News & media publishing examples

Shorthand is designed to help newsrooms and media teams publish visually rich, immersive stories without complex development workflows. From deep reporting to branded features, Shorthand helps you turn complex material into clear, compelling reading experiences that deliver higher time on page and deeper engagement. That's why Sky News, Seven West Media, Retail Week, and Stuff NZ all choose to publish news stories, sponsored content, and immersive features with Shorthand.

Stories created in Shorthand are fast, responsive and optimised for mobile — helping you engage audiences wherever they are reading.

To get started, sign up for a free Shorthand account. From there, choose a template or start from a blank canvas, structure your story into sections, and add text, images, video, audio, charts, and interactive elements as needed.

You can explore our full template gallery, or jump straight into our free feature article templates for editorial storytelling.

Shorthand works particularly well for:

• Sponsored content and branded storytelling: immersive campaigns, native advertising and partner features.
• Data stories and visual explainers: interactive charts, maps, timelines and narrative data journalism.
• Sports features and match coverage: dynamic recaps, profiles and season storytelling.
• Profile pieces: in-depth interviews and character-driven stories that benefit from strong visuals and clear narrative flow.

If your story benefits from strong visuals and a guided narrative structure, it’s likely a good match.

Yes. Shorthand includes a wide range of professionally designed templates to help you structure and style your content.

Browse the full template gallery, or explore our 10 free feature article templates tailored to news and media storytelling.

Templates are fully customisable, so you can adapt them to match your brand styles and editorial voice.

Yes. You can publish stories on a Shorthand-hosted URL or embed them directly into your own website.

Embedded stories sit seamlessly within your CMS, maintaining your site navigation, branding and analytics setup.

Get in touch to discuss the best publishing option for your team.

Shorthand allows you to combine text with rich media and interactive elements, including:

• Full-width imagery and galleries
• Background video and inline video
• Audio
• Charts and graphs
• Scroll-based animation and visual transitions
• Interactive elements such as maps and timelines

These tools help you guide readers through complex topics while maintaining clarity and narrative flow.

Shorthand is most often used for in-depth features, special reports and campaign storytelling. However, it’s flexible enough to support time-sensitive coverage such as live explainers, event roundups or evolving news stories.

For quick turnaround pieces, teams can use templates and brand styles to move from draft to publication quickly.

Yes. Shorthand supports collaborative workflows, allowing multiple contributors to draft, edit and review stories.

You can manage user permissions, maintain brand consistency with shared themes, and control publishing access — making it suitable for distributed editorial and marketing teams.

The support you receive will be shaped by your needs and the subscription plan you choose.

Every Shorthand customer is eligible for free training webinars, membership of our online community, access to a comprehensive knowledge base, and email support. Customers on higher tiers receive priority technical support and assistance with story creation and content strategy. Learn more about our plans and inclusions on our pricing page.

Regardless of your plan, our support services are part of the Shorthand magic. Don't just take our word for it — check out our reviews on G2.com!

Yes. Shorthand stories can be embedded within pages that sit behind your existing subscription system or membership paywall. You can also control access through domain restrictions and privacy settings, depending on your publishing needs.

Get in touch to discuss paywall options for your news team.