‘Put up’ guidelines
Ethical guidelines
Having a set of standards to follow before posting online or print content might help avoid material that causes someone to send a takedown demand.
Whether students post mainly online or to a combination of print and online, student staffs should develop authentication procedures before publishing striving to avoid Takedown Demand hassles.
Staff manual process
Student journalists should establish a plan to vet all information and images before publishing them. All journalists should be trained in the use of this plan before using it.
Suggestions
• Independently confirm information to be used for accuracy, context, perspective, truth and coherence
• Determine whether sources used are credible and representative of diverse and knowledgeable viewpoints
• Clearly attribute all information as needed for clarity and authority
• Avoid anonymous sources except in situations where they are the best and perhaps only source and where identities need protection
• Determine whether sources used have conflicts of interest
• Ensure your information has gone through a vetting process with editors
• If using teens or young people as sources for sensitive topics, realize interviewing their parents could add more credibility and context while also ensuring the parents are not surprised by a story they did not expect.
• If using social media sources, be sure information is attributed, accurate, in context and used legally and ethically
• Train and background reporters in legal and ethical issues
• If using crowd generated content, clearly indicate the source and ensure its credibility
• Be skeptical of any information you cannot verify
Resources
5 Ways News Organizations Respond to ‘Unpublishing’ Requests, The Poynter Institute
Takedown Demands: Here is a Roadmap of Choices, Rationale, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee
Respond to Takedown Demands, Student Press Law Center
Setting Criteria Before the Requests Come, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee
10 Steps to a Put-Up Policy, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee
Audio: Takedown Requests, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee, Press Rights Minute
Adviser will have to OK anonymous sources,
school board cites journalism standards
Student media advisers at Northern Highlands High School in New Jersey must now give prior permission for student journalists to grant anonymity to a source according to a revised policy the board of education adopted April 28.
The criteria an adviser might have to determine, according to an article at NorthJersey.com, consists of “the credibility, motivation and bias” of sources in “accordance with generally accepted journalistic standards.”
The adviser must also know the name, contact information, background and connection to the story. The NorthJersey.com report also noted the adviser, “except as required by law,” could not reveal the identity of an anonymous source to the faculty, the administration or board of education.
While the journalistic standards cited were not defined, the use of unnamed sources can raise ethical questions. Generally, it is the students who raise these questions and make the decision whether to grant anonymity. Journalism editors granting anonymity under certain circumstances has historical precedent from Watergate to other instances where a source’s identity might need protection.
And, if student media is truly designed to be a learning experience and forum for student expression where students make all decisions of content, that should be students’ decision.
Events that led up to policy changes in student media involved the use of unnamed sources dealing with personnel issues.
Frank LoMonte, Executive Director of the Student Press Law Center, quoted in the NorthJersey.com story, said, “The practical result will be banning anonymous sources, particularly in stories reflecting negatively on the school district, since no employee of the school will want to come forward and say that she vouches for the credibility of a source leaking damaging information about her supervisors.”
Standard practice, LoMonte said, would not involve the adviser.
In ethical guidelines the SPRC endorses, students would make the final decisions whether to permit sources to be anonymous.
The SPRC knows of no scholastic media program in which the adviser would make that decision.
Administrators at the school and superintendent levels supported the board decision in comments, NorthJersey.com reported.
“We believe this policy and regulation fully support our school-sponsored publications, that they will continue to be recognized as award-winning models of excellence,” board of education Barbara Garand is quoted
Additional coverage of the sequence of events at Northern Highlands High School:
• New Jersey adviser resigns from position after censorship controversy
• Formerly censored article published in New Jersey newspaper after school board and principal give OK
• New Jersey school board will vote Monday whether to uphold principal’s censorship
• After stalling vote, New Jersey high school’s publication policy remains unclear
•
Facing takedown demands requires
thoughtful planning of guidelines
Because student media takedown demands continue to grow and the JEA listserv recently discussed issues that could be involved in information takedown, JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Committee reposts guidelines to assist students and their advisers who face these requests.
We agree with the Student Press Law Center’s Executive Director Frank LoMonte who said the SPLC has shied away from telling people a ”right way” to handle takedown requests, leaving the decision to their editorial discretion.
So, instead of a single guideline, we offer this set of resources to help students make informed choices.
In all situations, we recommend the SPLC’s existing work on the subject. We hope these guidelines will offer a roadmap if your students face takedown decisions.
Even more importantly, we believe in establishing guidelines to evaluate information before it is posted: Put Up recommendations might prevent facing unsatisfactory decisions later because a 15-year-old did not consider the implications of an ill-chosen comment or questionable image.
We urge advisers to train student reporters to verify information and use credible and reliable sources as more effective approach than taking down content.
If students decide information must come down, this resource from The Poynter Institute suggests thoughtful alternatives to just taking something down.
Below is a model ethics-staff manual statement, as part of our Foundations of Journalism policy-ethics-staff manual package. Such a statement or one similar, should be part of student media’s ethical guidelines and staff manuals.
Takedown requests
Ethical guidelines
Journalists may be asked to remove online content for any number of reasons. Just because content is unpopular or controversial does not mean a media staff should comply with such requests. When journalists meet their goal of producing consistent, responsible journalism, they likely will choose to leave the content in question online even in the face of criticism.
All media – including student media – provide a historical record of issues, events and comments. As such, content should not be changed unless there are unusual circumstances.
Staff manual process
Content should not be removed unless the student editorial board determines it is factually inaccurate or was otherwise factually, legally deficient at the time of publication. The staff manual should provide a checklist or guide students can use to determine whether a takedown request has merit.
Suggestions
• In some cases, student editors may take down a story because they determine the content warrants a one-time exception (such as fabrication or to protect a source).
• Reporters may elect to do a follow-up story.
• If student editors choose to remove content, they should publish a note on the site explaining when and why the content was removed.
• Takedown criteria should be outlined and explained in the staff manual.
• Create guidelines and procedures to ensure students only post information and images they feel meet standards of responsible journalism: Put Up guidelines.
Resources
5 Ways News Organizations Respond to ‘Unpublishing’ Requests, The Poynter Institute
Takedown Demands: Here is a Roadmap of Choices, Rationale, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee
Respond to Takedown Demands, Student Press Law Center
Setting Criteria Before the Requests Come, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee
10 Steps to a Put-Up Policy, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee
Audio: Takedown Requests, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee, Press Rights Minute
The foundations of journalism:
policies, ethics and staff manuals
Mouse over the visual and click on numbers 1-4 for content.
Read MorePractical application the best way
to learn civic involvement, not tests
And that involvement should include journalism
An April 21 Education Week article notes that a dozen state legislators want to require graduating students to take — and pass — a test similar to one given those who want to become U. S. citizens.
While the legislation might have some merit, it is not a solution for the best way prepare students to be contributors in a democracy.
That solution requires hands-on application of principles taught, practiced and learned in civics, history, and, we would argue, journalism classes.
“We need young citizens who are committed to helping make their communities better and who can assess policy proposals, not merely youths who know how many voting members of the U.S. House of Representatives there are,” Education Week author Joseph Kahne said in his article. ” Google provides the answer to any question on the naturalization test in seconds.”
We agree.
And, we would add, legislators need to look at successful journalism programs, free of review and restraint, where students make all final decisions of content. These represent real civic engagement and learning.
Such programs are models for civic engagement and citizenship.
Journalism, news literacy and civic literacy programs would do a far better job of preparing students for the rigors of an effective democracy than a multiple choice exam or almost any non-application test.
“Democracy,” Kahne says, “thrives when citizens think critically and deeply about civic and political issues, when they consider the needs and priorities of others, and when they engage in informed action—not when they memorize a few facts.”
Again, we agree. More testing of facts and figure about the government might not hurt, but it won’t really help, either.
Read MoreFighting censorship?
Here are ideas that can help
Because so many advisers have talked about prior review situations lately, and how to handle them, her is a link to an Student Press Law Center-Newspaper Association of America Foundation project that might offer some help.
Titled Press Freedom in Practice, besides reviewing basics of press law, it highlights adviser stories about how they overcame issues like prior review and other forms of censorship.
Sections of the pamphlet include strategies for success that include communication, setting high standards for students, letting students lead the fight against censorship and identifying allies in the fight.
We hope to update the project during the next year.
For additional materials, look here.
Read More