Content Adaptation and Distribution

🔄 Quick Recall: In the last lesson, you navigated the ethics of AI in journalism — bias, disclosure, and the authorship line. Now let’s use AI for something entirely practical: getting more reach from the stories you’ve already reported.

The Multi-Format Problem

You spend two days reporting a story. You write it up for the website. But your audience is scattered: some read articles, some scroll social feeds, some subscribe to newsletters, some listen to podcasts. Each format has different conventions, lengths, and audience expectations.

Without AI, creating five versions of one story takes hours. With AI, it takes minutes — because you’re not re-reporting. You’re reformatting.

From Article to Social Media

Social media distills a story into its most compelling element. AI can generate platform-specific versions:

Here's my published article: [paste full text]

Create social media posts for:

1. X/Twitter thread (5-7 tweets, thread format with hook first)
2. LinkedIn post (professional angle, 150-200 words)
3. Instagram caption (conversational, emoji-appropriate, with story hook)
4. Facebook post (community-oriented, encourages discussion)

For each: Lead with the most surprising or impactful finding. Include a call to read the full article. Match the platform's tone.

✅ Quick Check: Why should the social media version lead with the most surprising finding rather than a conventional headline?

Because social media is an attention competition. Users scroll past headlines they’ve seen variations of a thousand times. The surprising finding — the unexpected statistic, the counterintuitive conclusion, the “I didn’t know that” detail — is what stops the scroll. Save the conventional framing for the article itself.

From Article to Newsletter

Newsletters are personal, curated, and context-rich. The adaptation is about adding your perspective, not just summarizing:

Convert this article into a newsletter section:

1. Start with a 1-sentence personal take or observation about the topic
2. Summarize the key finding in 2-3 sentences
3. Add one insight or implication not in the original article
4. End with a question that invites reader engagement
5. Include "Read the full story" link

Keep it under 150 words. Tone should be [conversational / analytical / insider] to match my newsletter voice.

The newsletter version isn’t just shorter — it’s more personal. Your readers subscribe because they value your perspective. The adaptation should deliver that perspective alongside the news.

From Article to Broadcast Script

Print and broadcast are fundamentally different. AI can bridge the gap:

Rewrite this article as a 90-second broadcast news script:

1. Lead with the most visual or dramatic element
2. Use short sentences (max 15 words for easy reading aloud)
3. Write for the ear, not the eye (avoid complex subordinate clauses)
4. Include one suggested soundbite/clip if interviews were conducted
5. End with a forward-looking or "what's next" statement

Time it for approximately 225 words (90 seconds at broadcast pace).

Broadcast writing requires different muscles — short sentences, active voice, visual language. AI handles the conversion; you ensure the facts survive the compression.

From Article to Podcast Show Notes

If you host a podcast or participate in one, AI can prepare you:

I'm discussing this article on a podcast. Create:

1. Episode description (2-3 sentences for the podcast listing)
2. Three talking points I should hit, each with a key fact
3. Two "stories behind the story" — interesting details from my reporting process
4. Three potential listener questions and how I'd answer them
5. A strong closing statement that sums up why this story matters

SEO Adaptation

Different platforms need different search optimization:

Optimize this article for web search:

1. Suggest 3 SEO-friendly headline variations (include target keyword naturally)
2. Write a meta description (155 characters max) that compels clicks
3. Identify 5-7 keywords and phrases this article should rank for
4. Suggest internal links to our other related coverage
5. Write 2-3 subheadings that include key search terms naturally

Building a Distribution Workflow

Create a repeatable process for every major story:

Step 1 — Publish the article. This is your primary, authoritative version.

Step 2 — Generate adaptations. Use AI to create social, newsletter, and broadcast versions.

Step 3 — Review and refine. Check every adaptation for accuracy, nuance, and voice. This takes 10-15 minutes, not hours.

Step 4 — Schedule and distribute. Post to each platform at optimal times.

Step 5 — Monitor and engage. Track which format drives the most engagement. Adjust your distribution mix over time.

The entire post-publication workflow goes from “half a day” to “30 minutes” with AI assistance.

Exercise: Adapt Your Story

Take a recent article (yours or one you admire):

1. Generate all four social media versions using the prompt above
2. Create a newsletter section with your personal take
3. Write a 90-second broadcast script
4. Review all adaptations for accuracy — mark any place where compression changed the meaning
5. Note which adaptation was hardest for AI to get right and why

Key Takeaways

• AI turns one reported story into multiple formats (social, newsletter, broadcast, podcast) in minutes instead of hours
• Each format has different conventions: social needs hooks, newsletters need perspective, broadcast needs short sentences
• Always review AI adaptations for compressed meaning, lost nuances, and dropped qualifiers
• SEO adaptation ensures your story is discoverable through search as well as social
• A repeatable distribution workflow (publish → adapt → review → distribute → monitor) maximizes reach systematically
• The reporting is the value; AI just helps deliver that value to more people in the formats they prefer

Up Next: In the final lesson, you’ll build your personal AI journalism toolkit — combining everything you’ve learned into a workflow customized for your beat, your standards, and your deadlines.