Student Journalists are always guided by the SPJ Code of Ethics: https://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp
Responsibility for Accuracy and Objectivity • School publications endeavor to correctly spell names and make accurate class and position identifications. Names of students, faculty, administration and other sources must be checked for accuracy by the writer or video/multimedia creator. Editors/producers should do what they can to help identify misspellings, but ultimately the correct spelling of names falls on the shoulders of the content creator.
• All facts must be verifiable by at least two sources. All quotes are subject to verification by the editors and/or adviser. Any story containing factious quotes will be discarded in its entirety and the writer will be placed on discipline probation.
• Most of what is published is the work of individual’s. The students are responsible for all material which appears in school publications.
• School publications strive for the highest standards of accuracy, integrity, completeness and careful research in its presentation of material that time allows. Since there are deadlines to meet, however, school publications will go to press with the facts as they stand on deadline. The staff therefore assumes responsibility for the accuracy of these facts.
• Rumor, gossip or innuendo are not, nor will they ever be, the basis for any story appearing in school publications.
• Website sources used must be from real, trusted sources. Student editors are responsible for double-checking all facts within a story and may train and use a staff "fact checker" to check all sources for truth and accuracy.
Personal Representation: You represent not just your own personal integrity, but that of your staff and the entirety of Westside Journalism. Whenever you interact with others in any capacity, you are making statement about what kind of journalists are allowed on staff.
Every time you interact with other students, teachers, staff members, administration, and community members, you should present yourself in a professional manner. This includes any content posted to social media.
Whenever you are acting on behalf of Westside Journalism, you must always present yourself as a member of staff.
“Hello, my name is first name last name. I’m part of the Lance newspaper staff and I would like to know if you could answer a few questions.” – this is an acceptable way to introduce yourself. If it is someone not from the school, identify yourself as a student journalist from Westside.
The golden rule: NEVER disrupt the school environment, in any way, for any reason. Why? Check out the court case of Tinker v. Des Moines.
Also, follow all staff member directions. Always. Even if you NEED to interview someone. At all times, in all instances, you must follow the directions of any staff member, teacher, administrator, or member of the district.
Also, you do NOT have the right, at any time, to keep someone from going to class or causing them to be tardy.
In all instances you should attempt to schedule an interview during a mutual open mod. If not, then try before or after school. If that fails, go old-school: call them on the phone.
Do NOT do email interviews. There is no chance for follow-up questions immediately, and you cannot engage the person for the intimate and interesting quotes you need to write a compelling story. Email interviews should be reserved for emergency situations, when a source is out of town, or is there no alternative available.
If you need to enter a classroom, you MUST schedule a time to do so with that teacher.
Breaking any of these rules could be cause for disciplinary action, including removal of your right to leave the classroom for any reason.
Student journalists are expected to maintain high standards in academic performance and behavior and to serve as positive role models for the student body. • Staff members who do not meet these standards are subject to school disciplinary consequences and staff consequences including probation and dismissal. • Any student member of an extracurricular organization or campus club (e.g. journalism/band/dance team/cheerleader/athlete/student council, etc.) representing themselves, or their organization, through electronic media (i.e. websites, personal home pages, blogs, text messages, chat rooms or similar websites/files accessible through a server or internet), or using electronic communication devices (i.e. camera phones, digital photos, electronic descriptions) in such a way as to cause school officials to reasonably anticipate substantial disruption of or material interference with the activities of the organization or school will be subject to the disciplinary actions determined by appropriate school officials and/or organization sponsors/directors/coaches, including probation or dismissal from the organization.
Coverage • It is the responsibility of these publications to cover school, city, state, national and international events and issues that affect or concern the campus, its students or its readers in a non bias method. • School publications will attempt to cover all aspect of the school; however, coverage will depend greatly upon an item’s news value (how important or interesting it would be to the majority of the school population). Publication editors determine the news value of all material. • School publications will clearly identify sources of news, except when it is necessary to uphold the journalist’s privilege of protecting the identity of sources. When in such case, the journalist must reveal the source to the editor or adviser, who will determine if the source is creditable. • School publications will avoid sensationalizing news and events. Publications do not invade personal privacy or print material that might be embarrassing or degrading to any individual or group. • All editorial or opinion content must be backed up by three sources of facts. At no time will an editorial attack a person. Only policy related material may be published.
As a general rule, ALL stories should have two sources
Conflict of Interest:
You should not, at any time, cover an event or club that you are part of. A cheerleader should not be covering cheerleading. A football player should not be covering football. A debate student should not cover debate.
These students can be valuable resources, but should not cover these themselves.
Quoting students from other publications: Any student part of WHS Journalism should not be quoted or featured in any story, unless absolutely necessary as the only or best source for that story.
For instance, a story about how jobs interfere with homework should not have ANY journalism students quoted whatsoever. HOWEVER – if the story is about a group of students who form a club to try to reduce homework for students with jobs, and the president is a staff writer on another staff, then it’s likely a statement from that student is warranted. However, if that student is only a “regular” member of that group, they should not be quoted (we should give space to other students at every opportunity… our publications should be about the rest of the school – not about us).
Journalism students will not be the subjects of interviews in stories. The only way it’s acceptable to cover a journalism student is if they are the ONLY person who can speak on the issue at hand. For instance, you would interview a WTV editor if they were the cheerleading captain for a yearbook story. You would NOT interview them if they were only a cheerleader, for instance (because other voices on the team should be explored).
1. Watch this video: https://youtu.be/csuLw3A22BA
2. Read this: https://splc.org/2015/11/fighting-censorship-after-hazelwood/
3. Read this: https://splc.org/high-school-faqs/
4. Read this: https://splc.org/2015/10/first-amendment-and-censorship-faqs/