McClatchy CSA

Editorial Playbooks

Updated monthly. Click any tile to expand the full guidance.

High confidence Apple News · Featured Targeting

“What to know” is associated with 1.8× Featured placement. But for non-Featured articles, organic view performance trends lower (padj=0.10, not significant at α=0.05, n=16).

→ Reserve “What to know” for intentional Featured campaigns. Don’t apply it broadly for organic reach.

Details ↓
High confidence Push Notifications · Two Content Ecosystems

News brands (1036 notifications, 1.41% median CTR) and celebrity/entertainment (747, 4.01%) are 2.8× apart in baseline CTR with non-overlapping formula signals. News: “EXCLUSIVE:” (—) and attribution (1.33×) drive CTR. Celebrity: possessive framing (1.17×).

→ Build separate notification playbooks for news vs. celebrity content. The “short notification penalty” previously reported was a pooling artifact—length shows no significant effect within either population.

Details ↓

By Publication—Apple News

Formula lift vs. untagged baseline (non-Featured articles only, ≥5 examples). Populated fully when Tarrow's complete 2026 export is loaded via --data-2026-full.

Publication N articles Featured rate Top formula Formula lift Top topic (views)
Us Weekly7970%Possessive named entity0.98×Weather
Sacramento Bee20245%What to know1.22×Business
Miami Herald13482%Lifestyle
Kansas City Star12252%Weather
Soap Opera Digest1000%Crime
Woman’s World1001%Possessive named entity1.24×Sports
Fort Worth Star-Telegram9973%Weather
The Kansas City Star9944%Business
Biloxi Sun Herald9814%Number lead1.03×Local/Civic
Fresno Bee9860%Number lead1.12×Weather
Hilton Head Island Packet9822%Number lead1.08×Local/Civic
Tacoma News Tribune9832%Number lead1.07×Lifestyle
Centre Daily Times973%Number lead0.50×Weather
Wichita Eagle9722%Here's / Here are0.94×Business
Bellingham Herald9612%Quoted lede1.11×Weather
Bradenton Herald9620%Number lead0.92×Crime
Merced Sun-Star966%Number lead1.62×Weather
Myrtle Beach Sun News9620%Quoted lede1.20×Business
Belleville News-Democrat956%Number lead1.38×Weather
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer953%Number lead1.80×Lifestyle
Rock Hill Herald953%Quoted lede1.12×Nature/Wildlife
Modesto Bee947%Number lead1.00×Business
San Luis Obispo Tribune9423%Number lead1.29×Weather
The Olympian9242%Number lead0.72×Sports
The Charlotte Observer9190%Crime
The State9122%Quoted lede1.09×Local/Civic
Raleigh News & Observer9079%Nature/Wildlife
Tri-City Herald878%Number lead1.00×Weather
Idaho Statesman8559%Quoted lede0.99×Nature/Wildlife
Lexington Herald-Leader8148%Weather
Durham Herald-Sun7927%Weather
McClatchy DC Bureau390%Question0.86×Local/Civic
Macon Telegraph350%Local/Civic
Charlotte Observer1889%Weather

Politics excluded. Lift is directional only—sample sizes per publication are small; confirm before changing editorial policy.

Formula × topic cells require ≥5 articles. All lift values are vs. untagged baseline within the same platform. Statistical confidence varies—see individual finding panels on the main analysis page for p-values and sample sizes.