NEWS LITERACY, LAWS, & ETHICS

WHAT I'VE LEARNED:

Having a staff is great, but it's important to keep everyone on the same page. Publishing work is a very serious deal, so it's extremely important that everyone knows what rules and guidelines need to be followed in order to produce good ethical work.

There are so many steps into producing good quality and ethical work. I work to show my staff what needs to be followed through the use of these graphics and slideshows:

MAV MEDIA POLICY

All Mav Media members are held to the same expectations. I created these graphics to help remind staffers of our mission and rules.

YEARBOOK POLICY

STAFF RULES

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

During yearbook distribution we put our note from the editor in the front of each book. The note clarifies that lost or stolen books cannot be replaced, and reminds readers that we are a student publication and not a professional publication.

PARENT COMPLAINTS

While we produce the yearbook for everyone, not everyone is satisfied with the final product. A parent complaint we had in the past was that a student was present on picture day, but did not get a picture in the book. We explained to this parent that photo proofs were posted in the halls for a week, and students were responsible for checking their photo and name. If students did not see their photo, or have a correct name, there was a QR code they could fill out to correct the mistake. We also explained to the parent that it's impossible for us to check the photos and names of all 2,100 students, and that the portrait company can also easily miss a student, which is why we make the proofs available to our student body.

AI IN JOURNALISM

In recent years Artificial Intelligence has become extremely popular. It's important for students, especially journalists, to know when it's appropriate and inappropriate to use AI. This is a graphic I made to show students when AI can be useful and when it's harmful.

ETHICS

Writing and publishing content unethically can lead to major setbacks in journalism. It's extremely important that all Mav Media members understand the ethical guidelines and rules in producing content. While student media isn't professional, our staff needs to maintain the same rules and regulations that a professional journalist would.

ETHICS IN JOURNALISM

COVERING THE ELECTION

The election was a huge event in the 2024 year. Covering this event, or politics in general, can be very controversial. I knew the election was something I wanted to incorporate into our 2024 yearbook, but I had to do it in a professional manner. I created a spread recapping the election season but remained strictly factual throughout all my writing. I made sure to credit the sources I used and keep out any opinionated statements.

Conducting an Interview

INTERVIEWS

To set the expectations of conducting an interview, I created this slideshow to show to Mav Media staffers. The slideshow covers the basics of interviewing and what our reporters need to do before and during the interview.

QUOTE FORMS

To produce accurate news stories and yearbook spreads we need quotes for everything. This is a quote form we use to record the information we get from the rest of the student body. If allowed by the student, reporters record their interview and then transcribe it onto this quote form. The form lists the questions asked, their response, the name of the student, and the name of the interviewer.

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