This is an archived version of my portfolio. Here is the current portfolio!
You can't do anything journalism related if you don't know about copyright, censorship, or even distrust in media organizations across the country today. I am grateful to live in a state and city that there are no censorship laws in place. But there are some aspects that staffers need to be ready for, stories that may be hard to cover, which I cover below.
In The Salinian Yearbook Manual for 2025, it discusses what practices the staffers must follow by. On page 3 it talks about how staffers must follow like not using artifical intelligence for a staffers work. This would remain a point so that staffers can learn how to write properly and only use AI for brainstorming.
In the manual, notably pages 65-71, it talks about policies that the staffer must abide by. But also, it discusses how to cover a student or teacher's death. This aspect is important because it has happened very recently.
In the 2023 Yearbook, Ms. Tricia Beasley unexpectedly passed away on 9/12/23, a few weeks into the school year.
Staffers worked hard to make sure that students and staff would remember her fondly by giving her a special mod on the staff section.
2025 Yearbook Manual Full.pdf
It was always my goal to show things for what people see. One point to bring out that I am the first and only student so far to be enrolled in all broadcast programs, in yearbook, and take part in the newspaper club at our high school. So, wanting others to know what happens at our school is definitely a quality I hold dear.
An example of this was covering the football team forfeiting 3 wins after an ineligible player was on the team.
And after their post-season came to close, I wanted to have the players and parents voice's heard after another sports team at Saline was ripped away the chance to have a complete record.
Here is a small excerpt from the article:
"Coleman Ross, a senior, and a captain on the Varsity Football team, brought up another topic to the Board. The Southeastern Red Conference in Michigan has nominated team members to be represented as some of the best players. Even though Ross was named First Team All-Conference for Defense, he still touts the importance of what forfeiting three games really means for other players.
“Because of the forfeits we were forced to take, the number of Saline student-athletes on the SEC All-Conference team was limited. Dexter, who we handily beat on the field, had more student-athletes recognized than we did.” Ross mentioned that this isn’t something that should be brushed off. College coaches look at these athletes and what conference and state recognition they gain. And with the forfeits, they were swiftly taken away, “and yet nobody has been held accountable,” Ross said.
Now, there have been independent reviews in the past with lacrosse and volleyball. Trustee Jenny Miller said in a discussion with her colleagues, “the problem is continuing.”"
It comes to show that once you enter into this field, these aspects become very prevalent. And knowing that the journalism field is declining the trust from the public, reporting the stories that matter to the community become the necessary focal points of journalism organizations across the country, even at the high school level.
