Follow-ups

Reporting rarely ends when an article is published. Developing stories require future check-ins, scheduled follow-up interviews, public records requests, and subsequent coverage milestones.

Follow-ups provide a dedicated task management workspace in Veridis News Desk designed specifically for newsroom tracking. Each follow-up is linked to its parent story.

What a Follow-up is

A Follow-up represents an actionable newsroom task connected directly to an article. Common uses include:

• Calling a police spokesperson or agency PIO tomorrow morning for updated numbers.
• Tracking an expected city council vote next Tuesday following an initial report.
• Reminding a reporter to verify a public records fulfillment deadline in two weeks.
• Revisiting a published story after 30 days to examine developments.

Creating a Follow-up

Newsrooms can create Follow-ups through two entry points:

1. From the Story Drawer

1. Open any story in the Newsroom to reveal the Story Drawer.
2. Locate the Follow-ups section and click Add Follow-up.
3. Fill in the title, notes, assignee, and due date.
4. Click Save Follow-up. The follow-up is linked to its parent story.

2. From the Follow-ups workspace

1. Navigate to Veridis News → Follow-ups in the WordPress administration menu.
2. Click the New Follow-up button.
3. Select the parent story from the article selector.
4. Enter task details and assign the team member responsible.

Follow-up fields

Each Follow-up includes the following operational fields:

• Title: A clear, actionable description of the task (e.g., “Call mayor’s press office regarding budget veto”).
• Notes: Additional context, phone numbers, interview questions, or links to related documents.
• Parent Story: The specific WordPress post to which this task belongs.
• Assignee: The reporter, editor, or researcher responsible for completing the task.
• Due Date: Target date and time for completing the follow-up.
• Status: The current state of the follow-up (Open, Done, or Cancelled).

Follow-up statuses

• Open: The task is active and awaiting action.
• Done: The follow-up has been completed (e.g., the interview was conducted or the records were received).
• Cancelled: The task was abandoned or is no longer relevant due to changing news developments.

The Follow-ups workspace

The dedicated Follow-ups view organizes all open tasks across the newsroom into summary buckets:

• Overdue: Tasks whose due date has passed without being marked Done. These appear highlighted in red at the top of the workspace.
• Due today: Tasks scheduled for action during the current calendar day.
• Upcoming: Future follow-ups scheduled beyond today.
• No deadline: Open background tasks that do not have a specific target date.
• Total open: Count of all active follow-ups across the publication.

Searching and filtering Follow-ups

Editors can filter the follow-up queue to focus on specific assignments:

• Status Filter: View Open tasks (default), Done tasks, Cancelled tasks, or All.
• Due State: Filter for Overdue, Due today, Upcoming, or No deadline.
• Assignee: Focus on follow-ups assigned to you or filter by a specific reporter to review upcoming work in editorial meetings.
• Search: Search across follow-up titles, notes, and parent article headlines.

The story relationship

The follow-up is linked to its parent story:

• In the Follow-ups workspace, each item displays a link to its parent article, showing the article’s current status and author.
• In the Story Drawer, opening the article displays related follow-ups tied to that piece.
• Related follow-ups remain available with the story.