The Latest – Page 46

‘Put up’ guidelines

Ethical guidelines Having a set of standards to follow before posting online or print content might help avoid material that causes someone to send a takedown demand. Whether students post mainly online or to a combination of print and online, student staffs should develop authentication procedures before publishing striving to avoid Takedown Demand hassles. Staff…

Recording interviews

Ethical guidelines While it is often a good idea to record interviews for accuracy and multi-platform use, follow legal and ethical guidelines for your state. Staff manual process Student journalists should check the guidelines on recording sources for their state then develop consistent procedures to follow these guidelines. Suggestions Resources Reporters Committee apps, Reporters Committee…

Video dubs

Ethical guidelines Although a common event in some schools, video dubs need to be handled with legal and ethical care. It is essential, if the product is to go on the web, it is essential to follow all copyright requirements. Student media set a strong model for others to follow, so it is incumbent on…

SPRC adds six new ethics-staff manual models

JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Committee added six new ethical-staff manual statements July 7 in connection with its Adviser Institute in Las Vegas. The model guidelines range from understanding ‘no publication’ guidelines to producing video dubs. All seven are part of the SPRC’s Foundations package, designed to coordinate student media editorial policies with ethical guidelines and staff…

Lessons in transparency, by George

by Stan Zoller, MJE Unlike sports, journalism has no season. While a football season may go three months, a journalism season goes nine. And then some. So even as advisers get ready to distribute yearbooks or put out that last edition of the paper, their work, and that of their student journalists, is not over….

Editors tell their stories; change minds

Telling an unfiltered story to peers is sometimes difficult. Telling your own story about your sexuality can be even more difficult. Three editors of The Howler at Monarch High School In Louisville, Colorado, found a way to tell the stories they knew needed to be published. The end result created a place where all kids…

Adviser will have to OK anonymous sources,
school board cites journalism standards

Student media advisers at Northern Highlands High School in New Jersey must now give prior permission for student journalists to grant anonymity to a source according to a revised policy the board of education adopted April 28. The criteria an adviser might have to determine, according to an article at NorthJersey.com, consists of “the credibility, motivation and bias”…

What’s in your editorial policies,
board- and publication-level,
does make a difference

Sometimes adversity can be a blessing in disguise. At least that is the point SaraRose Martin, co-editor of Fauquier High School’s The Falconer published May 8. In a column, Martin said administrative censorship helped her learn she had rights and how political the world is. “I learned how much I believe in free speech and the…

CJE test-takers need not fear
law & ethics questions

“But the law and ethics questions worry me,” said a slightly frazzled journalism teacher as she slid into the last row of seats for one of the Denver convention’s Getting Certified sessions. She was going to take the test later that day in hopes of becoming a Certified Journalism Educator, and she knew she HAD…

Facing takedown demands requires
thoughtful planning of guidelines

Because student media takedown demands continue to grow and the JEA listserv recently discussed issues that could be involved in information takedown, JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Committee reposts guidelines to assist students and their advisers who face these requests. We agree with the Student Press Law Center’s Executive Director Frank LoMonte who said the SPLC has shied away from telling…

Crossing the line: student challenges public media ethics

When a television reporter crossed the line to get a story about a local high school’s security system that led to a school lockdown, a student journalist challenged the media’s ethics. Kirkwood High School’s (Mo.) Ian Madden knew from journalism class that truth is the most important tool in journalistic ethics. When a reporter from the St….

The rules of the journalistic road
start with law and ethics

by Stan Zoller, MJE Once a week I find myself at the local police station. It’s a routine I have gotten into as part of the coverage I do for my local blog. Every week I check the police reports to see what sort of dastardly things local residents have called the police for. It…