From sign-up to your first brief
JournoHelper does two jobs: it tells you the moment a government body you cover posts something new, and it turns those documents into briefs and drafts you can actually use. Here's the whole flow, start to finish.
- 1
Create your account
Sign up with your work email. During a short onboarding you’ll tell JournoHelper which areas you cover so we can suggest the right government bodies to follow.
JournoHelper is built for newsrooms: you can work solo, or an admin can invite colleagues onto a shared team that pools coverage and AI credits.
Where: Start at the Sign up button, top right of journo.help.
- 2
Follow the bodies you cover
Add the city councils, county commissions, school boards, planning commissions, and other government bodies on your beat. JournoHelper monitors each one’s public agendas, minutes, voting records, and press releases around the clock.
When you follow a body, we automatically pull in its recent history (about the last 90 days), so you start with context instead of a blank page.
Where: In the app: Sources.
- 3
Choose how you’re alerted
For every body or whole jurisdiction you follow, pick how you want to hear about new documents: an instant email, a once-a-day digest, a weekly digest, or off. Busy meeting days are automatically bundled into a single summary instead of a flood of messages.
Prefer Slack? Connect your workspace and choose a channel — alerts then post there in addition to email, so your whole team sees them.
Where: In the app: Settings → Alert Subscriptions (cadence) and Settings → Integrations (Slack).
- 4
See what’s new
New documents land on your Documents page as they’re published — no need to refresh agency websites. Search by keyword from the dashboard header or filter by source and date to find a specific meeting fast.
Where: In the app: Documents.
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Turn a document into a brief
Open any meeting document and click Run Analysis. JournoHelper reads the agenda, minutes, or packet and produces a plain-English brief — what’s on the agenda, the money items, and what to watch — so you can decide in seconds whether it’s worth your time.
Analysis runs when you ask for it, on the specific document you choose. It uses one AI credit per document (see below).
Where: In the app: open a document → Run Analysis.
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Draft from a press release
For press releases, JournoHelper can generate a first-draft, AP-style article you can edit and publish. It’s a starting point — always verify against the source before you run anything.
Where: In the app: open a press release → Create Draft.
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Understand AI credits
Analysis and drafting use AI credits — one credit per document analyzed or draft generated. Your plan includes a monthly allotment, and add-on packs are available if you need more. Reading alerts, following bodies, and browsing documents are always free.
If you run out, you’ll see a friendly prompt: team admins can buy add-on credits, and members can ask their admin to top up. Credits reset each billing period.
Where: In the app: the ⚡ meter in the header shows your balance; Manage Plan to buy more.