Editorial Guidelines: Funeral Coverage Standards

KILL THIS STORY.

The source material is a funeral announcement for an event scheduled for today. By publication time, the funeral has already occurred or is in progress. No outcomes, attendance figures, remarks, or follow-up reporting are available. This lacks the news value required for publication.

If you receive an obituary or funeral notice, report on it before the service date, or report on the service itself afterward with actual reporting: who attended, what was said, details about the deceased's life and legacy. A stale announcement has no place in the newspaper.