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Evaluating and critiquing content

Ethical guidelines Students should engage in a consistent and ongoing process to evaluate content of their student media. Open, constructive, robust and healthy newsroom dialogue plays a vital role in a publication’s ongoing development. Evaluating and critiquing content helps students to reflect on the process and outcome and allows them to identify areas for…

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,…

Obituaries

Ethical guidelines Journalists should report a student or staff death in an objective, consistent manner that has been decided when the staff manual is being revised. Choosing what to publish at the time of any tragedy is not wise and can cause staffs to make choices that create problems in the future. Staff manual process…

Use of profanity

Ethical guidelines Profanity in student media should only be used after careful consideration. While profanity is not illegal, journalists should ask whether the use of profanity is absolutely essential to the content and context of the story. Will readers understand the story if the profanity is not used? Some people will not read or listen…

Social media use

Ethical guidelines Journalists should hold to the same ethical standards and guidelines for their use of social media as they do for print or broadcast. The goal is consistent, responsible creation and distribution of student-created journalism. Staff manual process Editors should devise a social media guide with clear expectations and make sure all staff members…

Advertising

Ethical guidelines Students should not discriminate against advertising based on their personal beliefs. For example, students should attempt to include advertisers from multiple perspectives. According to the federal court decision in Yeo v. Lexington, student editors have the right to reject advertisements and school administrators are not legally responsible for advertising decisions students make. Staff…

Writing process

Ethical guidelines Journalists should not be so rushed in their writing, even during a 24-hour news cycle, they fail to engage fully in the writing process of drafting, editing and revising. Journalists should approach their writing from the position of “sense-maker.” That is, they are trying to help readers make sense of an issue for…

Providing context

Ethical guidelines Journalists should present relevant information in context so the audience has adequate information on which to base decisions. Context is just as important as factual accuracy and can help readers fully understand an issue and its relevance to their daily lives. Staff manual process Staff members should not only fact-check their information but…

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…

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…

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…

Policy sets standards and staff manuals
ethically carry them out

by John Bowen It’s 3 p.m. Friday, and the final deadline is in four hours. At issue is a package covering a controversial subject of growing importance in the community. The staff is divided. Some want to publish the story because it is controversial, important and will create needed community discussion. Others say there has…