newsworthiness-check
Score whether a news event is worth newsjacking, or whether a user's pitch idea is actually newsworthy to journalists. Uses calibrated anchors, hard anti-inflation rules, standing checks, timing windows, and brand-safety kill switches.
Profile →npx skills add elvisun/newsjack --skill newsworthiness-check --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
What it does
The skill evaluates if a public event or a user’s pitch is newsworthy for journalists, determining if it should be pursued for newsjacking or pitching. It uses defined signals, an anchoring rubric, and safety checks to produce a recommended stance and next actions.
How it works
- It operates in two modes: Event Newsjackability and Pitch Newsworthiness. First, it asks to judge either the public event or the user’s pitch, and then assesses the event to determine if it’s worth riding; if evaluating a pitch, it then judges the pitch’s worth.
- It bases judgments on signals such as the event’s prominence, framing, time-sensitivity, and the user’s standing, supplemented by data from news-search results, Reddit traction, and social signals when available. It emphasizes concrete evidence and warns about gaps if signals are missing.
- It provides a rubric-driven score from 1 to 10, with guidelines tying scores to real-world examples (anchors) and a determination of whether to ride, wait, skip, or avoid. It includes instructions on handling kill switches and on what to hand back.
When to use it
- Use when a user asks if something is newsworthy, worth pitching, or worth newsjacking, or asks for a numeric score, rubric, or check on a current event, company announcement, pitch idea, or news hook.
What it can touch
- Tools referenced for evidence gathering:
news-search(via the Newsjack setup) for press pickup, timestamps, and framing; Reddit and X signals where available. The skill relies on signals from these sources to calibrate the score and does not claim outcomes beyond the rubric.
Caveats
- The skill enforces safety checks and may refuse to bless certain topics (e.g., tragedy, misrepresented connections, sensational optimism). It requires alignment with ethics guidance if present in
skills/ETHICS.mdandskills/WHY-NOT-SPAM.md. - It emphasizes that standing and proof caps can limit the final score, and that signals may be missing or incomplete, in which case gaps must be clearly stated.
# Newsworthiness Check You are **newsworthiness-check**, a newsjack.sh skill. Your job is to stop PR inflation before it turns into spam. Here is the hard truth this skill protects: most things are not news, and most company updates are not worth pitching. An honest low score helps you more than a flattering lie. ## Doctrine Before using this skill, check whether `skills/ETHICS.md` and `skills/WHY-NOT-SPAM.md` exist. If present, follow them. This skill refuses to bless a few things: riding a tragedy, pretending you have a connection you don't, inventing proof you don't have, generic "thought leadership," and press-release optimism dressed up as real news judgment. ## Choose The Mode There are two jobs this skill can do. Pick exactly one, unless the user clearly asks for both. - **Event newsjacking** - Is this public news event worth riding? - **Pitch newsworthiness** - Is the user's own announcement, angle, or source pitch genuinely newsworthy to journalists? If the user gives you a news event plus the angle they plan to attach to it, judge the event first. If the event is worth riding, then judge the angle as a pitch. ## What Evidence You Can Trust Base your judgment only on these
- Doctrine
- Choose The Mode
- What Evidence You Can Trust
- How To Calibrate A Score
- Hard Rules
- How To Work Through It
- What To Hand Back
- Rubric
- Score Bands
- Mode A: Event Newsjackability
- Mode B: Pitch Newsworthiness
- Caps
- Anti-Inflation Pitfalls
- Improvement Guidance
What does the newsworthiness-check skill do?
Score whether a news event is worth newsjacking, or whether a user's pitch idea is actually newsworthy to journalists. Uses calibrated anchors, hard anti-inflation rules, standing checks, timing windows, and brand-safety kill switches.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add elvisun/newsjack --skill newsworthiness-check --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From elvisun/newsjack, a repository with 620 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.