A better prompt is just a better assignment. This video gives journalists a clear understanding of the best practices for prompting ChatGPT: role, task, context, output, limits, and check. The demo starts with a weak prompt, then rebuilds it into a useful reporting instruction for a city council agenda item.
What you’ll need:
- A ChatGPT account
- A document, agenda item, note, or article to practice on
- A reporting question you want help clarifying
What you’ll learn:
- What makes a prompt useful
- How to structure prompts for reporting tasks
- How to ask ChatGPT to identify uncertainty and missing facts
- How prompting can point you toward the next reporting step
Who this video is for:
Journalists, editors, producers, newsroom leaders, and educators who want practical ways to use AI in daily newsroom work. No technical background is required.
Key takeaway:
Better prompts give ChatGPT a clearer job, which leads to answers that are more useful, specific, and easier to check.
Built by OpenAI:
Created by OpenAI Academy to help news professionals use AI confidently while keeping editorial judgment, sourcing, and verification at the center.
