A first-pass alert agent automatically drafts a short story brief when a breaking story is detected — before any reporter is assigned. The brief answers: what happened, who is involved, what the immediate significance is, and what the outstanding unknowns are. Editors receive this brief alongside the alert, enabling immediate assignment decision and brief handover rather than cold-start research.
Building the First-Pass Alert Agent
Input: Monitoring agent alert (headline + source + timestamp + key entities). Enrichment: Agent queries archive for background context on key entities (who are the people/organisations involved? What relevant previous coverage exists?). Drafting: Agent uses the wire item + background context to draft a 150-word story brief answering What/Who/Where/When/Why/Outstanding unknowns. Fact-check pass: Agent runs key claims in the brief through a quick multi-engine check (high-confidence claims only — low-confidence claims are flagged as unverified). Output: Formatted alert with story brief + background links + verification status sent to editor in Slack or email. Total time from wire item to editor-ready alert: 90–120 seconds.