MacArthur Student Media Editorial Policy

THE BRAHMA YEARBOOK. 

BRAHMA NEWS (TALES). 

JOURNALISM.

Staffs are responsible for creating an annual/quarterly publication that becomes the permanent record of the school and the school population they serve.

The publication they create will serve as a record/history book, memory book, business venture, classroom laboratory and public relations tool for the district.

Because the functions of the publication are so far-reaching, and the publication itself is a historical document, ethical questions facing the staffs are challenging and unique.

Below are The Brahma policies.

General points

— The same ethical principles apply to student journalism as to any other kind of media.

— Reporters should cover all sides of a story fairly and fully.

— Reporters should identify themselves as representing the Mac Student Media.

— Reporters should verify source information with someone else or some other resource.

— Reporters should avoid lurking on social media sites and should never use information gained from social media as their only resource. No information should be taken from a social media site without notification to the author of the site.

— Advisers should follow the tenets of JEA’s Adviser Code of Ethics, and students should continue to honor values expressed in existing resources.

Section I: Policies 

All MacArthur Student Media Students will follow the NEISD Student Code of Conduct. Students may be removed from the class or removed from their position for:

•Not working

•Leaving the room without permission

•Failing other subjects (must maintain a passing average).

•Dishonesty or theft

•Making up information or forging quotes

•Moral and/or ethical violations, behavior/citizenship violations, fighting, ISS, office referral, AHS assignment 

•Improper use of social media

•Inappropriate treatment of teachers and staff and other students

General

—This is a history of Douglas MacArthur High School and coverage should reflect the school year in stories and photos and reflect the trends of the times in design.

—All groups, topics and events will receive space equal to the quantity of events of the school year and the number of students involved in that group.

— Readers, teachers, administrators or community members may submit content that will be considered by the editorial staff.

Portraits (YEARBOOK)

—Students will take photos with the current photo company.

—The school dress code will apply to senior and underclass photos.

—Senior portraits featured in the People Section of the yearbook will be cap and gown poses.

—Any photo deemed inappropriate by the editorial board will be excluded.

Advertising 

—Student ads and business ads will be accepted until the deadline or until all the allotted space is filled.

—The allotted space will be based on the price and allowed pages in the contract with the publisher.

— Advertisers will be given a proof within one week to make changes in the ad.

 —If a printed advertisement has an error a partial or full refund can be given if the issue is the fault of the yearbook staff.

Obituaries (YEARBOOK)

—In the event of the death of a student, faculty or staff member, friends and family may purchase a space in the advertising section of the yearbook. A discount will be given to the family of the deceased. 

—The cause of death will play no part in whether a space will be available for the student.

Returns (YEARBOOK)

—The yearbook staff will only accept return books if they are damaged or missing pages. No refunds.

—If a student’s name is misspelled or if a person is mislabeled, the yearbook staff will apologize but in no cases will a book be discounted.

—If a student’s yearbook is stolen at school, the yearbook staff will provide a book to the student at cost as long as the yearbook staff has extra yearbooks.

—Books not picked up at distribution will be kept for one calendar year for that buyer and at that point can be sold to other buyers. If the book is not sold, the buyer can pick up the book until the staff runs out of extra books. 

NAMES (YEARBOOK)

—The yearbook staff will only print government issued names in the “People” section of the yearbook. All names will be verified against the school’s database. 

—The yearbook staff will accept the official NEISD yearbook name change request forms (drafted by NEISD legal office) from students to be completed by the second Tuesday of October. 

Section II: Covering the Year

Those who have signed on to be part of MacArthur Student Media have agreed to be the eyes and ears of the student body as they capture the unique aspects of this particular year at a specific high school. This commitment means —

—Coverage will reflect all aspects and voices of the student body and will not be limited to those who are on staff or their friends. The book will reflect the school’s diversity and will have balance in terms of age and gender, with emphasis on student involvement more than faculty and staff.

—The book will include scoreboards for all teams even if it has not been a winning year, group pictures with complete names of all teams and organizations, as part of the important record-keeping information.

—To keep the book as complete and accurate as possible, the staff will take extra care to work with the counselors, registrar and administrators to determine the correct grade level of each student enrolled to be classified as such. The staff will determine a policy for how to classify students who fall above or below the determined credit level and/or students who plan to graduate early. 

—The staff will not include a “not pictured” list in the portrait section.

—Because this is a historical document, special care will be given to accuracy, including fact checking all information, correct quotes, correct spelling of names. Faculty names, classes taught and extracurricular activities sponsored will be included with faculty portrait pictures.

—The staff will tell all stories fairly and fully using resources representing all points of view.

Section III: Original Work

The story of the year should be as special as its characters (the students) and as creative and fresh as its authors (the student media staff). Because the story of your school this year can only be told once, the publication is a one-of-a-kind publication. The staff then:

—Will use previous years’ books/papers only as a quick guide, and will avoid lifting material from previous books to include in the current book.

—Will use publications from other schools as inspiration only rather than copying their techniques for replication in the current book.

—Will refer to professional publications for inspiration and ideas but will use elements of what they find to create their own design, headline package or color usage. Credit should be given to professional inspirations in the colophon.

—Will not lift material (photos or text) from Internet sources without permission and will give proper attribution for that material as suggested by the resource provider.

—Will make clear when material not created by the staff is included in the publication. Because the yearbook is a student production, it is the ethical responsibility of staff members to notify the reader if pictures have been taken, copy written or designs created by someone other than a student staff member. Photo credits should be given individually to all photos and bylines should appear with all stories/articles.

Section IV: Working with the Printer

The yearbook staff is the publisher of the book and the yearbook company is the printer. The difference between the two is an important distinction. The publisher controls the content of the publication while the printer works for the publisher to print the content as defined in a printing contract. The printer is an important part of the team but does not control content and is not the publisher. Because the relationship with the printer is a business as well as personal one, making ethical decisions is even more important.

—The printing contract outlines deadlines and number of pages due on each deadline. It is the ethical responsibility of the yearbook staff to meet all of those deadlines with pages that are complete and ready for the printer. Sending incomplete or dummy pages really does not hold up our end of the contract and results in extra time-consuming work for the plant.

— The printer’s representative should notify the staff of additions being considered, and will add to the final invoice for the book. In an open, honest relationship there should be no surprises when the final bill arrives.

—The printer should not make corrections or remove questionable content unless directed to do so by the yearbook staff with advice from the adviser.

—It is not the responsibility of the printer to find errors or catch questionable content. All content is the responsibility of the staff.

—Advisers should take special care in working with yearbook company representatives during a bid process for the printing contract. All information should be distributed to every representative in an open, transparent manner. Should one representative request special information, it should be sent to everyone at the same time.

—A review of the final bill should be made as soon after delivery as possible. Any adjustments to the bill should be made on the current book rather than on future contracts.