diff --git a/internal/ingestion/parser.go b/internal/ingestion/parser.go
index bd3036b..d3bceb8 100644
--- a/internal/ingestion/parser.go
+++ b/internal/ingestion/parser.go
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ type FeedItem struct {
 	ArticleURL  string
 	Source      string
 	DirectRoute string
+	PublishedAt int64 // unix seconds from RSS pubDate / Atom published (or updated as fallback); 0 if absent or unparseable
 }
 
 var (
@@ -53,11 +54,12 @@ func FetchFeed(feedURL string) ([]FeedItem, error) {
 	items := make([]FeedItem, 0, len(feed.Items))
 	for _, item := range feed.Items {
 		fi := FeedItem{
-			GUID:       itemGUID(item),
-			Headline:   strings.TrimSpace(item.Title),
-			Lede:       extractLede(item.Description),
-			ImageURL:   NormalizeImageURL(extractImageURL(item)),
-			ArticleURL: strings.TrimSpace(item.Link),
+			GUID:        itemGUID(item),
+			Headline:    strings.TrimSpace(item.Title),
+			Lede:        extractLede(item.Description),
+			ImageURL:    NormalizeImageURL(extractImageURL(item)),
+			ArticleURL:  strings.TrimSpace(item.Link),
+			PublishedAt: itemPublished(item),
 		}
 		if fi.GUID == "" || fi.ArticleURL == "" {
 			continue
@@ -76,6 +78,19 @@ func itemGUID(item *gofeed.Item) string {
 	return item.Link
 }
 
+// itemPublished returns the item's publish time as unix seconds, falling back
+// to the updated time if pubDate was absent. Returns 0 when neither parses;
+// the poller clamps future timestamps to ingest time.
+func itemPublished(item *gofeed.Item) int64 {
+	if item.PublishedParsed != nil {
+		return item.PublishedParsed.Unix()
+	}
+	if item.UpdatedParsed != nil {
+		return item.UpdatedParsed.Unix()
+	}
+	return 0
+}
+
 // extractLede returns the feed description verbatim, with HTML stripped.
 func extractLede(desc string) string {
 	if desc == "" {
diff --git a/internal/ingestion/poller.go b/internal/ingestion/poller.go
index eafe4ab..926e7ef 100644
--- a/internal/ingestion/poller.go
+++ b/internal/ingestion/poller.go
@@ -188,7 +188,15 @@ func (p *Poller) pollOnceWithErr(ctx context.Context, src config.SourceConfig) e
 		items[i].Source = src.Name
 		items[i].DirectRoute = src.DirectRoute
 
-		// Store immediately (before routing) to prevent re-ingestion
+		// Store immediately (before routing) to prevent re-ingestion.
+		// Future-dated pubDates (publishers occasionally post-date drafts or
+		// have a misconfigured clock) get clamped to ingest time so they don't
+		// stick at the top of the queue indefinitely.
+		seenAt := time.Now().Unix()
+		publishedAt := items[i].PublishedAt
+		if publishedAt > seenAt {
+			publishedAt = seenAt
+		}
 		if err := storage.InsertStory(&storage.Story{
 			GUID:         items[i].GUID,
 			Headline:     items[i].Headline,
@@ -199,7 +207,8 @@ func (p *Poller) pollOnceWithErr(ctx context.Context, src config.SourceConfig) e
 			HeadlineNorm: headlineNorm,
 			Source:       items[i].Source,
 			Paywalled:    paywalled,
-			SeenAt:       time.Now().Unix(),
+			SeenAt:       seenAt,
+			PublishedAt:  publishedAt,
 		}); err != nil {
 			slog.Error("failed to insert story", "guid", items[i].GUID, "err", err)
 			continue
diff --git a/internal/storage/db.go b/internal/storage/db.go
index c7bb2e9..ba1a346 100644
--- a/internal/storage/db.go
+++ b/internal/storage/db.go
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ func runMigrations(d *sql.DB) error {
 	addColumnIfMissing(d, "stories", "url_canonical", "TEXT")
 	addColumnIfMissing(d, "stories", "headline_norm", "TEXT")
 	addColumnIfMissing(d, "stories", "paywalled", "INTEGER NOT NULL DEFAULT 0")
+	addColumnIfMissing(d, "stories", "published_at", "INTEGER")
 	addColumnIfMissing(d, "post_log", "url_canonical", "TEXT")
 	addColumnIfMissing(d, "round_robin_state", "last_channel", "TEXT")
 
diff --git a/internal/storage/queries.go b/internal/storage/queries.go
index f615368..7d29521 100644
--- a/internal/storage/queries.go
+++ b/internal/storage/queries.go
@@ -33,10 +33,14 @@ func InsertStory(s *Story) error {
 	if s.Paywalled {
 		paywalled = 1
 	}
+	var publishedAt any
+	if s.PublishedAt > 0 {
+		publishedAt = s.PublishedAt
+	}
 	_, err := Get().Exec(
-		`INSERT INTO stories (guid, headline, lede, image_url, article_url, url_canonical, headline_norm, source, platforms, channel, classified, paywalled, seen_at)
-		 VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)`,
-		s.GUID, s.Headline, s.Lede, s.ImageURL, s.ArticleURL, nullIfEmpty(s.URLCanonical), nullIfEmpty(s.HeadlineNorm), s.Source, s.Platforms, s.Channel, classified, paywalled, s.SeenAt,
+		`INSERT INTO stories (guid, headline, lede, image_url, article_url, url_canonical, headline_norm, source, platforms, channel, classified, paywalled, seen_at, published_at)
+		 VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)`,
+		s.GUID, s.Headline, s.Lede, s.ImageURL, s.ArticleURL, nullIfEmpty(s.URLCanonical), nullIfEmpty(s.HeadlineNorm), s.Source, s.Platforms, s.Channel, classified, paywalled, s.SeenAt, publishedAt,
 	)
 	return err
 }
@@ -185,7 +189,7 @@ func GetNewestPostableStory(source string) (*Story, error) {
 		   AND channel IS NOT NULL
 		   AND channel NOT IN ('_discarded', '_duplicate')
 		   AND guid NOT IN (SELECT guid FROM post_log)
-		 ORDER BY seen_at DESC
+		 ORDER BY COALESCE(published_at, seen_at) DESC
 		 LIMIT 1`, source)
 	var s Story
 	if err := row.Scan(&s.GUID, &s.Headline, &s.Lede, &s.ImageURL, &s.ArticleURL, &s.Source, &s.Platforms, &s.Channel, &s.SeenAt); err != nil {
@@ -208,7 +212,7 @@ func GetNewestPostableStoryByChannel(channel string) (*Story, error) {
 		 WHERE classified = 1
 		   AND channel = ?
 		   AND guid NOT IN (SELECT guid FROM post_log)
-		 ORDER BY seen_at DESC
+		 ORDER BY COALESCE(published_at, seen_at) DESC
 		 LIMIT 1`, channel)
 	var s Story
 	if err := row.Scan(&s.GUID, &s.Headline, &s.Lede, &s.ImageURL, &s.ArticleURL, &s.Source, &s.Platforms, &s.Channel, &s.SeenAt); err != nil {
@@ -230,7 +234,7 @@ func ListClassifiedByChannel(channel string, limit, offset int) ([]Story, error)
 		 FROM stories s
 		 WHERE s.classified = 1
 		   AND s.channel = ?
-		 ORDER BY s.seen_at DESC
+		 ORDER BY COALESCE(s.published_at, s.seen_at) DESC
 		 LIMIT ? OFFSET ?`, channel, limit, offset)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -257,7 +261,7 @@ func ListAllClassified(limit, offset int) ([]Story, error) {
 		 WHERE s.classified = 1
 		   AND s.channel IS NOT NULL
 		   AND s.channel NOT IN ('_discarded', '_duplicate')
-		 ORDER BY s.seen_at DESC
+		 ORDER BY COALESCE(s.published_at, s.seen_at) DESC
 		 LIMIT ? OFFSET ?`, limit, offset)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
diff --git a/internal/storage/schema.go b/internal/storage/schema.go
index fb43339..360aa96 100644
--- a/internal/storage/schema.go
+++ b/internal/storage/schema.go
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS stories (
     channel       TEXT,
     classified    INTEGER NOT NULL DEFAULT 0,
     paywalled     INTEGER NOT NULL DEFAULT 0,
-    seen_at       INTEGER NOT NULL
+    seen_at       INTEGER NOT NULL,
+    published_at  INTEGER
 );
 
 CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS post_log (
diff --git a/internal/storage/types.go b/internal/storage/types.go
index 94d7b50..d81fab7 100644
--- a/internal/storage/types.go
+++ b/internal/storage/types.go
@@ -16,5 +16,6 @@ type Story struct {
 	Classified   bool
 	Paywalled    bool // source article is gated; ArticleURL may be an archive snapshot
 	SeenAt       int64
-	Posted       bool // true if this story has been posted to Matrix (joined from post_log)
+	PublishedAt  int64 // from RSS pubDate/Atom published; 0 if missing. Future dates are clamped to SeenAt at ingest.
+	Posted       bool  // true if this story has been posted to Matrix (joined from post_log)
 }