Embedded Files
Each year, one of our first lessons focuses on the four core values of the Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics:
Minimize Harm
Seek Truth and Report It
Act Independently
Be Accountable and Transparent
We instill these values in our writers when they interview, when they report, and when they write. It is core to being responsible journalists. See below some of our stories where our values became key to our decision-making.
MINIMIZING HARM: OUR STORY
MINIMIZING HARM: OUR STORY
One of our most important jobs as student journalists is to minimize harm. I work weekly with administrators at Creek to decide how we can minimize harm while still telling real stories and maintaining our First Amendment rights.
Since Donald Trump returned to the White House, we've had crucial legal discussions about how to report on deportation and whether to write about the possibility of it happening right on our own campus. When Trump released an executive order removing schools' and churches' status as "sanctuary zones" from ICE agents, I was assigned to report on the story. I worked with our administration to accurately describe what would happen if ICE were to detain students during the school day. Importantly, my article didn't reveal that there were undocumented immigrants at Creek, and I didn't interview any students, even anonymously.
When the story was done, the legal discussion began—is it better to tell this story if it risks suggesting that there might be undocumented immigrants at Creek? In other words, could the story tip off citizens or agents themselves and trigger a raid?
Some of our editorial board believed it was better to tell the story because it was a timely and crucial subject on which many of our viewers were likely uninformed. My Editor-in-Chief and I contacted the Student Press Law Center, who, contrary to suggestions from school administrators, advised us to publish the story because it was better to inform. Yet in the end, we decided not to publish. We decided that the risk of drawing attention to the school was too great to publish the story.
REPORTING IN UNBIASED VOICE: THE TOUGH STORIES
REPORTING IN UNBIASED VOICE: THE TOUGH STORIES
During my sophomore year, I wrote a story about Gen-Z’s political engagement with the Israel-Hamas War, using data and exploring perspectives from local activists and perceivable online trends. I presented opposing viewpoints from a Jewish student and a Muslim student, and I took pains through the whole process to remain utterly unbiased.
As an experienced news reporter, I was already aware of the dangers of "bothsidesism": providing equal time and sourcing to two opposing sides, even if one is factually inaccurate or scientifically disproven (for example, giving equal weight to scientists’ and flat-earthers’ arguments). But in this case, both sides of the debate had legitimate perspectives.
With such deep-rooted conflict and a polarizing war in which tragedy affects millions worldwide, I needed to provide both perspectives. I worked for hours with my news editor, my advisor, my Editor-in-Chief, and my school’s administrators to comb the story for bias and confirm it was impartial. We were all confident, upon publishing, that it was.
One day after we released the magazine in which the story appeared, an unknown individual slipped a torn-off page (pictured, left) under our office door. It was scribbled with pro-Israel messages and asserted that my writing favored Palestine. Clearly, we were dealing with a charged and emotional issue.
Yet the hate mail I received taught me a valuable lesson: no matter how meticulous you are, how careful you are in your writing and editing, people may still look for the worst in your story. More importantly, they'll perceive factual writing as opinion regardless of evidence and documentation. I used the incident to teach my writers about the importance of our First Amendment rights and our duty to serve the public.
JOURNALIST, NOT CHEERLEADER
JOURNALIST, NOT CHEERLEADER
Cherry Creek High School students do not like losing. Many of our teams are in contention for conference titles every year. Recently, we've had monopolies (or near-monopolies) on state trophies in football, tennis, swimming, and baseball. But that doesn't mean we never lose.
On the contrary, having so many athletes and so many teams means we lose a lot. And as journalists, we can't just cover the victories. Reporting on loss is difficult; we must put our school on display when we’re not at our best—and, practically speaking, good reporting requires us to go into the locker room or stay on the sidelines to ask players and coaches hard questions when they’re not in the mood to talk. This coverage is not popular. But when a writer protests, "we shouldn't cover them, no one wants to read about a losing team," I remind them that our job is to tell the stories of Creek—whether we’re taking gold or missing the playoffs.
See some sports stories I've written below in which I covered loss.
This game was a tough watch, but the real challenge was interviewing the players afterward. It was difficult getting meaningful quotes out of a dejected group of guys, but I went ahead and did the story. It wasn't a big win (quite the opposite: a horrible loss against our biggest rival) but the story did matter, especially with hockey playoffs coming up soon. Read more about this story in the Reporting & Writing tab.
Many of our sports stories are about state championships. But that doesn't tell the whole story of Creek. This article, even though it covered a loss, signified a new chapter for the baseball team.
“No excuses,” junior pitcher Paul Hughes said. “But we will come back next year with a chip on our shoulder.”
The team won the championship one year later.
Boys' hockey's 2025 playoff run, which I reported every step of the way, seemed like a fairytale right up to the end. They beat our biggest rivals, Regis Jesuit High School, in the first round. In the semifinals, they were up two goals against the top seed. But then the game slipped out of reach, and they gave up the season-ending goal deep in the second overtime. It was heartbreaking to watch. But it was an important article to write.
TEACHING NEWS LITERACY
TEACHING NEWS LITERACY
In a world full of swirling rumors and slanted news, we urgently need to teach our journalists about news literacy. Critical consumption of media is vital in a democracy where there are few filters to prevent misinformation and promote fact-checking. Fake videos and AI-generated content go viral among scrolling, vulnerable teenagers, and it’s scary. It’s crushing to me that much of the news my peers see on TikTok is unverified and riddled with clickbait, yet they treat it as a trusted source. But media illiteracy is a problem we can fix.
I teach writers to analyze their news closely, from significant elements like headline and word choice, to less obvious choices, like story structure and sourcing. We use charts like the news bias graph below to remind ourselves of distortions, even in our most popular news sources. It matters to me because I pursue truth in my own reporting every day. In a time when fake news goes viral in an instant, I want to offer my peers the analytical tools for news literacy.
Words of Recommendation
Words of Recommendation
"In my experience as a High School Administrator and Activities Director, there is no better student qualified for this honor [Journalist of the Year]. Not only is Peter an outstanding student and member of the Cherry Creek community, but he is an upstanding journalist. Integrity is of the utmost importance to him. He is unafraid of taking risks, asking the hard questions and exploring topics that many student journalists would not. Furthermore, he has created a collaborative relationship with our administrative team to promote transparency and support. I am confident in his future as a journalist, and proud he is a member of our team." —Kelly Devitt-Prevost, Cherry Creek High School Activities Director
"Peter’s journalism is characterized by rigor, initiative, and an instinctive understanding of what it means to serve a community. He is deeply grounded in the fundamentals—AP style, ethical reporting, source integrity—and he cares profoundly about doing the right thing ... Peter simply lives and breathes journalism and for all the right reasons. He knows how important it is for his community to be informed, leading him to see his development of his journalistic skills as an almost sacred civic responsibility." —Seth Fine, USJ Faculty Advisor
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