Posting a video story

Watch this video for a step-by-step guide on how to properly post your video story on the Spartan Newsroom website, or read the step-by-step guide below. Follow these steps to:

  • Add a video without using any special embed code
  • Automatically create a featured image preview for the home page and/or section pages
  • Place your video above text in your post (all videos should include at least a short summary story, see “how to write descriptions for photos and videos”)

This guide is designed for stories in which the video is the most prominent element — and is typically the best choice for student journalists who have produced a broadcast-style video news package. The video will appear above any story text or other items included with the article.

If you would like to add a video further down in an article post, please see “Adding media to a story.”

Posting a video story in 10 easy steps

  1. Upload your video to a video hosting service. Most students use YouTube. You might use your own YouTube account for your own work. Focal Point and Spartan Sports Report have their own YouTube channels. Talk to your instructor for access.
    1. After you upload your video, you will need the “Share” link to it. For YouTube videos, click “share” directly below the video to get the link. You will need this link in a later step.
  2. Create a new post on the Spartan Newsroom.
  3. Write a headline in the “Add title” space that describes the video’s content. Capitalize headlines like you would a sentence — only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized. Need tips for writing a good headline?
  4. Insert some article text. This could be a standalone article or sidebar, or could be a few sentences that summarize the video content. You might even take the script you developed for your video story and turn that into a short print-style story. We suggest you write in your favorite word processing program (Word, Google Docs, etc.) and then copy and paste it into the post.
  5. Write an excerpt for the “Excerpt” field in the right column. This is a sentence or two preview of your story that will appear on landing pages of the website.
  6. Select the appropriate Categories, Series and Post Types labels in the right column. It’s possible you may not make selections in all of these areas.
  7. To add your video to this post:
    1. In the lower right hand corner of the page, click the “Set Featured Media” button.
    2. Select “Featured video” from the upper right hand corner.
    3. Paste the share URL to your video into the “Video URL” field in Spartan Newsroom.
    4. The “Title,” “Caption” and “Credit” fields will be auto-filled based on information you may have included on your video hosting site. Edit or complete these fields as needed.
    5. Click the “Set as featured” button.
    6. You may not see your video in the edit view of your post, but it’s there! Click the Preview button to see how your post will look when published.
  8. Set the “Extended Post Status” in the right column to the appropriate choice to submit your work for review by an editor or instructor.
  9. Make sure to click “Save Draft” at the top of your screen. (The Publish button can only be used by editors and instructors.)
  10. You’re done! You can now close the post.