While on assignment and on the job, La Voz staff must maintain a professional demeanor and remember that they represent La Voz News.

Identifying yourself as a reporter

Wear a press pass and carry your student ID. Identify yourself as a reporter before interviewing sources at public meetings, public events, private events, on campus, or at crime or accident scenes. At public meetings as defined under the Brown Act, you do not need to identify yourself or ask permission to take notes, record or video the meeting.

Sexual harassment, bullying, drugs and alcohol

La Voz staff follow the law and respect others in the lab and on assignment. Do not use alcohol or drugs while involved in La Voz assignments, business or functions, either on or off campus. See guidelines for sexual harassment and other student behavior at De Anza Student Rights and Responsibilities. Please report immediately to the adviser any instance of sexual harassment or bullying you witness or experience.

Illegal activity

Do not trespass, steal or knowingly receive stolen materials. Except in situations judged by the editor-in-chief as extraordinary, staff will not record an interview or private meeting without the interviewee’s permission, or go undercover. Eavesdropping on a source is illegal in California.

Accepting or paying out money

Do not accept money or gifts from sources seeking favorable coverage. Any gift should be returned to the sender or sent to a charity. Gifts of no significant value, such as desk trinket, small food item or pen, may be retained. La Voz staff may accept food or swag given to all attendants at an event, but not individual gifts.

La Voz staff should not accept free travel, accommodations, meals, passes or discounts to avoid the appearance of influence or obligation to report the story.

Staff assigned to cover an event for a legitimate news purpose can accept free tickets or passes. Press facilities at these events may only be used by staff assigned to cover the event. La Voz journalists should not accept gifts. Any materials given to La Voz for review (books, records) become the property of the publication and not of any individual staff member.

Do not pay or provide gifts to sources in exchange for information.

Cooperation with authorities

When dealing with authorities seeking information, video or photos, restrict your cooperation to what is legally required. If asked to provide photos or video, you should resist sharing them because you received them as part of the reporting process. If necessary, ask to see a search warrant. Contact the adviser and editor-in-chief immediately. La Voz staff members should be familiar with relevant laws such as freedom of information, open meeting and shield laws, and report the interference of any public authority with their role as journalists. Information about legal issues and legal aid is available from the Student Press Law Center. Information about media law is in the back of the AP Stylebook.

Anonymity and confidentiality

La Voz News publishes real news, with named writers and named sources. Reporters must have the editor-in-chief’s prior permission to reporting a story using an unnamed source. The reporter, section editor and editor-in-chief must have contact information for the source. Confidentiality is given only if physical, emotional, or financial harm will come to the source if identified. Reporters should make every attempt to get the same information from a named source. If two independent sources verify information and both are unnamed, the editor may publish the information with careful consideration of the need for immediacy and the news value. In such a situation, the source(s) may be identified generally as associated with an agency to give a degree of credibility to the information.

Outside activities and relationships

Students may not cover or participate in any editorial or business decision regarding a campus organization to which they belong, because of a conflict of interest or a perceived conflict of interest. Staff should report on-campus jobs and memberships to the adviser and the editor-in-chief.

Staff should not be assigned to cover political actions in which they are involved, unless they are writing a personal experience story that is clearly identified as such.

Staff must avoid involvement in stories dealing with members of their families and friends. Staff members must not cover — in words, photographs or artwork — or make news judgments about family members or persons with whom they have a financial, adversarial or close relationship.

Other employment of staff must not conflict with their responsibilities to La Voz. Staff must report other employment to the editor-in-chief to avoid any conflict of interest with assignments, other staff and editorial or business responsibilities or influences.