the publication record — consent-verified and adviser-approved. Assembly is the moment layer: live school events captured and archived, the kind of nights the newspaper covers and the yearbook preserves.

yearbook.press seen.school homeroom.software

Start free · Student journalists, editors-in-chief, and newsroom advisers

Start free or book a conversation — no contract, no billing, no live checkout

Journalist is free for school newsrooms and is in active development. There is no subscription, no per-student fee, and no billing interface today. Starting free captures your interest and puts you in the early-access queue; it is not live account provisioning. A conversation is the other path: we walk through the current state of the desk honestly — the assignment board, the editing queue, the adviser gate, and the multi-surface editor — and discuss what getting your newsroom set up looks like. No pricing commitment. No signup in the legacy sense.

To book a conversation or start the interest form: [email protected].

FAQ

Common questions

How does a story move from a pitch to a published byline?

The path is: pitch on the assignment board → editor assigns to a reporter → reporter files the draft → copy edit → section edit → adviser review (fail-closed) → story-to-spread for print layout and publish to the online edition. The assignment board shows the story’s status at every stage. Every transition is tracked in the engine. A reporter always knows where their story is; an adviser can see the full queue for any story in the issue at any time.

What does “fail-closed adviser approval” mean in practice?

It means the adviser gate is not a courtesy step that editors could skip under deadline pressure. The engine does not permit a story to move from the editing queue to print layout or to the online edition without the adviser gate clearing. Not “it is strongly encouraged” — the transition is refused by the data layer if the gate has not been cleared. The adviser can return the story to the editing queue at any point, specifying the stage it returns to, with the adviser’s notes attached. This is how the newsroom adviser maintains editorial authority without monitoring every step manually.

Can one desk publish both the print newspaper and the online edition?

Yes. The multi-surface editor publishes to print and online from the same cleared story file. A story that clears the editing queue and the adviser gate enters story-to-spread flow for the print layout: headline, byline, captions, and photos placed to column in the print layout editor. The same cleared file drives the online edition — the adviser publishes from the same approval, not from a second copy-paste. Print and online share the editorial chain; they are not two separate copy management workflows.

How do roster-linked bylines work?

Every byline on a published story resolves to a real entry on the school staff roster — not typed in free-form. When a story is assigned, the byline is linked to the reporter’s roster entry. When the story publishes, the byline is the reporter’s roster name, not a hand-typed string that could drift or be misspelled. The staff box and masthead for each issue are generated from the same roster by role. Beat assignments are tracked on the roster across issues. Past bylines stay on the historical record; the current roster reflects the current staff.

Is the platform really free for school newsrooms?

Yes. Journalist is free for school newsrooms — this is the model, not a trial. No contract, no per-student fee, no monthly subscription. The school newspaper gets the full assignment board, editing queue, multi-surface editor, roster-linked bylines, and adviser fail-closed approval at no cost. The money-off posture here means there is no live checkout or billing interface: when you get set up, you do not enter payment information. A conversation or the free start form is the honest next step — we walk through the current state and what getting your newsroom set up looks like.

Does the newspaper desk connect to the yearbook?

Yes. Journalist is the newspaper desk of the same publishing platform that runs the yearbook editor at yearbook.press. A school running both its newspaper and its yearbook on the platform shares one staff roster, one adviser account, and one photo library. A photo taken on the sports beat can be cleared for use in the yearbook. A reporter whose beat is athletics can be credited in both publications from the same roster entry. The editorial chains are separate — newspaper adviser approval and yearbook adviser approval are distinct gates — but the desk, the roster, and the library are shared.

How does the editing queue enforce the editorial chain?

The editing queue runs in a fixed sequence: reporter-filed → copy edit → section edit → adviser review. A story at the copy edit stage cannot jump to adviser review. A story cleared by copy editing moves to section edit next; the engine enforces the order. At any stage an editor can return the story to the prior stage with notes. A story reaches the adviser review stage only after being cleared by both copy editor and section editor. The adviser sees the story in its fully edited state, not a draft that bypassed the queue under deadline.

How is student journalist data handled? What about minors?

Student journalist data — reporter profiles, beat assignments, draft text, bylines — is owned by the school, not by the platform. No student data is sold or shared with outside companies or advertisers. Reporter profiles are never made public without explicit opt-in; a reporter’s name on a byline is a publication credit, not a public-facing profile page. Minor student data is consent-gated: a student must have a valid school roster entry and a school-granted role to be on the newsroom staff. The newsroom desk uses no facial recognition — reporters and editors are matched to the roster by their school-granted role, not by any face-based lookup. Consent can be updated or withdrawn. The school controls who has access to the desk and to student records.

What is the current status of the publication archive?

Edition records are built and stored per school: every published print edition generates a PDF record, and every online edition is stored under the school’s edition history in the adviser desk view. The public-facing archive interface — the browsable edition index a reader can use to find past issues — is in active development. It is honest-off today: edition records exist and are accessible from the desk, but the public browsing surface is being built. We say this directly rather than imply a live public archive that does not yet exist.

Can the adviser intervene at any stage in the editing queue?

Yes. The adviser has visibility over the full editing queue for every story in the issue at any time. The adviser can return any story at any stage — from copy edit, from section edit, or from the adviser review gate — to any earlier stage, with notes. The adviser can also hold a story at the adviser review gate indefinitely: the story sits there until the adviser acts. There is no bypass. The adviser is not locked out of the process until the story reaches the final gate; they can intervene earlier if the copy or the angle warrants it.

When can our newsroom get started?

The platform is in active development and available for early access. The full editorial engine — assignment board, three-stage editing queue, adviser fail-closed approval, multi-surface editor, story-to-spread flow, roster-linked bylines — is production-ready today. To get started, use the “Start free” interest form or email [email protected] to book a conversation. We walk through the current state of the desk, show a story running from pitch to published edition, and discuss what setting up your newsroom on the platform looks like.