Photo workflow

How story images are chosen and documented

For this prototype edition, each hero image is paired with a public-use or attribution-cleared file page and logged for relevance, creator, and license.

Principles

Do not reuse the same thumbnail for unrelated stories. Match the image to the event, place, institution, or material system the article is actually about. Store the file page, creator, license, and rationale before publication.

In a production newsroom, the next step would be to ingest approved copies locally after license review. This prototype loads from the original public file hosts and keeps a separate record here.

Story	Desk	Creator / file page	License	Status	Why it fits
A Country That Cannot Measure Itself Cannot Govern Itself	Opinion	U.S. government / public domain	Public domain	public domain	Census Bureau headquarters is a natural fit for an essay on national measurement and statistical institutions.
Streaming Grew Up and Became TV Again.	Culture	Eden, Janine and Jim	CC BY 2.0	reusable with attribution	A SAG-AFTRA picket line fits a story about streaming, labor contracts, and TV economics.
Bird Flu Changed Farm Policy Before It Changed Human Medicine.	Health	USDA / Jim G. Peeples	Public domain	public domain	Dairy cattle photo fits H5N1 farm-policy coverage.
Europe’s Defense Turn Is Now a Budget, Supply-Chain, and Time Problem	World	Bart Maat / Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands	CC BY-SA 4.0	reusable with attribution	NATO summit photo directly matches a story about Europe’s defense turn.
The College Comeback Is Real. It Is Also Uneven.	Education	IMCBerea College	CC BY 2.0	reusable with attribution	Campus image fits uneven college enrollment recovery.
Shelter Is Still the Inflation Story People Live Inside.	Economics	kallerna	CC BY-SA 4.0	reusable with attribution	Housing construction is directly relevant to shelter costs and supply.
Proof of Citizenship Is Not Just a Voting Rule. It Is a Theory of the Electorate.	Politics	Lorie Shaull	CC BY-SA 2.0	reusable with attribution	Election signage is directly relevant to a story about voter registration and election administration.
Artemis II Proved the Moon Is an Engineering Project Again	Science	NASA / Brandon Hancock	Public domain	public domain	Launch image directly depicts the Artemis II mission discussed in the story.
The Missing Word in the AI Debate Is Judgment.	Philosophy	Unknown / public domain	Public domain	public domain	A public-domain Hannah Arendt portrait suits an essay on judgment.
Measles Is Not a Childhood Memory Anymore.	Health	Whispyhistory	CC BY-SA 4.0	reusable with attribution	Vaccination image is directly tied to measles coverage.
School Recovery Is Now an Attendance Story.	Education	Jeff chenqinyi	CC BY-SA 3.0	reusable with attribution	Classroom scene fits reporting on school recovery and attendance.
The Consumer Has Not Quit. The Economy Still Feels Cautious.	Economics	Mohamed mfuu	CC BY-SA 4.0	reusable with attribution	A supermarket checkout visual grounds a consumer-spending and prices story.
The Crowd Came Back. The Old Economics Did Not.	Culture	Ken Lund	CC BY-SA 2.0	reusable with attribution	Broadway streetscape matches story on live audiences and cultural economics.
AI Needs Electricity, Steel, and Time	Technology	Hunter Trick	CC BY-SA 4.0	reusable with attribution	Shows TSMC Fab 21 construction, matching a story about AI infrastructure and chip supply.