Planning report for review. Sources are cited by the report author; hypotheses are proposals to test. No verified campaign reach or audience results are connected to this report.
Evidence informs these planning decisions. Open questions remain unresolved, and the decisions do not establish results or event confirmation.
Advertising
Relevant to this campaign
The promise rests on published, checkable facts from the subject's own pages rather than on a claim about quality.
- Source cited · review scope
Not one of the 340 posts read used the outlet's own article headline as the post text.
Evidence recorded: The San Antonio Current was the cleanest case: 0 of 100 posts matched the headline, because the account posts the article's dek and lets the link card carry the headline underneath.
Strategic implication (judgment): Write a fresh sentence for every channel and never paste the headline. The link card carries the headline on Facebook and X.
Planning priority: P1
Sources: San Antonio Current, 100 posts read September 19, 2026, The New York Times institutional account, 40 posts read September 19, 2026 - Source cited · review scope
Posts open on the fact in a complete sentence carrying one specific detail: a figure, a date, a place or a proper noun.
Evidence recorded: Texas Public Radio: "Facing a major budget deficit and a struggling economy, the San Antonio City Council approved a 3.9% property tax increase Thursday, the city's first in more than three decades."
Strategic implication (judgment): Every post in both sets opens on what happened and carries one proper noun or one date.
Planning priority: P1
Sources: Texas Public Radio post leading on the fact, San Antonio property tax increase, Texas Public Radio, 50 posts read September 19, 2026 - Source cited · review scope
Question openers are close to absent. The Current asked 1 question in 100 posts and it came second in the post. Texas Public Radio asked none in 50, the Express-News 2 in 50, NPR 5 in 50 and The New York Times 2 in 40.
Evidence recorded: Counted across all six samples, 10 questions in 340 posts, none of them an opener except within NPR's separate appeal stream.
Strategic implication (judgment): No post in either set opens on a question.
Planning priority: P1
Sources: San Antonio Current, 100 posts read September 19, 2026, Texas Public Radio, 50 posts read September 19, 2026, San Antonio Express-News, 50 posts read September 19, 2026, NPR institutional account, 50 posts read September 19, 2026, The New York Times institutional account, 40 posts read September 19, 2026
Digital marketing
Relevant to this campaign
The five requested channels were studied by reading what working newsrooms actually publish when an article goes live, then the copy was written against those counts.
- Source cited · review scope
Zero hashtags appeared on news content across all 340 posts.
Evidence recorded: NPR carries hashtags only in a separate donor appeal stream, never on a story.
Strategic implication (judgment): Facebook and X copy carries no hashtag. Instagram and TikTok expect a small set, so each carries three at most, built from the first three words of a name.
Planning priority: P1
Sources: NPR institutional account, 50 posts read September 19, 2026, The New York Times institutional account, 40 posts read September 19, 2026, San Antonio Current, 100 posts read September 19, 2026 - Source cited · review scope
The reporter's name stays out of the post. The byline lives on the article page.
Evidence recorded: The exceptions are instructive: a name appears only when the person is the voice of the piece, as when The New York Times writes "our critic Jason Farago" or the Express-News ends a columnist's argument with "Mike Finger writes."
Strategic implication (judgment): No person's name appears in any promotional line in either set, which also keeps every private individual in the news photograph out of the copy.
Planning priority: P1
Sources: The New York Times institutional account, 40 posts read September 19, 2026, San Antonio Express-News, 50 posts read September 19, 2026 - Source cited · review scope
Posts run short. Median length: the Current 136 characters, the Express-News 139, mySA 75.5, NPR 195.5, The New York Times 204, Texas Public Radio 228.5.
Evidence recorded: Nothing in the 340 post sample came close to a platform character ceiling.
Strategic implication (judgment): Facebook and X copy targets 120 to 200 characters. Instagram and TikTok run longer because no link card exists there.
Planning priority: P1
Sources: San Antonio Current, 100 posts read September 19, 2026, San Antonio Express-News, 50 posts read September 19, 2026, mySA, 50 posts read September 19, 2026, NPR institutional account, 50 posts read September 19, 2026, The New York Times institutional account, 40 posts read September 19, 2026, Texas Public Radio, 50 posts read September 19, 2026 - Source cited · review scope
The photo credit sits with the photograph, not in the post copy.
Evidence recorded: The New York Times writes the credit into the image alt text, reading "Photo by Kim Raff for The New York Times." The Current writes it on the article page as a full sentence separating a staff photographer from a supplied image.
Strategic implication (judgment): The photographer credit rides in the caption and the alt text on the press sheet and never in a line of post copy.
Planning priority: P1
Sources: The New York Times institutional account, 40 posts read September 19, 2026, San Antonio Current, 100 posts read September 19, 2026 - Source cited · review scope
Link handling splits the group. The Current relies on the automatic card in 98 of 100 posts and types no URL. Texas Public Radio types a visible shortlink behind a fixed phrase in 35 of 50, NPR shows one in 47 of 50, and The New York Times shows a link in text in 11 of 40.
Evidence recorded: Two settled habits rather than one, divided by whether the account trusts the platform card.
Strategic implication (judgment): Facebook and X let the card carry the headline. Instagram and TikTok say the destination in words, because cards do not exist there.
Planning priority: P1
Sources: San Antonio Current, 100 posts read September 19, 2026, Texas Public Radio, 50 posts read September 19, 2026, NPR institutional account, 50 posts read September 19, 2026, The New York Times institutional account, 40 posts read September 19, 2026
Open questions
- Which of the five channels does the newsroom actually control, and who holds each password?
- What is the correction route once a post is live?
Public relations
Relevant to this campaign
The news value is documented on the publication's own pages, and every claim traces to a page read September 19, 2026.
- Source cited · review scope
AP number style holds without exception: spelled out below 10, figures at 10 and above, figures always for ages, money and percentages.
Evidence recorded: A full text scan of The New York Times and NPR samples found zero exceptions.
Strategic implication (judgment): Every line in both sets follows AP number style.
Planning priority: P1
Sources: The New York Times institutional account, 40 posts read September 19, 2026, NPR institutional account, 50 posts read September 19, 2026 - Source cited · review scope
Local outlets name the street, the loop and the building. The Express-News and mySA reach for Loop 1604, I-35, La Cantera and Hemisfair. Texas Public Radio names Bexar County, NEISD and the San Antonio Botanical Garden.
Evidence recorded: Counted across the Express-News, mySA and Texas Public Radio samples, a named local place appears in the majority of local news posts.
Strategic implication (judgment): Each post names the building or the institution: the San Antonio Central Library for the article set, San Antonio College for the program set.
Planning priority: P1
Sources: San Antonio Express-News, 50 posts read September 19, 2026, mySA, 50 posts read September 19, 2026, Texas Public Radio, 50 posts read September 19, 2026 - Source cited · review scope
No Spanish language post appeared anywhere in the 340 posts read across the five newsrooms.
Evidence recorded: The Current has no Spanish account. The Express-News and Texas Public Radio published none in their samples. The closest any outlet came was an English sentence naming a Spanish title.
Strategic implication (judgment): This is the finding that decides the article set. A student newsroom publishing the same reporting in English and in Spanish is doing something the professional outlets in this market are not doing on social at all, so the two languages lead every asset.
Planning priority: P1
Sources: San Antonio Current, 100 posts read September 19, 2026, San Antonio Express-News, 50 posts read September 19, 2026, Texas Public Radio, 50 posts read September 19, 2026, NPR institutional account, 50 posts read September 19, 2026, The New York Times institutional account, 40 posts read September 19, 2026
Communications
Relevant to this campaign
Plain language, one action per asset, and no line that a reader would have to be an insider to parse.
- Source cited · review scope
The reader's first question is what a student actually does here, so each asset answers it with a capability rather than a course list.
Evidence recorded: The program page answers it directly: students operate an online newspaper, a radio news program, a television station and social media campaigns, and they get published and build a portfolio.
Strategic implication (judgment): Every asset names at least one of those four channels in plain words.
Planning priority: P1
Sources: Journalism-Photography/Mass Communication program page, San Antonio College - Source cited · review scope
The standing objection is whether credits carry forward, and the page answers it by name.
Evidence recorded: Transfer degrees are published to Angelo State University, Texas A&M University Kingsville, Texas A&M University San Antonio and The University of Texas at San Antonio.
Strategic implication (judgment): The long form assets name the universities. The short assets carry one of them.
Planning priority: P1
Sources: Journalism-Photography/Mass Communication program page, San Antonio College - Source cited · review scope
The reader would welcome an outcome figure, and none is published, so none is offered.
Evidence recorded: The program page carries no enrollment count, no graduate outcome and no placement rate.
Strategic implication (judgment): Assets carry capability and credential, which are published, and stay silent on outcomes, which are not.
Planning priority: P1
Sources: Journalism-Photography/Mass Communication program page, San Antonio College
Open questions
- Does the newsroom want its own voice on these channels, or the college's?
Live event planning
Not applicable
Neither campaign promotes an occurrence. One promotes an academic program and the other promotes a published article, so no attendance instruction, ticket term or calendar submission applies.
Promote the Journalism-Photography/Mass Communication program at San Antonio College on the evidence already published on its own program page, for the conversation with the department lead on Monday September 21, 2026.
The live program page read September 19, 2026, plus the same 340 post newsroom study that governs the copy rules. No enrollment figure, graduate outcome or placement rate is claimed, because the page publishes none.
Missing evidence or restricted research access does not establish a business weakness.
Prospective students choosing a transfer path
Proposed segment · not a measured audienceThe program publishes its level as Pre-Majors/Transfer and names four destination universities.
Validation: Measure referral sessions from the five channels to the live program page over the 14 days after each recorded post.
Parents reading alongside
Proposed segment · not a measured audienceInstitutional longevity and a named credential are the two facts on the page written for this reader.
Validation: Compare engagement on the long form Instagram asset, which carries the 95 year figure and the certificate, against the short assets.
- The New York Times institutional account, 40 posts read September 19, 2026
Public research source
Retrieved: 2026-09-19
Published: 2026-09
Reference date or period: Not recorded
Population: 40 institutional posts published between September 5 and September 19, 2026, retrieved through the outlet's own public author feed.
Limitations: One account and one platform. Facebook, Instagram and X returned no post text to a signed out request, so nothing here is claimed about those three platforms.
- NPR institutional account, 50 posts read September 19, 2026
Public research source
Retrieved: 2026-09-19
Published: 2026-09
Reference date or period: Not recorded
Population: 50 posts published between September 5 and September 19, 2026, retrieved through the outlet's own public author feed.
Limitations: NPR carries hashtags in a separate donor appeal stream, which was counted apart from story posts. One platform only.
- San Antonio Express-News, 50 posts read September 19, 2026
Public research source
Retrieved: 2026-09-19
Published: 2026-09
Reference date or period: Not recorded
Population: 50 posts published between September 5 and September 19, 2026, retrieved through the outlet's own public author feed.
Limitations: One platform. The outlet's Facebook and Instagram behavior was not observable without a login.
- Texas Public Radio, 50 posts read September 19, 2026
Public research source
Retrieved: 2026-09-19
Published: 2026-09
Reference date or period: Not recorded
Population: 50 posts published between September 5 and September 19, 2026, retrieved through the outlet's own public author feed.
Limitations: One platform. Shortlink habits may differ on platforms that were not observable.
- San Antonio Current, 100 posts read September 19, 2026
Public research source
Retrieved: 2026-09-19
Published: 2026-09
Reference date or period: Not recorded
Population: 100 posts published between September 5 and September 19, 2026, retrieved through the outlet's own public author feed.
Limitations: One platform. The Current has no Spanish language account, so its absence of Spanish posts reflects account structure rather than an editorial choice.
- mySA, 50 posts read September 19, 2026
Public research source
Retrieved: 2026-09-19
Published: 2026-09
Reference date or period: Not recorded
Population: 50 posts published between September 5 and September 19, 2026, retrieved through the outlet's own public author feed.
Limitations: One platform. mySA writes the shortest lines in the study, which may reflect a curiosity driven referral strategy rather than a general newsroom habit.
- Texas Public Radio post leading on the fact, San Antonio property tax increase
Public research source
Retrieved: 2026-09-19
Published: 2026-09
Reference date or period: Not recorded
Population: A single post, quoted in full as an example of a fact first opener carrying a figure and a day.
Limitations: One example. It illustrates the pattern counted across the larger sample rather than establishing it on its own.
- The New York Times post using a literal Breaking News label
Public research source
Retrieved: 2026-09-19
Published: 2026-09
Reference date or period: Not recorded
Population: A single post, quoted as an example of a spot news label followed by a colon.
Limitations: One example of a practice that is specific to national spot news and not transferable to a student newsroom's culture coverage.
- Panel Explores the Roots of San Antonio's West Side Sound, The Sundial
Public research source
Retrieved: 2026-09-19
Published: 2026-09-16
Reference date or period: Not recorded
Population: The English article page, read in full including its headline, byline, section, lead image and every photo caption.
Limitations: The article reports one evening's panel. It carries no attendance figure and no organizer statement, so neither is available to the campaign.
- Panel revive las raices del West Side Sound de San Antonio, The Sundial
Public research source
Retrieved: 2026-09-19
Published: 2026-09-17
Reference date or period: Not recorded
Population: The Spanish article page, read in full. Same byline and same lead photograph as the English version.
Limitations: A reader cannot tell from either page whether the Spanish version is a standing practice or a single instance, so the campaign states what both pages show and claims no pattern.
- Journalism-Photography/Mass Communication program page, San Antonio College
Public research source
Retrieved: 2026-09-19
Published: 2026-09
Reference date or period: Not recorded
Population: The live program page, read in full: program level, department, institute, transfer destinations, certificate, first named course and published contact.
Limitations: The page carries no enrollment count, no graduate outcome figure and no job placement data, so the campaign claims none. The program's former URL returns a 404 and is still the address search engines return first.
