The importance of context: A lesson on ethics and editing
Last week, NBC officials bore the brunt of an outraged public when the Today Show played a poorly edited 9-1-1 tape from the Trayvon Martin shooting investigation. The tape, some argued, unfairly portrayed Zimmerman as racist. This lesson explores the ethics of proper editing as well as the journalistic mandate that context never be sacrificed for brevity.
Lesson plan by Megan Fromm
Lesson Time: 25-30 minutes
Materials: computer lab/group internet access for research, white board, projection capabilities (or you can make copies of materials for students)
PART I:
First, discuss the background of the Martin/Zimmerman case. What information do students already know? What “facts” do they need to research and verify?
1. Create a class list on the white board of all the “facts” students believe they know about the case.
2.In groups of 2-3, students should take 5-10 minutes to research and verify or discredit one of the facts.
3. Bring the class back together, and make a list of verified facts on the white board, including the sources where students got the information.
Now, as a class, listen to the NBC version of the 9-1-1 tapes. Here is a link for the audio: (Pause at 10 seconds)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf_AtDnVhyA
Instruct students to write down any assumptions they might draw about the case from listening to this 911 tape.
Then, play the unabridged 9-1-1 tapes, also found here: (continue playing from 00:10)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf_AtDnVhyA
Discuss whether the assumptions created from the edited tapes were supported in the original audio. Ask the following:
Did the second segment tell a different story? What was different? Was there more or less context? Why do you think NBC edited the 911 tape the way they did? How many seconds long was the edited version? How long was the original version?
PART II:
As a class, take a look at some of the reaction to the NBC audio:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/post/nbc-to-do-internal-investigation-on-zimmerman-segment/2012/03/31/gIQAc4HhnS_blog.html
http://www.kansascity.com/2012/04/10/3546575/commentary-today-show-should-do.html
For an interesting twitter feed screen-capture with responses:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/post/nbc-news-president-speaks-out-on-zimmerman-tape-scandal/2012/04/09/gIQAQ0iw5S_blog.html
Now, back in their groups (or as a class if you can project the internet onto a screen), have students search for the original NBC statement of apology, issued by NBC president to Reuters news service.
Can anyone find it? Is it on the Today Show’s homepage?
Can you find it on msnbc.com, NBC’s online news outlet?
What about at nbc.com?
Is it acceptable that the original statement is so hard to find? What do you think this says to readers/viewers?
How prominent should the statement be if the original mistake has gone viral?
Here’s a synopsis of the statement (you can also finish playing the youtube video from earlier, which shows a quote from the apology):
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/08/us-usa-florida-shooting-nbc-idUSBRE83609U20120408
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/post/nbc-issues-apology-on-zimmerman-tape-screw-up/2012/04/03/gIQA8m5jtS_blog.html
Some further ethical questions to consider:
• Is it ever OK to edit a 9-1-1 tape?
• How should we give readers/viewers/listeners access to the full content?
• What type of information is it OK to cut from audio?
• Do we tell our readers/viewers/listeners that we have edited parts out?
• How do we ensure that an edited slice of audio reflects the factual and contextual information our audience would get if they heard the whole thing?
• What is the appropriate way to correct a mistake of this magnitude?
• If you were the editor in charge, how would you handle this? How would you handle the apology and statement?
PART III:
Finally, as a class, read the Radio Television News Directors Association Code of Ethics, and highlight and discuss the parts that discuss context and accuracy. Did NBC act ethically according to this guide?
http://www.rtnda.org/pages/media_items/code-of-ethics-and-professional-conduct48.php
Read MoreOp/Ed Writing With An Ethics Twist: An In-Class Lesson
By Megan Fromm
This lesson was inspired by the recent Twitterfest regarding Kansas high school student Emma Sullivan’s tweet about the governor during a trip to the capital. The lesson will take 30+ minutes, and students will need their own paper and pencil. Here are some links for background information on the incident, which will come in handy toward the end of the lesson.
Intro:
Ask students to discuss openly what things they may not like about their school (of course, remind them that they should be as respectful as possible in this discussion). It could be anything, but the point is to stimulate a 5-minute or so discussion (that will likely get a bit heated, that’s OK!).
Write some of their statements on the board (ie: the school food sucks, the principal is mean, the school doesn’t let us have any say, lunch periods are too short, teachers give too much homework, etc). Leave blank space under the statements, and after you have a range of claims, have students go back to the ideas on the board and write supporting facts underneath each claim. These must be provable facts, researchable items of support that lead them to believe those claims.
Exercise:
Choose the claim that has the LEAST number of supporting facts underneath. Students will then take 5-10 minutes to write the beginnings of an opinion piece on this topic (some might write 500 words, but encourage students to get at least a couple paragraphs down—you’re not editing for spelling or grammar, but how they express their opinion using ONLY the facts on the board to support their opinion).
Once the time is up, discuss with the class how easy/hard this was. What kind of information do they wish they had to support their opinions? What questions would they ask to get more information? How seriously do they think the administration/teachers/other students would take their opinion, considering the lack of facts to support it? What other facts would it take to convince people of their claim? How easy/hard would it be to argue with the opinion you’ve established?
Now, after the time is up, pick the claim with the MOST number of supporting facts, and repeat the exercise. They are allowed to support their opinion ONLY with the facts on the board. (Note: if you don’t have any claim with at least 5-7 facts, provide a few more “facts” of your own for the student to incorporate in their writing.)
Again, once the time is up, discuss how writing about this claim was different. Was it easier (it should have been)? Why? How did having more facts add to their argument? How do they think the administration or student body would respond to these opinion pieces versus the first? How easy/hard would it be to argue with the opinion you’ve established in this piece?
Takeaway:
Follow up their responses with a discussion on informed opinions, and the value of opinion writing when it is supported by facts and research. This process is similar to how they should start writing opinion pieces in the school paper: it all starts with a complaint, a grievance, an idea, a perspective, but the professionals know how to support their perspectives with research, facts, and explanations that sound intelligent and insightful instead of whiny. Their research builds them up, making it harder for critics to attack what they are saying.
Follow-up
Now, use the story links at the beginning as background information to discuss what happened in Kansas with your students/staff. Once they know what has happened with Emma Sullivan, have them make a list on the board of questions or facts that would need to be addressed in order to support Sullivan’s twitter claim that the governor “sucks.” Imagine she were writing a full opinion/editorial piece—how much information would she need to know?
“Just made mean comments at gov. brownback and told him he sucked, in person #heblowsalot.”
Finally, (depending on your time, this could be a whole different discussion) discuss with students why it is so important that as journalists, we support even our opinion/editorial perspectives with facts and research. Why do we need to be responsible and accurate with opinion writing? Why must facts be involved? Who are we responsible to? Emma was not a journalist, no one was counting on her to be accurate, fair, and clear—what if someone on your newspaper staff wrote a tweet like hers? How can journalists have opinions but still be respected, respectful, and responsible? What kind of issues should we consider in regards to our school journalists using social media to express their opinions? The school decided not to mandate a punishment, but what if her tweet was a line in an article in the school newspaper?
Yearbook ethics guidelines
Yearbook staffs are responsible for creating an annual publication that becomes the permanent record of the school and the school population they serve.
The publication they create will serve as a record/history book, memory book, business venture, classroom laboratory and public relations tool for the district.
Because the functions of the publication are so far reaching, and the publication itself is an historical document, the ethical questions facing the yearbook staff are challenging and unique.
For that reason, members of JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Commission and representative winners in the Yearbook Adviser of the Year Competition have created ethical guidelines students and teachers might use in creating their own policies.
General Points
● The same ethical principles apply to yearbook journalism as to any other kind of media.
— Reporters should cover all sides of a story fairly and fully
— Reporters should identify themselves as representing the yearbook
— Reporters should verify source information with someone else or some other resource
— Reporters should avoid lurking on social media sites and should never use information gained from social media as their only resource. No information should be taken from a social media site without notification to the author of the site.
● Student yearbook staffs should also examine downloadable resources for additional ideas and approaches.
● In addition to the guidelines presented here, advisers should follow the tenets of JEA’s Adviser Code of Ethics, and students should continue to honor values expressed in existing resources.
● Although these guidelines may not apply to all staffs in every situation, it is recommended they be shared in discussions with adviser, staff members, administrators, school board members, members of the community and other stakeholders such as yearbook company representatives so all parties better understand the critical thinking, ethical and journalistic issues students experience as they make content decisions to summarize the year.
● Policies should be established to guide the staff in making fair, objective decisions regarding obits/memorials, ad sales, book sales and student classifications.
● Because the publication is created by students, for students, prior review by outside sources should be avoided and the staff should take precautions to report the story of the year fairly, fully and responsibly.
Ethics Guidelines for Yearbooks with Print and/or Digital Components
Section I: Policies
Before the staff begins work on the book (or as soon as possible), editorial policies should be established, placed in written form and followed exactly as the staff has created them. Policies should be included for general coverage, portrait pictures, advertising, obituaries, return of books and any others that may relate specifically to the school. As staffs determine specific policies, they should keep in mind these considerations:
[General]
• What is the purpose of the book, and what type of stories, photos and other coverage elements help meet that purpose? How will the staff handle sensitive or possibly controversial topics? Will all groups, topics and events receive equal space or attention? May readers, teachers, administrators or community members submit content?
[Portraits]
• Are students required to be photographed by a particular photographer in order to appear in the album/people section? Will the school dress code apply? May students submit their own portraits to be included, and if so, what requirements exist in terms of size, content and technical quality? Does the staff reserve the right to exclude any photo it considers inappropriate? Will the staff provide other options for students who are absent, not yet enrolled or otherwise missing during the initial photographing period? If a student enrolls in the school later in the year, what are the options, if any, for being included in the album/people section? When will these deadlines occur, and will they be the same each year?
[Advertising]
• What type of ads will the staff accept, and are there any conditions under which a staff might reject a potential advertiser or its submitted artwork? How will the available amount of advertising space be determined? Will the staff accept advertising after its published deadline? Does the staff have a policy for corrections or omissions? How will the staff remedy the situation if a printed advertisement has an error or receives a complaint from the purchaser?
[Obituaries]
• How will the staff handle the death of a student, faculty or staff member in the book? If the staff will include some type of memorial treatment, will all deaths be treated equally? How will the size and type be determined? What if this occurs at a time when no space is available? What if this occurs at a time past the deadline cycle? What if this occurs in the summer? Does the cause of death play a factor in how the death will be handled? What role will the deceased person’s family play, if any, in determining the content included?
[Returns]
• Under what circumstances, if any, will the staff accept books for return? What happens if a student does not appear in the book? What happens if a student’s name is misspelled? What happens if a student moves away and no longer wants the book? What happens if a person, group or team is unhappy with its coverage? Will a damaged book be replaced? Does the staff take action to recover a lost or stolen book? What happens to books not retrieved at the distribution event, and for what length of time will the staff keep them?
Section II: Covering the Year
Those who have signed on to be part of the yearbook staff have agreed to be the eyes and ears of the student body as they capture the unique aspects of this particular year at a specific high school. This commitment means —
● Coverage will reflect all aspects and voices of the student body and will not be limited to those who are on staff or their friends. The book will reflect the school’s diversity and will have balance in terms of age and gender, with emphasis on student involvement more than faculty and staff.
● The book will include scoreboards for all teams even if it has not been a winning year, group pictures with complete names of all teams and organizations, as part of the important record-keeping information.
● To keep the book as complete and accurate as possible, the staff will take extra care to work with the counselors, registrar and administrators to determine the correct grade level of each student enrolled to be classified as such. The staff will determine a policy for how to classify students who fall above or below the determined credit level and/ or students who plan to graduate early. The staff will include a “not pictured” list in the portrait section.
● Because this is an historical document, special care will be given to accuracy, including fact checking all information, correct quotes, correct spelling of names. Faculty names, classes taught and extracurricular activities sponsored should be included with faculty portrait pictures.
● The staff will tell all stories fairly and fully using resources representing all points of view.
● It is not recommended that the staff include superlatives in the book because they are not journalistic and do little to tell the story of the year, but because the book is a student publication and students should be empowered to make content decisions, advisers may want to help students organize a selection process, encourage reporting of the selection process as well as the action and reaction to the superlatives selected. In any case, award categories should be based on achievements, timely topics, service, performance and non-physical or popularity-based voting so all types of students have a chance to be represented. Low voter turnout is evidence that readers are not interested in superlatives, and is another clue that the staff should eliminate them.
Section III: Original Work
The story of the year should be as special as its characters (the students) and as creative and fresh as its authors (the yearbook staff). Because the story of your school this year can only be told once, the yearbook is a one-of-a-kind publication. The staff then —
● Will use previous years’ books only as a quick guide, and will avoid lifting material from previous books to include in the current book.
● Will use the books from other schools as inspiration only rather than copying their techniques for replication in the current book.
● Will refer to professional publications for inspiration and ideas but will use elements of what they find to create their own design, headline package or color usage. Credit should be given to professional inspirations in the colophon.
● Will not lift material (photos or text) from Internet resources without permission and will give proper attribution for that material as suggested by the resource provider.
● Will officially copyright their own work to protect it from use by those who have not requested permission.
● Will make clear when material not created by the staff is included in the publication. Because the yearbook is a student production, it is the ethical responsibility of staff members to notify the reader if pictures have been taken, copy written or designs created by someone other than a student staff member. Photo credits should be given individually to all photos and bylines should appear with all stories.
Section IV: Working with the Printer The yearbook staff is the publisher of the book and the yearbook company is the printer. The difference between the two is an important distinction. The publisher controls the content of the book while the printer works for the publisher to print the content as defined in a printing contract. The yearbook printer is an important part of the team but does not control content and is not the publisher. Because the relationship with the printer is a business as well as personal one, making ethical decisions is even more important.
● The printing contract outlines deadlines and number of pages due on each deadline. It is the ethical responsibility of the yearbook staff to meet all of those deadlines with pages that are complete and ready for the printer. Sending incomplete or dummy pages really does not hold up your end of the contract and results in extra time-consuming work for the plant.
● The printer’s representative should notify the staff if additions being considered will add to the final invoice for the book. In an open, honest relationship there should be no surprises when the final bill arrives.
● The printer should not make corrections or remove questionable content unless directed to do so by the yearbook staff with advice from the adviser.
● It is not the responsibility of the printer to find errors or catch questionable content. All content is the responsibility of the staff.
● Staffs who choose to use company-generated templates, plug-ins and other materials should let the reader know in the colophon that those printer aids were used and not all design work is original.
● Advisers should take special care in working with yearbook company representatives during a bid process for the printing contract. All information should be distributed to every representative in an open, transparent manner. Should one representative request special information, it should be sent to everyone at the same time.
● A review of the final bill should be made as soon after delivery as possible. Any adjustments to the bill should be made on the current book rather than on future contracts.
Linked resources
• JEA’s Model Guidelines: http://jea.org/about/guidelines.html
• JEA Adviser Code of Ethics: http://www.jeasprc.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/JEAadvisercodeof-ethics-2012
• NSPA Student Code of Ethics: http://studentpress.org/nspa/pdf/wheel_modelcodeofethics.pdf
• Student Press Law Center: http://splc.org , http://yearbooklaw.com.
Sample SPLC yearbook staff member license
http://www.splc.org/pdf/yearbook_license.pdf
• Handling obituaries, NSPA: http://www.studentpress.org/nspa/wheel.html
• Yearbook controversy a time for discussion
http://www.jeasprc.org/?cat=6
Bios for yearbook-ethics guidelines
Mary Kay Downes, MJE, has taught journalism and advised the Chantilly High School Odyssey yearbook for 23 years where she also teaches English and serves as the English Department Chair. She presents at national workshops and yearbook camps and writes articles for journalism magazines. She has been honored as the 2007 JEA National Yearbook Adviser of the Year and received the Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Key, the National Scholastic Press Pioneer Award as well as local and state honors. Odyssey is in the NSPA Hall of Fame and has received several CSPA Crown and NSPA Pacemaker awards. Downes is the past president of the Columbia Scholastic Press Advisers Association and is a member of the JEA Scholastic Press Rights Commission.
Sarah Nichols, MJE, advises student media at Whitney High School in Rocklin, Calif. She was named National Yearbook Adviser of the Year in 2011 and received a Medal of Merit in 2010 from JEA as well as the NSPA Pioneer Award in 2008. During her 13 years advising, her students have earned national recognition such as NSPA Pacemakers and CSPA Gold Crowns, among other honors. Nichols currently serves as JEA’s vice president and is a member of the Scholastic Press Rights Commission and Digital Media Committee as well as past-president for JEANC in Northern California. She is a former JEA state director and Certification Commission member. Previously she advised in Indiana and was an officer for the Indiana High School Press Association.
Linda Puntney, MJE, is JEA’s former executive director. A professor emeritus of journalism at Kansas State University, she was director of Student Publications and Royal Purple yearbook adviser. The Royal Purple staff received 20 Gold Crown and Pacemaker awards in her 21-year tenure — more than any college yearbook in the nation. Puntney’s honors include College Media Advisers Distinguished Yearbook Adviser and Distinguished Magazine Adviser, CMA Hall of Fame, NSPA Pioneer Award, CSPA Gold Key and Charles O’Malley Award, the JEA Carl Towley, Medal of Merit, Lifetime Achievement and Teacher Inspiration awards.
Nancy Y. Smith, MJE, advises the newspaper, yearbook, online paper and DVD at Lafayette High School in Wildwood, MO. She has been teaching and advising publications for 26 years and frequently speaks at workshops and conferences across the country. She has earned Master Journalism Educator status from the Journalism Education Association and is the JEA National Write-off Chair. She been recognized by the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund as a Special Recognition Adviser and was named a Distinguished Adviser in the National Yearbook Adviser of the Year competition. She was also one of six finalists for the 2007-2008 Missouri Teacher of the Year.
Lynn Strause advised 30 yearbooks before she retired in 2007. The Ceniad, which she advised for 13 years, earned 13 consecutive Spartan Awards from Michigan Interscholastic Press Association, Gold and Silver Crowns and Pacemakers during her tenure. She was named JEA National Yearbook Adviser of the year in 2001. She is yearbook chair on the MIPA board, works with individual schools and teaches at a number of summer workshops, state and national conventions.
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Op/Ed Writing With An Ethics Twist: An In-Class Lesson
By Megan Fromm
This lesson was inspired by the recent Twitterfest regarding Kansas high school student Emma Sullivan’s tweet about the governor during a trip to the capital. The lesson will take 30+ minutes, and students will need their own paper and pencil. Here are some links for background information on the incident, which will come in handy toward the end of the lesson.
Intro:
Ask students to discuss openly what things they may not like about their school (of course, remind them that they should be as respectful as possible in this discussion). It could be anything, but the point is to stimulate a 5-minute or so discussion (that will likely get a bit heated, that’s OK!).
Write some of their statements on the board (ie: the school food sucks, the principal is mean, the school doesn’t let us have any say, lunch periods are too short, teachers give too much homework, etc). Leave blank space under the statements, and after you have a range of claims, have students go back to the ideas on the board and write supporting facts underneath each claim. These must be provable facts, researchable items of support that lead them to believe those claims.
Exercise:
Choose the claim that has the LEAST number of supporting facts underneath. Students will then take 5-10 minutes to write the beginnings of an opinion piece on this topic (some might write 500 words, but encourage students to get at least a couple paragraphs down—you’re not editing for spelling or grammar, but how they express their opinion using ONLY the facts on the board to support their opinion).
Once the time is up, discuss with the class how easy/hard this was. What kind of information do they wish they had to support their opinions? What questions would they ask to get more information? How seriously do they think the administration/teachers/other students would take their opinion, considering the lack of facts to support it? What other facts would it take to convince people of their claim? How easy/hard would it be to argue with the opinion you’ve established?
Now, after the time is up, pick the claim with the MOST number of supporting facts, and repeat the exercise. They are allowed to support their opinion ONLY with the facts on the board. (Note: if you don’t have any claim with at least 5-7 facts, provide a few more “facts” of your own for the student to incorporate in their writing.)
Again, once the time is up, discuss how writing about this claim was different. Was it easier (it should have been)? Why? How did having more facts add to their argument? How do they think the administration or student body would respond to these opinion pieces versus the first? How easy/hard would it be to argue with the opinion you’ve established in this piece?
Takeaway:
Follow up their responses with a discussion on informed opinions, and the value of opinion writing when it is supported by facts and research. This process is similar to how they should start writing opinion pieces in the school paper: it all starts with a complaint, a grievance, an idea, a perspective, but the professionals know how to support their perspectives with research, facts, and explanations that sound intelligent and insightful instead of whiny. Their research builds them up, making it harder for critics to attack what they are saying.
Follow-up
Now, use the story links at the beginning as background information to discuss what happened in Kansas with your students/staff. Once they know what has happened with Emma Sullivan, have them make a list on the board of questions or facts that would need to be addressed in order to support Sullivan’s twitter claim that the governor “sucks.” Imagine she were writing a full opinion/editorial piece—how much information would she need to know?
“Just made mean comments at gov. brownback and told him he sucked, in person #heblowsalot.”
Finally, (depending on your time, this could be a whole different discussion) discuss with students why it is so important that as journalists, we support even our opinion/editorial perspectives with facts and research. Why do we need to be responsible and accurate with opinion writing? Why must facts be involved? Who are we responsible to? Emma was not a journalist, no one was counting on her to be accurate, fair, and clear—what if someone on your newspaper staff wrote a tweet like hers? How can journalists have opinions but still be respected, respectful, and responsible? What kind of issues should we consider in regards to our school journalists using social media to express their opinions? The school decided not to mandate a punishment, but what if her tweet was a line in an article in the school newspaper?
Online ethics guidelines for student media
As student media staffs explore digital media to gather information, tell stories, promote their work and handle comments, they will encounter ethical questions both familiar and unique.
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