The best AI prompts for journalists, 22 to copy (2026)

The best AI prompts for journalists state the role, the task, the context and the format, and never replace fact-checking. This library has 22 prompts to copy into ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot or Gemini: interviews, headlines, documents and SEO. For a structured path, see the AI program at Founderz.

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What you’ll take from this

This library of prompts for journalists gives you instructions ready to copy and the method to adapt them to your beat, your outlet and your newsroom workflow.

• 22 prompts for journalists ready to copy: interview prep, pull quotes, headlines, ledes, report analysis and meta descriptions.
• Which tool fits which task: ChatGPT for general use, Claude for long documents, Copilot inside Word, Outlook and Teams, Gemini in Google Workspace.
• A five-field method for designing your own prompts, with a weak prompt turned into a strong one.
• The checklist to run before publishing any text made with generative AI: editorial responsibility stays human.

ChatGPT prompts for journalists

ChatGPT is the most versatile place to start: it works with natural language, accepts attached files and holds long conversations. Text in brackets is an example: swap it for your case and keep the rest. Library reviewed in October 2026. Before pasting anything, remove personal data and material from confidential sources.

Interviews: prepare, summarize and pull quotes

Prepare interview questions

Act as a [community news] reporter with ten years of interviewing experience. I am going to interview [profile of the interviewee] about [topic]. Generate ten open questions ordered from general to specific, including two tough but respectful questions. Avoid yes or no questions and anything a quick search would answer.
Context: the interview lasts [30 minutes] and will run as [a Q&A on the website].
Format: numbered list, one line per question and, below it, a possible follow-up in parentheses.

Summarize a transcript in order

I am pasting the transcript of a [40-minute] interview with [name and title]. Summarize it in eight key points in chronological order. Mark any unclear phrase with [?] instead of interpreting it.
Format: numbered list, maximum 25 words per point.

Pull verbatim quotes

Identify the three most relevant verbatim quotes in the transcript I am pasting for a story about [topic]. Copy each one exactly, without rewording or correcting. Note in parentheses the minute or paragraph where it appears.
If no sentence works as a direct quote, say so instead of inventing one.

Headlines, ledes and news stories

Five informative headlines

Act as the [business] editor of a digital news outlet. From the text I am pasting, write five informative headlines under 70 characters, in a direct style, with no sensationalism or clickbait. Each headline must include the most relevant fact or the subject of the story.
Audience: [general readers].
Format: one line per headline, with the character count in parentheses.

A lede that answers the 5 Ws

Write a lede of 40 words maximum with this information: [paste the facts]. It must answer what happened, who is involved, when, where and why it matters, in that order of importance. Use only the facts I gave you and do not add figures or quotes.
Tone: [neutral and clear].

An original article from someone else’s story

Act as a senior writer for [arts and entertainment] at a digital outlet. I am giving you a story from another outlet: use it only as a factual starting point. Write a new article of [400 to 600] words with its own angle, useful context for the reader and a different structure, without copying sentences, headlines or ledes from the original.
Do not invent data, dates, figures, quotes or sources: if a fact is not in the story, leave it out. Flag in brackets what needs verifying.
Format: headline, lede and body with three subheads. [US] English.

SEO and editorial planning

Meta description for the story

Write a meta description under 160 characters for the story I am pasting. Put the keyword [main keyword] near the start and add an informative hook, with no promises the text does not keep.
Give me three numbered options with the character count.

Editorial calendar for the week

Act as the section head for [local news] at an outlet with [three reporters]. Suggest ten story ideas for next week based on [the local calendar, holidays and seasonal data]. For each idea give: angle, main source to contact, recommended format (news story, feature or service piece) and urgency level.
Format: table with four columns.

Claude prompts for journalists

Claude stands out with long documents and with text that needs careful language. You can paste a full report, a court ruling or a case file and ask for work that draws on all of it, which helps with investigative journalism and large volumes of data.

Long documents and investigation

Synthesize a long report

I am pasting a [120-page] report on [topic]. Act as an investigative reporter: summarize it in fifteen points, flag the three most relevant figures with the page where they appear and list any internal contradiction. End with three possible story angles ranked by public interest.
Do not fill in data that is not in the text and always cite the source page.

Compare two documents

Compare the two documents I am pasting: [the 2025 and 2026 city budgets]. Return a table with the five main differences (line item, previous amount, new amount, percentage change and comment) and a list of line items that appear in one document and not the other.
Do not run calculations you cannot justify with the figures in the text.

Map of claims to verify

Read the text I am pasting and extract every checkable claim: figures, dates, names, titles and quotes. Return a table with the claim, the type of data, the primary source I should consult to confirm it and the risk level if it were false.
Do not treat any claim as verified: your job is to list what I must check.

Careful drafting

Rewrite in my style

I am giving you three of my own texts as a style sample: [paste three paragraphs]. Analyze my voice in five traits (sentence length, vocabulary, tone, use of data and endings). Then rewrite the draft I am pasting in that voice, without changing any fact.
Flag in brackets any sentence where you hesitated between two meanings.

Copilot prompts for journalists

Microsoft Copilot works inside Word, Outlook, Teams and Excel with the files you can access, so write the prompt by referring to the open document, email or meeting instead of pasting the text. If your newsroom runs on Microsoft 365, these are the most convenient for daily work.

Word, Outlook, Teams and Excel

Write a story in Word from your notes

Use the notes in this document to write a [450]-word story about [yesterday's city council meeting]. Structure: headline, lede with the 5 Ws, body in order of importance and a close with the next relevant date. Keep the quotes exactly as they appear in my notes and mark with [verify] any fact that is not in them.
Tone: informative and neutral.

Interview request in Outlook

Write an email to [name and title] asking for a [20-minute] interview about [topic] for [outlet name]. Explain in two sentences why I am writing to this person, offer three time slots in [next week] and state the format (in person, phone or video call).
Tone: warm and professional, 120 words maximum.

Summarize a press conference in Teams

From today's Teams meeting transcript, summarize the press conference in six points with the main announcements, the figures mentioned and the questions left unanswered. Add the most quotable verbatim remarks with the name of who said them.
Format: bulleted list and, at the end, a follow-up list with two questions for the press office.

Analyze a data table in Excel

Analyze the table in this Excel workbook with [incident data by neighborhood]. Identify the three outliers, the trends over the last [six months] and one possible explanation for each that I must check. Suggest two charts that would help tell the story to a general reader.
Do not draw causal conclusions: phrase them as hypotheses.

Gemini prompts for journalists

Gemini works well inside Google Workspace: Docs, Gmail, Drive and Sheets. Name the file or the thread you mean and make clear what it should produce.

Google Docs, Drive and Sheets

Summarize several Drive files

Review the documents in the [Housing investigation] folder in my Drive. Build a timeline of events with date, source and originating document, and a list of the information gaps I still need to cover.
Format: three-column table and, below it, five open questions for [the housing department].

Draft a feature in Google Docs

Using the notes in this document, propose the structure of a [1,500]-word feature about [topic]: headline, lede, five sections with subheads and an idea for the ending. For each section, say which source or fact in my notes supports it.
Do not write filler: if information is missing, say so.

Spreadsheet data for a story

Analyze the spreadsheet [Budgets by district]. Find the ten most striking differences between districts and write three informative sentences with the most relevant data for a data story. In each sentence, say which cell or range the figure comes from.
Format: numbered list.

More AI prompts for journalists: audiences, 5 Ws and verification

These work with any tool and cover creative uses that do not fit one task: adapting a story to several audiences, extracting the 5 Ws or checking a text before publishing.

One story for three audiences

Take the story I am pasting and adapt it for three audiences: [general readers, industry professionals and the subscriber newsletter]. For each version write a headline and a 40-word lede, changing the vocabulary and the level of detail but not the facts.
Format: three blocks with the audience name as a subhead.

The 5 Ws of a long document

From the text I am pasting, extract the five Ws of the story: what happened, who is involved, when, where and why it matters. Add a sixth line with what the text does not make clear and I should ask the sources.
Format: six lines, 25 words maximum each.

Bias and language check

Review the text I am pasting as a copy editor and as a reader advocate. Flag loaded adjectives, generalizations, sources that appear from only one side and terms that could stigmatize. Suggest a neutral alternative for each case.
Format: table with excerpt, problem and alternative. Do not change any fact.

How I built these prompts: five fields to design your own

A journalism prompt is the written instruction you give a generative AI tool to produce or transform news content. Every prompt in this library follows the same five-field design, and the gap between a generic answer and a usable draft almost always sits there. AI responds to what you give it: vague input produces vague output.

From a weak prompt to a strong one

The first prompt makes the AI guess the audience, the length and the facts. The second one supplies them, which is why it needs almost no correction afterward.

Five practical tips

1. Give one request per message. If you need several tasks, chain them in numbered steps.
2. Paste the real data and quotes into the prompt. A language model does not look up the truth: it predicts the most likely next word.
3. Always ask for a specific output format: length, number of options and structure.
4. Add a limits sentence, for example “if a fact is not in the text, say so instead of inventing it”.
5. Test the prompt over two or three uses, refine it and save the version that works as a template.

How the prompt changes by tool

• ChatGPT: accepts files and long conversations. It works with the prompts on this page as written; ask for one change at a time.
• Gemini: works with Google Docs, Gmail and Drive. Name the file or the thread you mean and make clear what it should produce.
• Copilot: works inside Word, Outlook, Teams and Excel. Refer to the open document, email or meeting instead of pasting the text.
• Claude: built for long documents and careful drafting. Paste the full text and ask it to cite the source page for each point.

AI use cases in investigative journalism and the newsroom

Artificial intelligence in journalism is not only about writing faster. Machine learning and natural language processing make it possible to analyze large volumes of data, look for patterns and trends in databases and sort unstructured data such as PDFs, court rulings or leaked emails. Investigative networks such as OCCRP and GIJN have applied these techniques for years, and LatAm Journalism Review collects examples from Latin America.

• Data analysis: pattern recognition in spreadsheets with thousands of rows, to find outliers worth a phone call.
• Creative uses: story angle ideas, social formats and adapting one piece to several audiences.
• Audience interaction: chatbots that answer common reader questions with content that has already been published and reviewed.
• Transcription and translation: turning audio into text and checking versions in other languages, always with human review.

Since ChatGPT and other AI models reached newsrooms in 2022 and 2023 and settled in during 2024, the question is no longer whether to use them but how to do it with judgment. A generative AI model runs on an algorithm that predicts text: it is good for sorting and proposing, not for replacing the journalist’s public-interest eye or source checking. Write each prompt as a precise request and treat AI as a support tool for journalistic content, not as a source.

Good AI prompting is a toolkit of best practices for a wide range of tasks. Use AI tools like ChatGPT to help journalists with the writing process: start with a summary of the documents and data, ask for a step-by-step plan and keep follow-up questions for the curveballs. Specificity matters most when the deadline is close: give the subject-matter context, ask for plain English and keep a copy-paste library of the prompts that work, including ones for podcasts and news delivery. Ethics and legal considerations come with the job: acknowledge when AI helped, protect privacy and the confidentiality of sources, and make sure the news organization and the journalist take responsibility for what gets published. Test the relevance of every insight against your own reporting.

How to verify AI-generated content before publishing

AI can invent data, dates and quotes that sound plausible but are false. This is called hallucination, which is why all AI-generated content must be checked against primary sources before publishing. Fact-checking is the red line that you do not delegate in the newsroom.

1. Check every number against the original source, not against the AI answer.
2. Verify direct quotes against the real transcript or recording.
3. Check names, titles and dates one by one.
4. Review the links and references the AI suggests, because it sometimes invents URLs.
5. Read the full text looking for claims without an attributed source and for bias in the framing.

Verification adds minutes, not hours, and it is the difference between using AI with judgment and publishing an error under your byline. AI reproduces biases from its training data and tends to homogenize coverage when many outlets use the same prompts: add your own voice and editorial judgment. Legal responsibility rests with the journalist and the outlet, never with the tool.

Which AI tools journalists use in newsrooms

Journalists mostly use generative AI tools built on large language models (LLMs), such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, plus chatbots built into the office suite and transcription assistants. Start with one, learn to write good prompts and expand when you need to. Many offer a free version that is enough to begin.

Plans and features change: check each tool’s current terms before you decide.

To see the same method applied to another writing trade, read our guide to AI tools for copywriting drafts.

Frequently asked questions about AI prompts for journalists

These are the questions that come up most often when a journalist starts using prompts with ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot or Gemini in daily work.

What is the best AI for journalists?

There is no single best AI: it depends on the task. ChatGPT stands out for writing, summaries and text analysis. Claude does better with long documents and Copilot fits if you work in Word, Outlook and Excel. Gemini is the natural choice inside Google Workspace.

What prompts do journalists use with ChatGPT?

The most common ones prepare interview questions, summarize transcripts, suggest headlines, write ledes and draft meta descriptions. All of them work better with a defined role, context and format. The ChatGPT prompts on this page cover those cases.

What are the 5 Ws of journalism and how do you use them in a prompt?

The 5 Ws are what, who, when, where and why. In a prompt you can ask the AI to extract them from a long text before you start writing. There is a ready prompt in the section with more prompts.

Can I use Claude to analyze long reports?

Yes. Claude handles long documents well, so it suits synthesizing a report, comparing budgets or listing claims to verify. Ask it to cite the source page for each point so you can check it quickly.

Is Copilot useful for writing stories and emails to sources?

Yes, as support inside Word and Outlook: it drafts from your notes and prepares interview requests. It works with the files you can access, so check with your IT team which data your version processes. You review the final text.

Can I use Gemini with my Google Drive files?

Yes, inside Google Workspace you can ask it to summarize documents, build a timeline or analyze a spreadsheet. Name the file or folder and ask it to say where each fact comes from.

Do I need to know how to code to write prompts?

No. AI tools work with natural language: you write the instruction as you would give it to a colleague. What improves with practice is clarity about what you ask for, who you write for and in what format.

Who is responsible for an error published with AI?

Responsibility is always human. The journalist and the outlet that publish the content answer for its accuracy, not the tool. That is why fact-checking before publishing is not optional.

Can AI replace fact-checking?

No. AI can help you find facts to check, but it generates plausible information, not necessarily true information, and it can invent quotes or figures. Checking against primary sources remains a human task.

Your next step with AI prompts for journalists

Pick one repetitive task you do every week, copy the closest prompt, change what is in brackets and measure how much time you recover. Then change a single field, such as the role or the format, and compare. That teaches you what each part controls much faster than reading theory.

If you want structured training, the AI program at Founderz, an online business school specialized in applied AI and EdTech, grew out of an AI training project developed with Microsoft. You will learn to structure prompts, verify content and apply them in your newsroom with judgment.