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WNY Athletics News Desk Handbook
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Start with News Desk 7 min Access and staff roles 8 min Read your statement 6 min

Writing and publishing

Write and edit a post 12 min Format stories with Markdown 8 min Use the media library 7 min Review, schedule, and publish 12 min Plan coverage with the calendar 10 min Social, broadcasts, and podcasts 10 min

Scores and data feeds

Connect High School Sports 11 min Run the scoreboard and score feeds 13 min Publish standings 9 min Run the AI recap pipeline 12 min Review photo submissions 6 min

Administration

Manage staff, personas, and tags 11 min Customize post types 10 min Set up advertisers and campaigns 9 min Manage payroll and statements 12 min Settings and troubleshooting 14 min

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Start with News Desk

A practical tour of the WNY Athletics staff desk and the checks that keep a newsroom shift organized.

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Home
Your menu
Changes with your staff role

What News Desk manages

News Desk is the working newsroom for WNY Athletics. Writers and producers create coverage, editors move it through review, coverage staff maintain scores and standings, and administrators manage people, desk voices, rates, and publishing rules.

The public website reads only published material. Drafts, notes, assignments, review comments, private feed credentials, and payroll records stay inside the protected staff tools.

Know the workspace

Home is a shift board, not just a welcome screen. It shows your work, the editor queue, notifications, and the next seven days. The left rail groups tools by the job they support: Work, Coverage, Money, Admin, and Help.

WNY Athletics News Desk home screen with a role-aware navigation, quick actions, My work, Review queue, Notifications, and Upcoming cards
The Home screen gives staff one place to see what needs attention now and what is approaching. Select the image to enlarge it.

  1. Role-aware navigation groups newsroom work by purpose.

  2. Quick actions open a new post, the calendar, review queue, or settings.

  3. Editors see the current review load and can open the queue.

  4. Upcoming work is grouped by intended publish date.

Start-of-shift checklist

  • Open Home and read any unread bell notifications.
  • Scan My work for assignments, drafts, or requested changes with today’s date.
  • If you are an editor, open Review Queue and check pinned and oldest-waiting items first.
  • Open Calendar in Week view to see planned, assigned, and scheduled coverage together.
  • If scores or standings are part of your shift, check the last-fetched times before refreshing anything.
  • Keep the public site open in a second tab when publishing so you can verify the reader-facing result.

A newsroom rhythm that works

  1. Plan the assignment

    Create a planned item or draft, connect it to a contest when one exists, set the intended date, and assign the writer, photographer, producer, or desk persona.

  2. Build the post

    Write or paste the copy, add files and tags, prepare social suggestions, and save frequently. A saved draft is still private.

  3. Send it to the desk

    Use Submit for review when the post is ready for an editor. Requested changes return it to the assignee with a note.

  4. Publish and verify

    Editors approve, schedule, or publish. Open the public article, scoreboard, standings page, broadcast list, or podcast page and confirm the result before moving on.

  5. Close the loop

    Copy or post the social suggestions, record any manual score correction, and check payroll only after assignments and bylines are correct.

Notifications and themes

The bell in the top bar opens unread notifications. Selecting one marks it read and takes you to the related item. The full Notifications page can mark everything read and lets a staff member mute their own notifications.

The moon/sun button changes only the display theme. It does not affect public pages or anyone else’s account.

Frequently asked questions

Access and staff roles Understand exactly what each newsroom role can do. Write and edit a post Create your first story or production item. Read your statement Check payables, payments, and your running balance.
Why do I see fewer menu items than another staff member?

The menu follows your staff role. Contributors and staff authors see their own work; editors add the desk and coverage tools; admins add people and settings.

Does saving a post put it on the website?

No. A draft remains private until an editor publishes it or a scheduled publish job runs at the approved time.

Where are notifications?

Use the bell in the top bar for unread items or open the Notifications page from the bell menu.

Which screen should stay open during a busy shift?

Home is best for an individual shift. Editors usually keep Review Queue or Calendar open beside the public site.