Academic dishonesty
Ethical guidelines
Students should be honest in all stages of their work. Dishonesty is a serious offense and should not be tolerated.
Dishonesty compromises the integrity and credibility of the student publication. The editorial board and/or adviser should address any instance of academic misconduct immediately.
Staff manual process
Student editors should develop a clear process for handling academic dishonesty. Both media staff and school policies may dictate consequences for academic dishonesty. In addition to school consequences, other approaches could include removal or suspension from the media staff and publishing an apology.
Suggestions
In journalism, academic dishonesty is not limited to cheating and plagiarism. Issues especially relevant to student media include:
• Fabrication — inventing quotes or other content
• Non-contextual content — taking quotes, facts or other content out of their intended context in a way that misleads the audience
• Manipulation of photos, video and text — editing or altering content in a way to change its meaning or misrepresent reality
Resources
The Fundamental Values of Academic Integrity, The Center for Academic Integrity
Journalism Department Code of Ethics and Conduct, San Francisco State University
The Medill Justice Project Ethics Book, Northwestern University
Our cheating culture: Plagiarism and fabrication are unacceptable in journalism, The Buttry Diary
Audio: Plagiarism, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee, Press Rights Minute
National Press Photographers Code of Ethics
Audio: Creative Commons Licensing, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee, Press Rights Minute
Return to sitemap.
Read MoreOwnership of student content
Ethical guidelines
Absent a written agreement indicating otherwise, student journalists own the copyright to the works they create. Each media outlet should ensure it has clear policies in place for staff members and the publication that spell out ownership and the right of the publication to use student work.
Staff manual process
Several options exist for written policy statements. The student media outlet can allow students to retain ownership of the works they create while giving the publication a license to use them. The downside of this option is that the publication may not be able to prevent others from using the work without permission because it is not technically an owner of the work. The second option assigns the copyright ownership of the students’ works to the publication, which can defend those ownership rights.
Suggestions
• Student editors should discuss which option makes them feel the most comfortable.
• Student media staffs should use suggested guidelines from the Journalism Education Association Scholastic Press Rights Committee and the Student Press Law Center to craft an ownership statement suitable for their program.
Resources
Who Owns Student Content?, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee
Back to School: Who Owns What?, Student Press Law Center
Contribution to Collective Work, U.S. Copyright Office
To return to the main Policy and Ethics page, go here.
Read MorePolicy sets standards and staff manuals
ethically carry them out
by John Bowen
It’s 3 p.m. Friday, and the final deadline is in four hours.
At issue is a package covering a controversial subject of growing importance in the community.
The staff is divided. Some want to publish the story because it is controversial, important and will create needed community discussion. Others say there has to be more balance and perspective, with all credible sides represented. Production skids to a halt as the debate heats up.
Larger questions exist:
• What are the publication’s guidelines for handling controversial topics?
• What are the dangers of negative community and administration reaction, even intervention?
• Should anonymous sources be used? How to trust them?
Most helpful to this staff would be a strong board-level policy supporting student expression. Next would be a process-oriented and ethics-based staff manual.
Having editorial guidelines and staff manual, though, does not mean they are right or effective.
In the last year, we have seen:
• Instances where having too much information in a policy can lead to unforeseen consequences, including censorship;
• Instances where wrong wording created inaccurate interpretation and potential intervention from outside the staff;
• Instances where items presented with policy can lead to procedures interpreted as policy.
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We now see a need for strong board-level media policies. We see a need for separately sectioned, but linked ethics statements and staff manuals.
That led us to new models for media policies and staff manuals and a project we call Foundations of Journalism Package.
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Those instances led to a change in thinking about editorial policies and staff manuals.
We continue to see a need for strong board-level media policies. But we also see a need for separately sectioned, but linked ethics statements and staff manuals.
That leads us to new models for media policies and staff manuals and a project we call Foundations of Journalism Package.
The project has three components: policy, ethical guidelines and staff manuals.
Editorial policies – the principles
Editorial policies, says Mark Goodman, Knight Chair in Scholastic Journalism at Kent State University and former executive director of the Student Press Law Center, are like double-edged swords.
“Carefully drafted,” Goodman said, “policies can be used to cut the bonds of censorship. If not carefully worded, however, they can ultimately create more trauma for advisers and students than having no policy at all.”
“If your school has one giving student editors content control,” Goodman said, “that policy can effectively exclude your student media from the limitations of Hazelwood.”
Ethical process
Ethical principles, rooted in legal principles, set a publication’s ethical compass and create what Rushworth Kidder, founder of the Institute for Global Ethics, called “ethical fitness.”
Right-versus-wrong choices, Kidder said, were matters of law. Ethics involve right-versus-right choices.
“Right versus right, then,” he wrote, “is at the heart of our toughest choices. Right-versus-right teach us depth in shaping our deepest values.”
The ethics portion of the package should be designed to guide decision-making for student media. Guidelines should be presented as “should” statements, not “will” or “must.” An ethical code is not legally enforceable because it represents guidelines, not rules.
Staff manuals
A strong and effective staff manual implements policy principles and ethical guidelines. It is the procedure that stems from these and describes day-to-day actions.
Staff manuals are like working encyclopedias: They provide information as wide as handling sources or as narrow as how to interview children.
Staff manuals change as students or advisers change. Because change only affects the staff, manual procedures should not appear with board policy. Each year, staff members have the opportunity – and obligation – to revisit the staff manual to see it serves their needs and those of their audiences.
A good staff manual creates a road map students can easily apply.
Look for our Foundations of Journalism Package in the upcoming days for our policy-ethics-staff manuals project.
Responsible journalism, truly the cornerstone of democracy, starts at the scholastic media level. We hope our updated policy, ethics and staff manual changes enhance that process.
Over the past year, the SPRC has seen situations where unclear policies, sometimes mixed with staff manual language and ethical guidelines, have created misunderstanding between advisers, students and administrators. We have designed a Journalism Foundations Package to attempt to eliminate those misunderstandings.
Look for its posting using this graphic in the
next several days.
Two important articles worth discussion, inclusion in j classes
Two articles published April 5 could add lively discussion in journalism classes as well as reinforce time-tested procedures of information checking.
One is a Columbia Journalism Review report on the Rolling Stone article on an alleged rape last July on the University of Virginia campus that Rolling Stone later retracted. The report has multiple segments with numerous links – all focused on how Rolling Stone failed its basic reporting obligations. All worthwhile to scholastic journalists for many reasons.
The second is a Washington Post article, also published April 5, about a Virginia high school journalist’s story censored by school administrators because The Post reports the principal said the article was too mature for publication and was concerned students would “be exposed to a new and dangerous drug without adult guidance.” The article itself is linked to the story, too.
The strength of both articles is their stress on substantive reporting of importance to readers and journalists alike. Student journalists can learn from both articles. In one case they can learn how any controversial article should be approached. In the other, they can learn about ways to stand up against censorship.
Read MoreThink carefully before publishing April Fools’ Day content
By Megan Fromm, CJE
JEA Educational Initiatives Director
Let’s get straight to the punch line here: April Fools’ Day editions are a bad idea. Why? Well, the Student Press Law Center’s Frank LoMonte provides solid evidence that many joke publications are never received quite as they are intended.
Instead, student editors and advisers often find themselves defending poorly worded jokes or misinterpreted parodies. When all you have to lose is your credibility as a media outlet, the stakes are too high to take this risk.
Still, many student media staffs love the idea of using satire and parody to break the mold, lighten things up or engage their audience on a different level. So, if your students insist on producing April Fools’ Day content, take some steps to demonstrate best ethical and legal practices along the way. Here are some ideas to consider:
- Is the content produced clearly labeled as satire/humor/parody? If a reasonable person could mistake the content for actual news, you’re asking for trouble.
- Stay away from comedy or jokes that use violence as a theme. In today’s school climate of zero tolerance, even an obvious joke that includes violence could be grounds to punish a student. As LoMonte writes, “there’s no such thing as a ‘hilarious’ rape joke.”
- Consider the message you’re sending readers by publishing April Fools’ Day content. Is your entire publication dedicated to the day, or just a (well-labeled) page? Have you shirked your journalistic responsibility while trying so hard to develop comedic content? Is this really what scholastic journalism is about?
- Does your staff thoroughly understand libel law and the implications of defamation?
- Finally, encourage student editors to answer simply and honestly whether an April Fools’ Day edition is the hill they want to fight (and potentially die) on. In other words, with all the other battles facing student journalists, do they want to spend their time and effort defending this particular decision?
April Fools’ Day editions are notoriously bad news. In fact, SPLC attorney Mike Hiestand commented in 2006 that there is “a reason why April 2 is often the busiest day of the year for us at the Student Press Law Center.”
So, proceed with caution. Because if you don’t, chances are the joke’s on you.
Read More
Thinking of reporting sex-related issues?
Some thoughts on handling controversy
At least two schools this winter have had issues with reporting about sex. Newbury Park High, California, and Rochester, Michigan, experienced complaints not only about the content but about images used in their coverage.
An SPLC article published March 20 looks at both events and the resulting concerns, and is worth your reading. The article also contains important links to additional information.
Update: Since this blog was posted a little over an hour ago, add one more controversial reporting incident at Fauquier High School in Virginia.
For additional information about handling controversy, see:
• Reporting controversy requires establish a sound process
• A high school news advisers’ preemptive trouble-shooting guide
• Use anonymous sources with care
• Verification before publication prevents many issues
• Practice sensitivity in your reporting