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Editor-staff relationships

Ethical guidelines Editors should conduct all relationships with staff members in a fair and professional manner. By considering the program’s best interests above matters of personality, students will be able to work together in a positive and productive environment. Staff manual process Editors should be aware of potential challenges that may arise as a result…

Staff conduct

Ethical guidelines Students participating in scholastic media should hold themselves to high standards to earn and preserve trust and respect from the audiences they serve. Lapses in judgment affect the staff as well as the credibility of the media they produce. Students should realize that discipline problems or poor choices extend beyond individual consequences. Staff…

Prior review/restraint

Ethical guidelines Students learn more when they make all publication choices. Prior review and restraint do not teach students to produce higher quality journalism. The only way to teach students to take responsibility for their decisions is to give them the responsibility to make those decisions freely. No administrator has ever shown any educational value…

Adviser responsibilities

Ethical guidelines The role of the adviser in student-run media incorporates teacher, coach, counselor, listener and devil’s advocate but not doer. Students learn best when they are empowered to make their own decisions with support from the adviser on the sideline. A clear understanding of the adviser’s role helps students take ownership of their work…

The role of student media

Ethical guidelines Journalists often are considered mirrors on society. As such, journalism should reflect the community in which it is produced. In order to also maintain their watchdog function, journalists must also be able to act as candles that illuminate and challenge a community’s values and preconceptions. Monitoring the status quo and the powers that…

Working with a board-approved policy

Policy Staffs should include the district policy in their staff manuals if available. If not, they should work towards reaching agreement with the administration and school board for a policy all can agree makes the most educational sense. Three examples of these board policies are available, each with that same basic premise but…

Public records and public meetings

Ethical guidelines Journalists have a right and responsibility to access public records and attending public meetings as part of the information-gathering process. Open records laws typically presume that records created or maintained or meetings held by a government agency are open to the public unless they fall within a few specific exemptions written into the…

Treatment of minors

Ethical guidelines All sources deserve to be treated with respect and dignity, but there are special legal and ethical situations that apply to minors. In general, minors are anyone under the state’s legal age of adulthood, usually 18. This poses some special concerns because often a student who is a senior may no longer be…

Correcting errors

Ethical guidelines Mistakes happen. What matters is how student journalists handle such situations. Student editors should correct errors as quickly and visibly as possible. Sometimes this means correcting a print error on a website and then following up in the next issue. Staff manual process When a reader or viewer has identified an error,…

Takedown requests

Ethical guidelines Journalists may be asked to remove online content for any number of reasons. Just because content is unpopular or controversial does not mean a media staff should comply with such requests. When journalists meet their goal of producing consistent, responsible journalism, they likely will choose to leave the content in question online…

Letters to the editor and online comments

Ethical guidelines Student media should accept letters to the editor or online comments from outside the staff to solidify their status as a designated public forum where students make all final decisions of content. This allows their audience to use their voices as well. Staff manual process Print/online • A student editor must know…

Linking to sources

Ethical guidelines To increase a publications’ transparency, students should clearly show links to sources u sed in reporting in a consistent process. Providing links to sources creates a sense of credibility and thoroughness in the reporting process. Links do not signify endorsement but an attempt to cite as accurately as possible and in context. Staff…