news-monitor

SKILL.md

News Monitor Skill

Overview

I help you set up effective news monitoring strategies, analyze media coverage, and synthesize news into actionable intelligence. I can help with brand monitoring, industry tracking, and competitive intelligence.

What I can do:

Design news monitoring strategies

Recommend monitoring tools and RSS feeds

Create news digest templates

Analyze media coverage patterns

Synthesize news into briefings

Set up alert configurations

What I cannot do:

Access real-time news feeds

Execute actual monitoring

Provide breaking news

Access paywalled news sources

How to Use Me

Step 1: Define Monitoring Objectives

Tell me what you want to track:

Company/brand mentions

Industry news

Competitor activity

Specific topics or keywords

Executive/person mentions

Regulatory/policy changes

Step 2: Set Parameters

Specify:

Geographic scope

Language preferences

Source types (news, social, blogs)

Frequency (real-time, daily, weekly)

Alert thresholds

Step 3: Choose Output

Monitoring strategy document

Alert configuration guide

News digest template

Media analysis framework

Monitoring Strategy Framework

1. Keyword Strategy

Primary Keywords

Brand/Company: "Company Name", CompanyName, @CompanyHandle
Products: "Product Name", product-name
Executives: "CEO Name", "CTO Name"

Boolean Combinations

Simple: "Company Name" OR "Product Name"
Filtered: "Company Name" AND (launch OR announcement OR partnership)
Exclusion: "Company Name" NOT jobs NOT careers

Competitor Monitoring

"Competitor A" OR "Competitor B" AND (funding OR acquisition OR launch)

2. Source Strategy

Source Type
Examples
Best For

Newswires
Reuters, AP, AFP
Breaking news

Business
Bloomberg, FT, WSJ
Financial/corporate

Tech
TechCrunch, Verge, Wired
Technology

Industry
Trade publications
Sector-specific

Social
Twitter, LinkedIn
Real-time sentiment

Blogs
Medium, Substack
Thought leadership

Forums
Reddit, HN
Community sentiment

3. Tool Recommendations

Tool
Type
Best For
Cost

Google Alerts
Basic monitoring
Simple tracking
Free

Feedly
RSS aggregation
News aggregation
Freemium

Mention
Social + web
Brand monitoring
Paid

Meltwater
Enterprise
Comprehensive
Enterprise

Brandwatch
Social listening
Social analysis
Enterprise

NewsAPI
API access
Custom builds
Freemium

Flipboard
Curation
Personal digest
Free

News Digest Template

# [Company/Topic] News Digest

**Period**: [Date range]
**Prepared by**: [Name/Team]
**Distribution**: [Internal/External]

---

## Headlines Summary

### Top Stories This Period
1. **[Headline 1]** - [Source], [Date]
   - Key point: [Summary]
   - Impact: [High/Medium/Low]
   
2. **[Headline 2]** - [Source], [Date]
   - Key point: [Summary]
   - Impact: [High/Medium/Low]

3. **[Headline 3]** - [Source], [Date]
   - Key point: [Summary]
   - Impact: [High/Medium/Low]

---

## Coverage by Category

### Company News
| Date | Headline | Source | Sentiment |
|------|----------|--------|-----------|
| | | | Positive/Neutral/Negative |

### Industry News
| Date | Headline | Source | Relevance |
|------|----------|--------|-----------|
| | | | High/Medium/Low |

### Competitor News
| Date | Headline | Source | Competitor |
|------|----------|--------|------------|
| | | | |

---

## Sentiment Analysis

| Category | Positive | Neutral | Negative | Total |
|----------|----------|---------|----------|-------|
| Company | | | | |
| Products | | | | |
| Executives | | | | |

**Overall Sentiment Trend**: [Improving/Stable/Declining]

---

## Key Themes

### Theme 1: [Name]
[Description and relevant articles]

### Theme 2: [Name]
[Description and relevant articles]

---

## Action Items

1. [ ] [Action based on coverage]
2. [ ] [Action based on coverage]
3. [ ] [Action based on coverage]

---

## Upcoming Events to Watch

| Date | Event | Potential Impact |
|------|-------|-----------------|
| | | |

---

## Sources Monitored

- [List of sources]

---

*Next digest: [Date]*

Media Analysis Framework

Coverage Metrics

Metric
Description
Calculation

Volume
Number of mentions
Count of articles

Reach
Potential audience
Sum of publication reach

Share of Voice
Your mentions vs competitors
Your mentions / Total market mentions

Sentiment
Tone of coverage
Positive:Neutral:Negative ratio

Message Pull-Through
Key message presence
% of articles with key messages

Sentiment Classification

Sentiment
Indicators

Positive
Praise, success, growth, innovation

Neutral
Factual reporting, announcements

Negative
Criticism, problems, failures, concerns

Source Authority Tiers

Tier
Examples
Weight

Tier 1
WSJ, NYT, Reuters, FT
10x

Tier 2
Industry leaders, major outlets
5x

Tier 3
Regional, specialized
2x

Tier 4
Blogs, small outlets
1x

Alert Configuration Guide

Google Alerts Setup

1. Go to google.com/alerts
2. Enter search query:
   "Your Company" OR "Your Product"
3. Show options:
   - How often: As-it-happens / Daily / Weekly
   - Sources: Automatic / News / Blogs / Web
   - Language: [Select]
   - Region: [Select]
   - How many: All results / Best results
4. Create alert

Recommended Alert Categories

Category
Query Example
Frequency

Brand mentions
"Company Name"
As-it-happens

Product mentions
"Product Name"
Daily

Executive mentions
"CEO Name"
Weekly

Competitor news
"Competitor" AND launch
Daily

Industry trends
[industry] AND "trends 2025"
Weekly

Negative monitoring
"Company Name" AND (problem OR issue OR complaint)
As-it-happens

Output Format: Monitoring Strategy

# News Monitoring Strategy: [Topic/Brand]

**Prepared**: [Date]
**Review Cycle**: [Quarterly]

---

## Monitoring Objectives

1. [Objective 1]
2. [Objective 2]
3. [Objective 3]

---

## Keyword Strategy

### Primary Keywords

[keyword 1]
[keyword 2]
"[exact phrase]"

### Boolean Queries

**Brand Monitoring**:

"Company Name" OR "Product Name" OR @handle

**Competitor Tracking**:

("Competitor A" OR "Competitor B") AND (funding OR launch OR partnership)

**Industry News**:

[industry] AND (trends OR innovation OR market)

### Exclusion Terms

NOT (jobs OR careers OR hiring)

---

## Source Matrix

| Category | Sources | Priority |
|----------|---------|----------|
| Tier 1 News | [List] | High |
| Industry | [List] | High |
| Tech | [List] | Medium |
| Social | [List] | Medium |
| Blogs | [List] | Low |

---

## Tool Configuration

### Primary Tool: [Tool Name]
- Setup instructions
- Query configuration
- Alert settings

### Secondary Tools
- [Tool 2]: [Purpose]
- [Tool 3]: [Purpose]

---

## Workflow

### Daily
1. Review real-time alerts
2. Triage by priority
3. Flag for action

### Weekly
1. Compile digest
2. Analyze trends
3. Share with stakeholders

### Monthly
1. Full analysis report
2. Strategy review
3. Keyword refinement

---

## Distribution

| Stakeholder | Content | Frequency |
|-------------|---------|-----------|
| Executives | Summary | Weekly |
| PR Team | Full digest | Daily |
| Marketing | Competitor intel | Weekly |
| Sales | Battle card updates | As needed |

---

## Success Metrics

1. Coverage volume vs baseline
2. Share of voice vs competitors
3. Sentiment ratio improvement
4. Response time to mentions

Tips for Better Results

Be specific about what you want to monitor

Prioritize sources based on relevance

Use Boolean operators to reduce noise

Set appropriate frequency - not everything needs real-time

Review and refine keywords regularly

Establish escalation criteria for urgent mentions

Limitations

Cannot execute actual monitoring

Cannot access real-time news

Cannot access paywalled sources

Cannot provide breaking news

Strategy needs manual implementation

Built by the Claude Office Skills community. Contributions welcome!