Policy 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.
Transparency needs to be crystal clear
– at all levels
by Stan Zoller
In an effort to enhance transparency and public access to some records, legislators in two states are sending a message to some schools – show us your privates.
Sort of.
Bills are pending in the Texas and Illinois state houses would require police departments or campus safety departments at private colleges and universities to comply with the Freedom of Information Act in those states.
According to the Student Press Law Center, the bill pending in Texas “…would clarify that a private college’s police department is a “governmental body with respect to information relating to law enforcement activities,” eliminating its ability to withhold some law enforcement records from the public.”
The Illinois bill carries essentially the same language. The SPLC reports the Illinois bill is actually “A proposed amendment to the Private College Campus Police Act would require campus police departments at private universities… to publicly disclose any information that other law enforcement agencies are required to provide under the state’s Freedom of Information Act.”
[pullquote]Both bills represent an effort in two states to ensure that information regarding public safety is not masked by a private school. What lies ahead depends on what lawmakers in both states do with their respective bills.[/pullquote]
So why are these bills important to scholastic journalism teachers and their student journalists?
Because both bills represent an effort in two states to ensure that information regarding public safety is not masked by a private school. What lies ahead depends on what lawmakers in both states do with their respective bills.
Hopefully both bills will pass and the public, not to mention lawmakers will realize an informed citizenry can make solid decisions based on well balanced media reports.
Transparency and access to public records is not college thing, nor is it just for the professional press. Scholastic journalists have the same rights to accessing public records and should be able to do so without fear of repercussion from teachers, department chairs or administrators.
Information available through the FOIA is public and Journalism educators should encourage their students to use their state’s FOIA to ensure that they have solid background information about public matters – whether it is an action by a school board, or transaction by a school district.
Journalism educators need to be well versed in their state’s FOIA so they can, obviously, advise their students on not only what is available via the FOIA, but the process involved in accessing public information.
Information obtained from the FOIA can be enlightening. Media teachers and advisers need to carefully work with their students about how information will be used. Some information, especially from police reports, can be detailed and appear sensitive.
Some administrators will claim it’s “personal information and you can’t use that.”
Hardly. It’s public information and yes, it can be used.
As previously noted, however, it may need to be used judiciously. If so, it’s imperative the reporter and media clearly note that the information was obtained by using the FOIA. No matter if information used in a media report or not, it does provide student journalists with outstanding background information. Obviously, it’s an excellent example of a direct source that adds depth to a story.
While administrators may decry its use, what that can’t decry is that a student journalist has done his or her homework and is practicing quintessential transparency.
And if they can’t accept transparency, they shouldn’t be an administrator.
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
Check out our new Press Rights Minutes
JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Committee just added 10 new Press Rights Minutes, bringing the total to 30 available for class and activity use.
Plans are to add more in the immediate future.
Content includes 60 second audio clips on ethics and legal issues, including new pieces on handling sponsored content, creating balance and objectivity, using unnamed sources, developing board media policies and covering death.
For a complete list of clips available, go here.
Clips are also be available each Monday by checking @jeapressrights.
Read MoreInformation worth class discussion
– and action
Looking for information concerning free expression to spark discussion?
Consider these sites:
• What’s the impact of overzealous Internet filtering
http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/06/whats-the-impact-of-overzealous-internet-filtering-in-schools/
• Journalism and public shaming: some guidelines
http://www.poynter.org/news/mediawire/326097/journalism-and-public-shaming-some-guidelines/
• Expulsion of two OK students over video leads to Free speech debate
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/12/us/expulsion-of-two-oklahoma-students-leads-to-free-speech-debate.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share&_r=0
• Sunshine Week 2015 ideas and activities from SPJ
http://www.spj.org/sunshineweek.asp
• Sunshine Week Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/SunshineWeek
• Sunshine Week lessons and activities
http://www.schooljournalism.org/sunshine-week-2014-activities-and-resources/