claude-skills-journalism MCP — Use Cases, Install & Live Demo

Why use it

Key features

Claim verification with source-linking discipline
FOIA request drafting (federal and state templates)
Data journalism: CSV cleanup, exploratory analysis, chart drafts
Academic writing: literature review, citation formatting
Interview question scaffolding
Anti-hallucination patterns (require URLs for every factual claim)

Live Demo

What it looks like in practice

claude-skills-journalism-skill.replay ▶ ready

0/0

Install

Pick your client

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json · Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "claude-skills-journalism-skill": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/jamditis/claude-skills-journalism",
        "~/.claude/skills/claude-skills-journalism"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Developer → Edit Config. Restart after saving.

~/.cursor/mcp.json · .cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "claude-skills-journalism-skill": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/jamditis/claude-skills-journalism",
        "~/.claude/skills/claude-skills-journalism"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Cursor uses the same mcpServers schema as Claude Desktop. Project config wins over global.

VS Code → Cline → MCP Servers → Edit

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "claude-skills-journalism-skill": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/jamditis/claude-skills-journalism",
        "~/.claude/skills/claude-skills-journalism"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Click the MCP Servers icon in the Cline sidebar, then "Edit Configuration".

~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "claude-skills-journalism-skill": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/jamditis/claude-skills-journalism",
        "~/.claude/skills/claude-skills-journalism"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Same shape as Claude Desktop. Restart Windsurf to pick up changes.

~/.continue/config.json

{
  "mcpServers": [
    {
      "name": "claude-skills-journalism-skill",
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/jamditis/claude-skills-journalism",
        "~/.claude/skills/claude-skills-journalism"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Continue uses an array of server objects rather than a map.

~/.config/zed/settings.json

{
  "context_servers": {
    "claude-skills-journalism-skill": {
      "command": {
        "path": "git",
        "args": [
          "clone",
          "https://github.com/jamditis/claude-skills-journalism",
          "~/.claude/skills/claude-skills-journalism"
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Add to context_servers. Zed hot-reloads on save.

claude mcp add claude-skills-journalism-skill -- git clone https://github.com/jamditis/claude-skills-journalism ~/.claude/skills/claude-skills-journalism

One-liner. Verify with claude mcp list. Remove with claude mcp remove.

Use Cases

Real-world ways to use claude-skills-journalism

How to verify every factual claim in a draft before publication

👤 Reporters and editors fact-checking copy on deadline ⏱ ~45 min intermediate

When to use: Draft is done; publication in 2 hours; you need to confirm each factual claim has a source.

Prerequisites

Skill installed — git clone https://github.com/jamditis/claude-skills-journalism ~/.claude/skills/journalism-skills

Flow

Extract claims

Read draft.md. Extract every factual claim (dates, numbers, quotes, causal statements). Number them.✓ Copied

→ Numbered list of distinct factual claims
Source each

For each claim, either link the source URL or flag 'NEEDS VERIFICATION'.✓ Copied

→ Per-claim source or NEEDS VERIFICATION flag
Re-check flagged

For each NEEDS VERIFICATION, search for a source. If none, mark for removal or softening.✓ Copied

→ Resolution per claim

Outcome: A draft where every factual claim has either a source or a documented absence.

Pitfalls

Claude invents plausible-looking source URLs — Require the skill to fetch each URL and quote the sentence supporting the claim

Combine with: notebooklm-skill

Draft a targeted FOIA request

👤 Investigative reporters requesting government records ⏱ ~25 min intermediate

When to use: You know the agency and the type of record; you want a tight, scoped request that isn't rejected for vagueness.

Flow

Scope

FOIA draft: EPA, emails between Region 3 administrators and Company X between Jan-Jun 2024 mentioning 'groundwater'. Tight scope to avoid rejection.✓ Copied

→ Request with specific keywords, date range, agency, and fee-waiver request
Exemption pre-check

Which FOIA exemptions is this likely to trigger, and how should I phrase to minimize them?✓ Copied

→ Exemption-by-exemption analysis

Outcome: A FOIA request likely to produce records rather than rejection.

Pitfalls

Too broad triggers fees/rejection — Always set a date range and keyword list; drop buzzwords

Explore a government dataset for a data-journalism story

👤 Data reporters looking for story angles in a new dataset ⏱ ~60 min intermediate

When to use: You downloaded a CSV/Excel from an agency; you don't yet know what's interesting.

Flow

Profile

Load data/inspections.csv. Column types, missing counts, top values per categorical, basic numeric stats.✓ Copied

→ Data profile output
Find angles

Suggest 5 angles an investigative reporter might find here, each with the specific query/filter that surfaces it.✓ Copied

→ Story angles with concrete queries
Draft chart

Chart the most compelling angle. Output ggplot / Python matplotlib code.✓ Copied

→ Chart code + description

Outcome: 2-3 publishable angles, one chart-ready.

Pitfalls

Treating correlation as causation in the pitch — Ask Claude to caveat every causal-sounding claim

Draft a literature review for an academic paper

👤 Academic writers compiling related work ⏱ ~90 min advanced

When to use: You have 20-50 papers and need to synthesize them into a coherent review.

Flow

Cluster papers by theme

Read these 30 abstracts and cluster by theme. Flag methodological disagreements.✓ Copied

→ Thematic clusters + tension points
Draft review

Draft a 1500-word lit review organized by theme, with proper inline citations (author, year).✓ Copied

→ Draft with correct citations

Outcome: A draft lit review ready for subject-matter refinement.

Combine with: notebooklm-skill

Combinations

Pair with other MCPs for X10 leverage

claude-skills-journalism-skill + notebooklm-skill

NotebookLM grounds claims in uploaded primary sources

Upload these primary sources to NotebookLM, then use journalism skill to verify every claim in the draft against them.✓ Copied

Tools

What this MCP exposes

Tool	Inputs	When to call	Cost
Claim extraction	text	First fact-check pass	Claude tokens
Source linking	claims	Second pass	Claude tokens + web search
FOIA drafting	agency, scope	Before submitting a request	Claude tokens
Dataset exploration	file path	New dataset arrives	Claude tokens
Lit review	abstracts	Academic writing	Claude tokens (high)

Cost & Limits

What this costs to run

API quota: None
Tokens per call: Varies; lit reviews 50k+
Monetary: Free
Tip: Chunk large verification jobs by story section.

Security

Permissions, secrets, blast radius

Credential storage: No credentials

Data egress: Drafts and sources sent to Claude for inference. Don't paste sensitive source material (e.g. named confidential sources) into prompts.

Confidential sources: do not include identifying details in prompts. Treat Claude as a public-adjacent collaborator for sensitive investigations.

Troubleshooting

Common errors and fixes

Claude cites URLs that 404

Require the skill to fetch each cited URL and quote the sentence supporting the claim; reject unverifiable citations.

FOIA requests rejected as overbroad

Always scope by date range and specific keywords; drop general 'any records related to'

Alternatives

claude-skills-journalism vs others

Alternative	When to use it instead	Tradeoff
Manual fact-check	Sensitive investigations where LLM involvement is risky	Slower, but full source control

More

Resources

📖 Read the official README on GitHub

🐙 Browse open issues

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