Formats / News Explainer
Turn a developing story into a news explainer
Take a story that is still moving and explain it clearly: what happened, why it matters, and what to watch next. A narrated, captioned video built from your sources.
For newsrooms, publishers, and teams that brief an audience on a moving story.
How it works
From your input to news explainer
News Explainer covers a story an audience has not followed from the start. Supply the topic or the reporting behind it, and the script establishes the background before the latest development, so a viewer arriving cold still understands the stakes. The Topic Catchup workflow uses this style with a 30-second vertical target, narration, and captions enabled by default. Article Recap and Prompt to Video also offer it when you already have the source text or a written brief.
01
Point to the story
Enter the topic, paste the article, or supply the source URL. Name the development you want at the centre of the video.
02
Set the direction
Pick News Explainer in Topic Catchup, Article Recap, or Prompt to Video, then set length, framing, and your project brand kit.
03
Check the facts before sharing
Review names, dates, figures, and attributions against your sources. The script follows what you supplied; you stay the editor.
Explain the story, not just the headline
Use News Explainer when the audience needs context to make sense of an update: a regulatory decision, a market move, a rolling story with several chapters. Choose Article Summary instead when a single article already contains everything the viewer needs, and Topic Catchup when the question is simply “what happened with X lately?”.
- Input
- Topic, source URL, or pasted article
- Default length
- 30-second starting target in Topic Catchup
- Default framing
- Vertical · 9:16
- Audio and text
- Narration and captions on by default
- Branding
- Use your project’s brand kit
Useful details
Before you create
Where do I find News Explainer in the dashboard?
It is a style in the workflow picker. Topic Catchup is its primary workflow; Article Recap, Market Brief, Executive Brief, and Prompt to Video also offer it.
How is it different from Article Summary?
Article Summary condenses one document. News Explainer builds the background a viewer needs before the latest development, even when that spans several sources.
Can it research the topic for me?
Yes. Started from a topic, the workflow researches it and writes a source-grounded script. Review the result before publishing.
Does it work in widescreen?
Yes. The default is vertical 9:16 for feeds, and you can switch the job to 16:9 for site embeds or internal screens.
Ready to make your next video?
Tell us about your content, audience, and expected volume. Catchups.ai is available through private access.