Fact Pack Template For Newsrooms: Verify Before You Write

This free fact pack template gives a newsroom one place to collect the evidence for a story before anyone starts drafting. It has ten sections covering the original source, confirmed facts, unconfirmed claims, conflicting reports, a timeline, open questions and the editor's final decision. It works for a solo publisher or a full desk, and you can edit it freely.

What is inside the template

#	Section	What you write
1	Core event	One sentence: what happened, where and when
2	First known source	The original statement, document or post, with link and times
3	Confirmed facts	Only claims with evidence attached, plus how and when you checked
4	Unconfirmed claims	Who said it and what would confirm it
5	Conflicting reports	Where sources disagree, and how it was resolved
6	Timeline	Events in order, each with a source
7	People and organizations	Who is involved and whether you have reached them
8	Documents and media	Links, plus whether you found the original, and its date and location
9	Open questions	What you still need to know and who can answer
10	Editor decision	Publish, hold, or publish with an update plan

The top of the file also has a status line (New, Investigating, Partially confirmed, Confirmed, Published, Updated) and a "last verified update" field, so anyone opening the file can see how fresh it is.

New to the idea? Read What Is a Fact Pack? How Journalists Build One first for the reasoning behind each section.

How to fill it in

Start with the original. First Draft's verification guide lists five pillars: provenance, source, date, location and motivation, and says provenance should be checked first, meaning whether you are looking at the original account, article or piece of content. Section 2 and section 8 exist for exactly this check.

Fill sections 3 to 5 as you research. Each claim lives in one place: confirmed, unconfirmed or conflicting. When a claim changes status, move it and note the time. Avoid copying text from other outlets as evidence. Link to the original instead.

Keep the timeline honest. Add events as you verify them, with time zones. If a time is approximate, say so.

Use sections 9 and 10 as your handoff. Open questions become the reporting to-do list. The editor decision at the end makes the publishing call a recorded human choice.

The Verification Handbook, developed by the European Journalism Centre, advises putting verification plans and procedures in place before disasters and breaking news occur, and treats verification as a process rather than a single check. A template is a simple way to have that procedure ready before you need it.

A made-up sample (for illustration only)

Section	Sample entry
Core event	A city transport agency announced a road closure.
First known source	City transport notice, link, published 09:10, detected 09:14
Confirmed fact	Road closed between Exit 4 and Exit 6. Evidence: official notice, opened and read. Checked 10:20
Unconfirmed claim	"It will reopen tonight." Said by one social post. Needs agency confirmation
Conflicting reports	Closure length: 6 km (notice) vs 8 km (local outlet). Resolution: ask the agency

Tips for using it well

• Make a copy for every story. One file per story keeps evidence from mixing.

• Keep one shared version. Use a shared drive so the writer and editor see the same file.

• Update after publication. If new facts arrive, change the file first, then the story. That gives you a clear record for corrections.

• Adapt it. Delete sections you do not need, or add a row for legal review. A template should fit your newsroom, not the other way around.

• AI can help fill it, for example by pulling names and dates from a document, but a person decides what goes under "Confirmed". Our guide to AI source monitoring for newsrooms explains where that boundary sits.

Where NewsBolts fits

We made this template at NewsBolts to match how we describe the workflow in our AI newsroom operating system guide: collect evidence, build the fact pack, draft with AI assistance if you choose, then have an editor approve it. The template works on its own, with no account or software needed.

FAQ

Is the fact pack template really free? Yes. Download it, edit it and use it in your newsroom.

What format is the template? It is a Word file (.docx) with three pages. You can open it in Microsoft Word or LibreOffice, and you can also upload it to Google Drive to edit it in Google Docs.

Can small newsrooms and solo publishers use it? Yes. A solo publisher can use it as a personal checklist, and a team can use it as a shared evidence file.

Do I have to fill in every section? No. For a quick story you may only need sections 1 to 3 and 10. Use the full set for breaking, complex or sensitive stories.

How is this different from a fact sheet? A PR fact sheet is a background document an organization gives to journalists. This template is the newsroom's own record of what it has and has not verified.

Conclusion

A good story starts with a clear record of what you know and how you know it. This free fact pack template gives you that record in ten simple sections, so the draft states only what the evidence supports. Download it, adapt it to your newsroom and use it on your next story.