CRAFT Tutorials · Advanced
The Journalist Process cookbook isn’t eighteen separate tools — it’s one pipeline. This walkthrough follows a single story the whole way: spot a trend, research it, pitch it, draft it, fact-check it, get it approved, publish it, and read the response — with each step handing its work to the next.
Before you start: add the cookbook to your project first. If you haven’t, see the Journalist Process Cookbook page for the one-step setup. You’ll know you’re ready when CRAFT can list the cookbook’s recipes.
How the pipeline flows
The cookbook moves a story through seven stages, and the order matters because each stage feeds the next. Research produces a validated angle; the pitch turns it into an assignment; drafting turns the assignment into prose; fact-checking verifies that prose against its own sources; the editorial gate decides if it’s ready; publishing launches it; engagement reads the response and points you at the next story. An orchestrator recipe sits on top, tracking where you are and checking the conditions before it lets you advance — so a draft can’t skip fact-checking on the way to publication.
- Stage 1 — Research (René): find the angle and confirm it’s worth doing.
- Stage 2 — Pitching & Assignment (Nellie): turn the angle into an editor-ready pitch.
- Stage 3 — Writing & Drafting (Dominique): outline, draft, and headline the piece.
- Stage 4 — Editing & Fact-Checking (Fernand): verify every claim against its sources.
- Stage 5 — Final Review & Approval (Nellie): rate readiness and make the go/no-go call.
- Stage 6 — Publishing & Distribution (Auguste): launch and amplify the approved piece.
- Stage 7 — Engagement & Analytics (Nellie): read the response and plan the follow-up.
Our example story for this walkthrough: you’ve noticed local coffee shops in your town quietly raising prices, and you want to find out why. We’ll carry that one idea through all seven stages.
Good to know: each stage is led by its own specialist. You don’t have to summon them by hand — starting a stage brings in the right one. You can also ask for any of them by name if you want a specific perspective.
Start: let the orchestrator place you
Begin with the orchestrator. It asks where you are and routes you to the right stage — here, you have an idea but nothing else, so it starts you in research:
✓ You’ll know it worked when CRAFT (as Nellie) places you at the research stage and offers to begin with the Trend Discovery Engine.
Stage 1 · Research the angle
René takes the rough idea and works it into a defensible angle: explores the trend, pressure-tests whether the story is viable, and lays out a research plan with deadlines:
Keep the sources René surfaces — the cookbook expects attribution to travel with the story from here on, so the fact-check later can trace every claim back to where it came from.
✓ You’ll know it worked when you have one validated angle (say, “small roasters are absorbing green-coffee cost spikes that chains pass on”) with a go verdict and a dated research plan.
Stage 2 · Pitch it
Now hand the angle to Nellie. She turns it into an editor-ready pitch and helps you anticipate the questions an editor will ask:
✓ You’ll know it worked when you have a pitch with a clear scope, a hook, and answers ready for the obvious pushback — the thing you’d actually send an editor.
Stage 3 · Draft it
With the assignment set, Dominique builds the blueprint, drafts the piece, and generates headline and lead options. She’ll explain her choices as she goes:
Honest note: the draft is a starting point, not a finished article. If a number or quote can’t be confirmed yet, the cookbook marks it unverified and carries it forward to the fact-check rather than dressing it up as settled — that’s the next stage’s whole job.
✓ You’ll know it worked when you have a complete draft with its sources still attached and a headline you’d be willing to run.
Stage 4 · Fact-check it
This is the stage the pipeline protects. Fernand checks the draft claim by claim, verifies it against your own labeled sources, and scans for legal, ethical, and reputational risk before anyone signs off:
How it stays honest: a claim with no matching source in your registry comes back unverifiable, no matter how plausible it sounds — so you fix it before it ships, not after. Don’t borrow this time against the deadline; it’s the part that protects you.
✓ You’ll know it worked when every claim is marked verified, unverified, or unverifiable, with the unresolved ones called out for you to chase down.
Stage 5 · Get it approved
Now Nellie rates readiness and makes the call. The editorial quality gate scores five dimensions — clarity, structure, tone, argument, engagement — and it’s a weakest-link test, not an average: one weak dimension sends the piece back even if the rest are strong:
Two different checks: the gate judges how the piece reads, not whether it’s true — accuracy was Fernand’s job in the previous stage. If an editorial review surfaces a factual gap, it routes back to fact-checking rather than being scored as a writing flaw.
✓ You’ll know it worked when you get a clear go or no-go — and if it’s a go, it comes with its conditions (sources on record, the central figure confirmed, a fair-comment line for anyone named critically).
Stage 6 · Publish and amplify
Once it’s approved, Auguste packages the piece for launch across your channels and plans how to extend its reach:
✓ You’ll know it worked when you have a launch plan per channel and a tiered amplification plan — and Auguste worked only from the approved version, with its conditions still attached.
Stage 7 · Read the response
Finally, close the loop. Nellie reads the engagement — sentiment, themes, any issues raised — and turns it into your next move: drafted responses, follow-up story ideas, and a calendar:
✓ You’ll know it worked when you have a read on how the piece landed and at least one concrete follow-up — which is where the next trip through the pipeline begins.
Tips for a smooth run
- Go in order. Research, pitch, draft, fact-check, review, publish, engagement. A later stage expects the earlier stage’s output; the orchestrator will hold you in place if a condition isn’t met.
- Keep sources with the story. Attribution captured during research is what makes the fact-check possible later. A claim with no source becomes unverifiable, not “probably fine.”
- Protect the fact-check. It’s the stage most tempting to compress under deadline and the one that protects you. Budget the time; don’t borrow it.
- The “go” carries conditions. Nellie’s approval is never unconditional — read the conditions, because they’re the record of why it was cleared.
- Ask a specialist directly. Want Fernand’s eye during drafting? Just ask — the personas stay available across the whole pipeline.
Common questions
Do I have to use all eighteen recipes? No — but the stages build on each other, and skipping the early ones means re-doing work later. The fact-check in particular only works if research kept its sources.
Does the cookbook guarantee my article is accurate or that it’ll get published? No. It drafts, checks against your sources, and flags what it can’t confirm — it doesn’t certify truth or promise an outcome. The unverifiable claims it surfaces are yours to resolve, and the publish decision is a judgment call, made with its conditions stated.
Can I run it again for the next story? Yes. Start a fresh trip through the orchestrator; the follow-ups from the engagement stage are often the seed for the next one.
That’s the full run: trend to published and beyond, each step feeding the next, with the fact-check and the editorial gate doing the work that keeps it honest. A good next step: revisit the cookbook page to download it, or start your own story through the orchestrator.