About Best-Edit CIVIC.
The read before it goes out.
Best-Edit CIVIC gives a communications office the editor it never had: the read a veteran press secretary gives a release before it goes out, a check of every claim against your own documents, a transcript of the meeting with the stories already found in it, and a records request drafted to the statute. Your people make the decisions. CIVIC does the production work.
Your communicators stay in charge. CIVIC makes them faster and harder to catch out.
What CIVIC Does.
Reviews every release the way reporters read it
Headline, lede, strategic messaging, structure, quotes, risk assessment, tactical recommendations, with the reasons. Your quotes are never altered; any language we suggest is marked as requiring your approval.
Checks the draft against your documents
One click compares the draft with the documents you attached and reports what is supported, with the source line quoted, what is unsupported, and what could not be anchored.
Reads for records risk
Calls out language that will not survive a public-records request: internal deliberations, personal phone numbers and home addresses, partisan framing, unverified superlatives. Each is quoted, with the reason and the fix.
Puts it in plain language
Jargon, passive voice and 60-word sentences get rewritten so a resident can read them and a reporter can lift them.
Transcribes audio recordings and finds the stories
Drop in the recording or the meeting link. Best-Edit returns the transcript, checks the names and spellings against your roster, finds the stories in it, pulls the quotes, and sends it to the review.
Drafts public-records requests
A request that cites the statute, deadline, fee-waiver provision and appeal path for any of the 50 states or the federal government, with a saved agency contact book.
Publishes to your site
Send the finished draft to WordPress or Newspack as a draft or a live post, or to Arc XP as a draft, from the screen you wrote it on. Running another system? We build the connection.
How it changes your workflow.
Boost production
A release that took two hours of back-and-forth gets a full read in under a minute. A council meeting comes back as a transcript with the stories already found in it.
Increase billable hours
Your team spends less time on production mechanics and more time on strategy, client relationships, and the work that actually drives revenue.
Consistent quality
Every document gets the same read, whether your senior director or your newest hire wrote it. Standards do not slip when the team is stretched.
Humans stay in charge
Every edit is a suggestion. Every publish is a decision. CIVIC handles the production; your people handle the judgment.
Who built this.
Best-Edit was built by a journalist with a Pulitzer Prize and a Peabody Award who spent decades in newsrooms covering government. It comes from someone who has been on both sides: the reporter asking questions and the communicator answering them.
CIVIC is built on that experience. It knows what makes a press release land with reporters, what gets a public notice ignored, and how to communicate clearly with communities that depend on accurate public information.
Who uses CIVIC.
- City and county communications offices managing press releases, public notices, and crisis response
- State agency public affairs teams producing high volumes of public-facing content
- Nonprofit communications directors writing grant narratives, newsletters, and donor updates
- School district PR staff handling community engagement and board meeting communications
- Public health communicators translating complex information for general audiences
- PR firms managing government and nonprofit accounts who need to scale production
Additional products.
Beyond the core platform, the following tools are available upon request for CIVIC teams:
- BuzzWire: Turn a release into posts for each platform, schedule them, and track engagement
- Newsletter: Build and send the office newsletter from the releases you already wrote
- Layout: Print-ready design for newsletters, annual reports and public documents
- Slackbot: Send a draft from Slack and get the edited version back
Contact us to discuss which tools fit your workflow.