diff --git a/backend/src/api/admin.ts b/backend/src/api/admin.ts
index 77521e0..30f3034 100644
--- a/backend/src/api/admin.ts
+++ b/backend/src/api/admin.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import * as categoriesDb from '../storage/db/categories.js';
 import * as stocksDb from '../storage/db/stocks.js';
 import * as bookmarksDb from '../storage/db/bookmarks.js';
 import * as poe2WatchlistDb from '../storage/db/poe2Watchlist.js';
-import { clearSourceContent, reissueSourceContent, clearAllArticles, clearAllMedia } from '../storage/contentCascade.js';
+import { clearSourceContent, reissueSourceContent, reissueArticle, clearAllArticles, clearAllMedia } from '../storage/contentCascade.js';
 import { totalStorageBytes } from '../storage/media/index.js';
 import { OllamaProvider } from '../inference/ollama-provider.js';
 import { pollSourceNow } from '../ingestion/poller.js';
@@ -151,6 +151,17 @@ export async function registerAdminRoutes(app: FastifyInstance) {
 		return reissueSourceContent(id);
 	});
 
+	// Fixes one specific bad article (e.g. a degenerate/empty AI synthesis — see
+	// synthesis.ts's assertNonEmpty) by deleting it and requeuing every item it merged,
+	// regardless of how many different sources contributed — reissueSourceContent above
+	// deliberately won't touch a multi-source article at all.
+	app.post('/api/admin/articles/:id/reissue', async (req, reply) => {
+		const { id } = req.params as { id: string };
+		const result = reissueArticle(id);
+		if (!result) return reply.code(404).send({ error: 'not found' });
+		return result;
+	});
+
 	// --- Tracked events ---
 	app.get('/api/admin/events', async () => eventsDb.listEvents());
 
diff --git a/backend/src/pipeline/synthesis.ts b/backend/src/pipeline/synthesis.ts
index dfdd5be..d9bcf83 100644
--- a/backend/src/pipeline/synthesis.ts
+++ b/backend/src/pipeline/synthesis.ts
@@ -163,6 +163,23 @@ function parseResult(raw: string): SynthesisResult {
 	return { title, body, tagLabels };
 }
 
+/**
+ * A quantized/small model occasionally reproduces just the requested delimiter
+ * scaffold ("---TITLE---\n\n---TAGS---") with no real headline or article text in
+ * between — a structurally "valid" response by parseResult's own logic (delimiters
+ * found, nothing crashed) but empty in substance. Left unchecked this published a
+ * blank article (empty title/body, still with real sources/hero image attached) once
+ * in production. Treating an empty body as a hard failure lets the caller's existing
+ * catch-and-retry logic (see priorityQueue.ts's runSynthesisCycle) leave the cluster
+ * unclustered for the next cycle instead of ever inserting one of these.
+ */
+function assertNonEmpty(result: SynthesisResult, context: string): SynthesisResult {
+	if (!result.body.trim()) {
+		throw new Error(`Model returned an empty article body for ${context}`);
+	}
+	return result;
+}
+
 export async function synthesizeArticle(
 	provider: InferenceProvider,
 	model: string,
@@ -174,7 +191,7 @@ export async function synthesizeArticle(
 	const system = SYSTEM_PROMPT_BASE + styleAddendum(settings);
 	const label = `Merging ${items.length} source${items.length === 1 ? '' : 's'}: "${items[0]?.title.slice(0, 60) ?? ''}"`;
 	const raw = await provider.generate(prompt, { model, system, numCtx: DEFAULT_NUM_CTX, numPredict: DEFAULT_NUM_PREDICT, label });
-	return parseResult(raw);
+	return assertNonEmpty(parseResult(raw), `"${items[0]?.title.slice(0, 60) ?? ''}"`);
 }
 
 function buildRecapPrompt(eventName: string, articles: MergedArticle[]): string {
@@ -214,5 +231,5 @@ export async function synthesizeRecap(
 		numPredict: DEFAULT_NUM_PREDICT,
 		label: `Recapping event: "${eventName.slice(0, 60)}"`
 	});
-	return parseResult(raw);
+	return assertNonEmpty(parseResult(raw), `event recap "${eventName.slice(0, 60)}"`);
 }
diff --git a/backend/src/storage/contentCascade.ts b/backend/src/storage/contentCascade.ts
index 3757245..15ef491 100644
--- a/backend/src/storage/contentCascade.ts
+++ b/backend/src/storage/contentCascade.ts
@@ -86,6 +86,29 @@ export function reissueSourceContent(sourceId: string): ReissueResult {
 	return { articlesDeleted, itemsRequeued: requeueIds.size };
 }
 
+/**
+ * Deletes one specific article (and its media) and requeues every content item that
+ * contributed to it — unlike reissueSourceContent, this works regardless of how many
+ * different sources the article merged together, since it's scoped to the article
+ * itself rather than "everything from source X". Exists for exactly the failure mode
+ * synthesis.ts's assertNonEmpty guards against going forward: a bad synthesis call
+ * that already made it into a published (garbage) article before that guard existed,
+ * where the source-scoped reissue tools can't help because the article spans sources.
+ * Returns null if the article doesn't exist.
+ */
+export function reissueArticle(articleId: string): ReissueResult | null {
+	const article = articlesDb.getArticle(articleId);
+	if (!article) return null;
+
+	const itemIds = article.sources.map((s) => s.itemId);
+	deleteMediaByArticleId(article.id);
+	articlesDb.deleteArticle(article.id);
+	contentItemsDb.resetClusterForItems(itemIds);
+
+	logger.info('admin', `Reissuing article ${articleId}: deleted, ${itemIds.length} item(s) requeued`);
+	return { articlesDeleted: 1, itemsRequeued: itemIds.length };
+}
+
 /** Wipes every published article and its media, keeping raw ingested items intact so they can be re-synthesized fresh. */
 export function clearAllArticles(): number {
 	const articles = articlesDb.allArticlesNewestFirst();