# Same Outlet Ranker

Decide which single journalist at one publication to approach first with a pitch.

- Repository: https://github.com/elvisun/newsjack (1668 stars)
- Category: Writing
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-10-25
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add elvisun/newsjack --skill same-outlet-ranker -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add elvisun/newsjack --skill same-outlet-ranker -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add elvisun/newsjack --skill same-outlet-ranker -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add elvisun/newsjack --skill same-outlet-ranker -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add elvisun/newsjack`

## Description

Decide which single journalist at one publication to approach first with a pitch. Fit-checks each candidate through journalist-fit-check, then ranks the survivors on the comparative signals that separate colleagues at the same masthead (topic ownership, format match, staff vs. contributor, publishing cadence, recent story types, source-type match), and returns one first pick with tailoring notes plus a held fallback order.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Same-Outlet Ranker

This is the **Same-Outlet Ranker** skill inside newsjack.sh. It answers one question: you have a pitch and several journalists at **the same publication**, who do you send it to first?

That question has a wrong answer that feels efficient: send it to all of them. Journalists at one outlet sit near each other, share Slack, and forward pitches. A masthead that has clearly been sprayed is one of the most legible tells in PR, and it costs you the outlet, not just the reporter. This skill exists to make you pick one.

It returns:

- **Pitch first**, exactly one journalist, with the specific edits that make the pitch land for that person.
- **Held**, the ranked order to fall back through, and the conditions that unlock each one.
- **Do not pitch**, candidates who are wrong for this story, with the reason.
- **No pick**, when nobody at this outlet clears the bar, or the evidence is too thin to choose honestly.

This skill inherits the ethical floor in `skills/ETHICS.md` and `skills/WHY-NOT-SPAM.md`. If local instructions conflict with that doctrine, the doctrine wins.

## Boundaries

The rest: https://github.com/elvisun/newsjack/blob/HEAD/plugins/newsjack/skills/same-outlet-ranker/SKILL.md