Generate 10-story editorial calendar
AI creates complete calendar with story titles and angles for your beat.
Generate 10-story editorial calendar
River's Editorial Calendar Generator creates a complete 10-day story plan for your beat. You provide your coverage area and optional context, and the AI generates 10 distinct story ideas with working titles, angle descriptions, source suggestions, and reporting approaches. Whether you're planning coverage for news, newsletters, or specialized beats, you get a structured calendar balancing breaking news, features, profiles, and enterprise reporting.
Unlike vague story lists, we create actionable plans. The AI understands journalism planning (variety of story types, mix of quick and deep reporting, balance of reactive and proactive coverage, source diversity, audience appeal), suggests specific angles not generic topics, and creates realistic plans matching your resources. You get a calendar that helps you move from reactive to strategic coverage.
This tool is perfect for beat reporters planning coverage, newsletter writers mapping content, editors managing teams, and journalists transitioning to proactive reporting. If you're stuck in reactive mode or unsure what stories to pursue, this tool helps. Use it weekly or monthly to plan strategic coverage that serves readers beyond daily news.
What Makes Editorial Planning Effective
Editorial planning succeeds when it balances reader needs, journalistic value, and practical resources. Effective planning means anticipating important stories before they break, mixing quick and deep reporting, balancing hard news with human stories, serving diverse audience interests, planning proactively while staying flexible for breaking news, and creating variety (not ten versions of same story). Weak planning just reacts to news as it happens. Strong planning positions you to cover what matters thoroughly rather than chasing everything shallowly.
The best editorial calendars mix story types strategically. Hard news (what happened) keeps you current and relevant. Enterprise reporting (what's happening that others miss) distinguishes your coverage. Features and profiles (human stories) create connection and context. Explainers (how things work) serve confused readers. Data journalism (what numbers show) reveals patterns. Mix all these. Don't do only breaking news or only features. Readers need variety. Your journalism benefits from working different muscles. Plan balance intentionally.
To improve planning, audit your recent coverage (what types of stories?, what voices?, what's missing?). Talk to readers (what do they need to know?). Identify patterns and trends before they're obvious. Plan stories matching your resources (can you actually report this well given time and access?). Build source relationships proactively (don't wait until you need them). Schedule regular planning time (planning IS reporting work, not distraction from it). Good planning doesn't mean ignoring breaking news. It means covering breaking news from position of knowledge and preparation rather than perpetual reaction. Proactive beats reactive.
What You Get
10 distinct story ideas for your beat
Working titles and specific angles
Source suggestions and reporting approaches
Mix of story types (news, features, profiles, enterprise)
Realistic plan matching journalistic resources
How It Works
- 1Specify your beatProvide coverage area and any relevant context
- 2AI generates 10-story calendarOur AI creates complete editorial plan in 2 to 3 minutes
- 3Review story ideasRead through titles, angles, and reporting approaches
- 4Adapt and executeAdjust to your specific context and start reporting
Frequently Asked Questions
Are these story ideas I can just copy and execute?
They're starting points requiring adaptation. The AI doesn't know your specific community, sources, or recent coverage. Use suggestions as inspiration and structure. Adapt angles to your context. Some ideas will fit perfectly. Others need significant adjustment. Think of this as brainstorming with a colleague, not receiving assignments from an editor who knows your beat.
How should I balance this plan with breaking news?
Stay flexible. This calendar provides proactive coverage when breaking news doesn't demand attention. Breaking news takes priority when it happens, but you return to planned coverage between breaking stories. The calendar prevents you from having nothing to work on when news is slow. It's a plan, not rigid schedule. Adapt as needed.
Can I use this for newsletter planning?
Yes, absolutely. Newsletter writers benefit from planned coverage variety. The calendar helps you mix types of content, plan ahead for topics requiring research, and avoid reactive scrambling for newsletter content. Adapt story suggestions to newsletter format (often more analysis and curation than breaking news). Same planning principles apply.
What if my beat is very specific or niche?
Provide detailed context. The more specific your beat description and context, the better suggestions. (City government, focus on budget and development) gets better suggestions than (local news). Include recent coverage, upcoming events, or specific focuses. The AI adapts to specificity. Generic input gets generic output. Specific input gets useful suggestions.
Should I create new calendar every week or use one for longer?
Depends on your pace. Weekly or biweekly works for fast-moving beats. Monthly works for slower beats or deeper enterprise work. Use it when you need planning structure. Some journalists plan Monday mornings. Others plan monthly. Find rhythm matching your beat and publication schedule. Regular planning prevents perpetual reaction mode.
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