Curriculum to help students formulate
policies, guidelines and procedures
Lesson Title
Ethical guidelines and procedure statements: Creating the foundation
Description
In this lesson, students will analyze current policies and write guidelines and procedures. Students will then analyze the others’ classwork and provide feedback. Students will be able to rewrite their contribution after the feedback is given. Students will also audit the publication’s diversity.
Objectives
- Students will analyze their board- or media-level policies.
- Students will construct guidelines and procedures.
- Students will examine these guidelines and procedures and revise after receiving feedback.
Common Core State Standards
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.1 | Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.2 | Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.7 | Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.8 | Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the usefulness of each source in answering the research question; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.9 | Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.9.B | Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. |
Length
300 minutes (6 50-minute classes)
Materials / resources
Resource: Editorial guidelines and policy statements, SPRC website
Resource: Working with a board approved policy, SPRC website
Lesson step-by-step
Day 1:
Materials / resources
Slideshow, Day 1: version 1 or Day 1: version 2 (See below for the version you should use.)
Teacher should have copies of either the board-level and/or media-level policies applicable to student media. (If no policy exists, students will work together to create a First-Amendment friendly one and use version 2 of the slideshow.)
If a board or media-level policy exists:
Step 1: Show slideshow (50 minutes)
Students should work through the slideshow using the Day 1: version 1. When prompted, teacher should disseminate board-level or media-level policy.
If no policy exists:
Step 1: Show slideshow (50 minutes)
Students should work through the slideshow using the Day 1: version 2. Students will create a media-level policy.
Day 1 Version 1
Day 1, Version 2
Day 2:
Resources
Slideshow: Day 2: Ethical guidelines and procedures
Handout: Foundations of journalism: Policy, procedure, guidelines
Resource: JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Committee’s Foundations: Editorial guidelines and policy statements
Rubric: Ethical guidelines and procedures
Computer lab (if possible) for Step 3
Step 1 — Slideshow (20 minutes)
Go through the slideshow with the students
Day 2 Slideshow
Step 2 — Work time (10 minutes)
If you already have job descriptions, make them available. Ask students what to add or modify from these descriptions.
If you don’t have job descriptions, ask students to create one for a general staffer, editor or adviser.
Step 3 — Small group work (20 minutes)
Hand out the following excerpts from JEA’s SPRC website: Foundations of Journalism:
Editor-staff relationships
Staff conduct
Balance and objectivity
Academic dishonesty
Ownership of student content
Controversial coverage
News judgment and news values
Ask students to use the handout to draft guidelines or procedures (or both) about their assigned areas using the handout provided (one handout per topic). Also, encourage students to examine the resources listed (if computer lab or other Internet access is possible) and to peer edit each other’s work using the back of the handout.
Students should turn in what they have at the end of the class period. Teacher should not grade these. Teacher will need these for the application phase of the lesson.
Day 3: Diversity and sources
Resources:
Diversity audit
Copies of the publications (including online if available)
Handout: Foundations of Journalism: policies, ethics and staff manuals
Diversity Audit
For this lesson, students will need either Internet access or a copy of the school’s newspaper and yearbook. (Note: you could substitute any type of student media including broadcast, magazine, newsmagazine, etc.)
Step 1 — Class preparation (2 minutes)
Divide the class into groups of three. Explain to the class the groups will be completing a “diversity audit.” They will be using the handout titled “Diversity audit” to record their findings.
Step 2 — Evaluating the newspaper/newsmagazine (10 minutes)
The groups should first get a copy of the print or online publication. Divide the students up by the different pages/webpages. (For example, the first group of three should assess the first news page, the second should assess the second page, etc.) Ask students to record the information asked of them on the handout. Ask students to hold on to the publications until after the large group discussion.
Step 3 — Evaluating the yearbook (20 minutes)
Pass out copies of the most recent yearbook. Again, divide the students up by pages. This should take a longer because they may have more to comb through in order to find the information required. Ask students to hold on to the publications until after the large group discussion.
Step 4 — Reporting findings (10 minutes)
Ask students to tally their findings on the board using the Diversity audit pdf.
Step 5 — Large group discussion (5 minutes)
Post the percentage breakdown of the student body on the board. Ask students to look at the percentage of students used. Does the coverage reflect the makeup of the student body? Are any groups under or overrepresented?
Step 6 — Policy starter assignment (3 minutes)
Tell the students that now that they have examined the coverage, how should they craft a guideline or procedure on diversity of sources using the handout. They should bring a draft to the next class meeting. Everyone will draft a guideline or procedure on this topic.
Extension:
Teacher could expand this to as many student media platforms as they have. Teacher might need to add a day to lessons.
Day 4
Rubric: Ethical guidelines and procedures
Slideshow: Day 4: Ethical guidelines and procedures
Web resource and computer lab: JEA’s SPRC website: Foundations of Journalism
Step 1 — Large-group discussion (10 minutes)
Ask students to share their homework from the previous class.
Step 2 — Recrafting (5 minutes)
Give students time to rewrite their homework if they would like. (Teacher will assess this based on same rubric given Day 2.)
Step 3 — Slideshow (5 minutes)
Show Slideshow: Day 4: Manuals, guidelines, procedures
Day 4 Slideshow
Step 4 — Group assignments (Remainder of the class)
(this may be pairs, depending on how many students you have). You may assign each group two of the topics below.
Ask students to use the handout to draft guidelines or procedures (or both) about their assigned areas using the handout provided (one handout per topic). Also, encourage students to examine the resources listed and questions provided in the resource: JEA’s SPRC website: Foundations of Journalism (if computer lab or other Internet access is possible). Students should peer edit each other’s work using the back of the handout in whatever time remains in the class.
Students should turn in what they have at the end of the class period. Teacher should not grade these. Teacher will need these for the application phase of the lesson.
Treatment of sources
Recording sources during interviews
Allowing sources to preview content before publication
Emailing and texting digital information gathering
Verification
Unnamed sources
Treatment of minors
Public records and meetings
Handling links
Providing context
Advertising
Social media
Sponsored content
Use of profanity
Obituaries
Visual reporting
Guidelines for breaking news
Evaluating and critiquing content
Correcting errors
Takedown requests
Handling letters to the editor, online comments
Day 5
Resources
Class set of policies and guidelines as created by students (Teacher will need to create this packet from submitted student work.)
Handouts: Scenario practice Scenario key
Rubric: Ethical guidelines and procedures
Computer lab to access JEA’s SPRC website: Foundations of Journalism
Step 1 — Preparation
Teacher should make copies of the ethical guidelines and procedures created for the entire class and should have the Foundations available.
Step 2 — Small groups (40 minutes)
Students should use the guidelines and go through the scenarios. They should:
- identify the area applicable and use the corresponding guideline or procedure as created by the class.
- look at JEA’s SPRC website: Foundations of Journalism and go through the questions for each section.
- make notes on any discrepancies found while practicing these scenarios.
Step 4 — Feedback (10 minutes)
This step is intended to allow students to obtain feedback and change their guidelines and procedures as needed.
What worked and didn’t work about each policy or guideline? The group who created the policy or guideline should lead the discussion concerning this. Have someone from each group take notes.
Day 6
Resources
Class set of policies and guidelines as created by students (Teacher will need to create this packet from submitted student work.)
Slideshow: Scenario practice
Rubric: Ethical guidelines and procedures
Computer lab to access JEA’s SPRC website: Foundations of Journalism
Step 1 — Preparation
Teacher should make copies of the ethical guidelines and procedures created for the entire class and should have the Foundations available.
Step 2 — Small groups (20 minutes)
Students should look as pairs four of the topics not already used in the scenarios using the JEA’s SPRC website: Foundations of Journalism as a resource. Teacher should divide the foundation points by the number of groups and assign the topics to each group. (For example, the first group will tackle the first five listed. The second group will address the next five, etc.) Students also could use the rubric if they need more guidance.
Step 3 — Large-group feedback (25 minutes)
Students should report back to the large group on the points they assessed.
What worked and didn’t work about each policy or guideline? The group who created the policy or guideline should lead the discussion concerning this. Have someone from each group take notes.
Step 4 — Assignment (5 minutes)
Students responsible for each segment of the policy or guideline should plan how they will revise any content. These will be due at the beginning of class tomorrow.
Teacher should remind students to reference the rubric provided.
Differentiation
As indicated, it’s important for students to evaluate what they have. If any item is missing or they would like to include one not listed above, students should craft the missing procedure or guideline.
‘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
Submissions for Making a Difference, 2015
by Jane Blystone
Advisers, as you prepare for the end of year contest submissions, consider entering student work in the JEA Scholastic Press Rights Commission Making a Difference project. You can fill out this online form and upload documents for consideration for publication. Making a Difference Submissions
We published our first copy of Making a Difference in hard copy in 1988 because of the Hazelwood malaise. In that version, now downloadable, we highlighted scholastic reporting that demonstrated student journalism did not need the heavy hard of prior review and censorship. That tradition continues today and will continue so long as students continue to take their roles seriously and professionally.
In 2012, we committed ourselves to updating the project, hoping to show student journalism had not succumbed to Hazelwood.
We have seen some great work by student journalists across the country covering some intense topics. Let’s show the country what great work student journalists are doing that rivals work done by professional journalists.
Sitemap for developing
Policy and Ethics in Student Media
Policy and Ethics Sitemap
Links from the boldfaced main sections below are intended to be sequential in nature but can also be used menu style. Pick one model from policies and as many as you need from the ethics/staff manual sections and you are on your way to building your own Foundations package. We think the policy section should come first since it sets the stage for all other areas, but that choice remains yours.
Introductory articles to policies
This section will outline the importance of our two types of policies, board-level and media-level and provide you with recommended language as well as comments on each of the five recommended levels. Other articles outline public forums and prior review.
—Front page to the project —Introductory article —Public forum overview —Prior review and restraint —Quick access to policy models —Creating a mission statement –Model for ethical guidelines
Introductory article link to ethics
This section will introduce how we visualize our concept, why we created it this way and our thoughts on updating ethics guidelines and staff manual. Please note that we believe in user additions to all these sections.
Establishing program Structure
We designed the ethics and staff manual sections into four main segments, from establishing the principles and ethical guidelines to evaluating them. This group of guidelines and procedures strives to establish basic principles and structure that work for all student media.
—School board and media policy —Publication level policy
—The role of student media —The role of the adviser
—Editor-staff relationships —Staff conduct
—Balance and objectivity —Academic dishonesty
—Ownership of student content —jeamodeleditpolicy
— Creating “Put Up” guidelines —Recognizing public spaces
—Understanding “no publication” guidelines —Publishing satire
Planning and gathering information
This group of guidelines stresses basic principles and process of information gathering across platforms. These represent more detailed approaches to carrying out daily journalistic functions.
—News judgment and news values —Prior review/prior restraint
—Controversial coverage —Diversity of sources
—Recording sources during interviews —Verification
—Allowing sources to see content before publication
—Email, texting and digital information gathering
—Unnamed sources —Treatment of minors
—Public records and meetings —Treatment of sources
Producing content
This group of ethics statements and staff manual procedures focuses more on the production of journalistic content, from print to social media and from reporting to advertising.
—Handling links —Guides for breaking news
—Providing content —Writing process
—Social media –Use of profanity
—Obituaries —Sponsored content
—Advertising —Visual reporting
— Producing video dubs — Handling user-generated content
Assessing and responding
We envision this section focusing on how students and advisers evaluate their content. We would also include specialized issues.
—Evaluating and critiquing content —Correcting errors
—Takedown requests — Letters to the editor/online comments
Requests for specific ethical/manual statements
This version of Policy and Ethical guidelines is a living, breathing document to which we welcome comments and suggestions. If you have experience with something we did not include, please use the comment section here to let us know what you would like us to add, or just to comment.
Resources
We intend for these resource lists bring additional support and perspective to each of the more specialized and directly related resources attached to each of the files above.
If there are resources you find useful, please use the comment section here to share your knowledge.
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Verification
Ethical guidelines
Journalists should approach their reporting and interviewing with a healthy dose of skepticism. This doesn’t mean they should trust no one, but it means they should be aware of potential conflicts of interest or barriers to receiving accurate information. Reporters should always verify, even if the information seems incredibly obvious and simplistic. Verifying information is much like fact-checking. Students should seek multiple forms of evidence to confirm information.
Staff manual process
Student journalists should be trained to ask one very specific question during every interview: “How do you know?” This particular question can help reporters analyze whether a source really is in a position to know the information in question. Reporter checklists or training materials should address this step.
Many ways exist to verify and corroborate information. Corroboration requires journalists to ask multiple sources the same question to determine whether the answer is the same across all sources. If the answer varies, journalists should seek additional information and evidence. The staff manual should outline this process.
Students may want to read quotes back to a source for verification, especially when a story deals with specialized knowledge or sensitive material. However, some sources may want to read the entire story, but this gives up editorial control and can put the writer in a difficult position. The staff manual should cover what is expected of reporters in this situation.
Suggestions
• Editors should establish multiple deadlines for stories in order to track progress. This helps cut down on the last-minute rush before publication when reporters run out of time to verify.
• Training and staff resources should make sure all reporters know what to say if a source – particularly a school administrator and someone who might be intimidating – asks to read a complete story prior to publication.
• While it may be unrealistic to require a set number of sources for each story, the staff manual should explain the need for multiple sources in order to get all the facts.
• The staff manual should emphasize the importance of asking for exact spelling of names, places and organizations to make sure these details are accurate, even if the name seems fairly common.
• The student media staff should implement a system to keep track of sources who have provided misinformation and either stop using those sources or take extra measures to verify the information they provide.
• Students should always consider what documents or evidence can be used to corroborate source information.
Resources
Journalism As a Discipline of Verification, American Press Institute
How Do Journalists Verify?, The Poynter Institute
Lesson: Fact Checking in the Digital Age, Journalism Education Association
Lesson: How the Pros Fact Check, Journalism Education Association
Verify Information, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee, Press Rights Minute
Return to sitemap.
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