Most Recent Articles
Keeping ads and content separate QT50
Student journalists should maintain a wall between promotional/paid content and journalistic content.
That historical wall should remain intact to help reassure audiences the content they receive is as thorough and complete as possible.
As Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel say in The Elements of Journalism, journalists’ first loyalty is to the truth while maintaining an independence from those they report.
Student journalists should develop their policies and guidelines maintaining this separation. A broad ethical guideline should explain this reasoning, and staff manual procedures should outline procedures for maintaining it.
Details could include statements on pairing ads, paid content and acceptance of gifts, as examples.
Guideline: Student journalists should maintain a wall between promotional/paid content and journalistic content.
Key points/action: Journalists have historically kept the financial aspects separate from reporting and editorial functions to avoid charges of bias. Some evidence of blurring this line occurs in today’s media.
Stance: That historical wall should remain intact to help reassure audiences the content they receive is as thorough and complete as possible.
As Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel say in The Elements of Journalism, journalists’ first loyalty is to the truth while maintaining an independence from those they report.
Reasoning/suggestions: Student journalists should develop their policies and guidelines maintaining this separation. A broad ethical guideline should explain this reasoning, and staff manual procedures should outline procedures for maintaining it.
Details could include statements on pairing ads, paid content and acceptance of gifts, as examples.
Resources:
These points and other decisions about mission statement, forum status and editorial policy should be part of a Foundations Package that protects journalistically responsible student expression.
Consider emotional impact as well as news values
when choosing images QT49
Censorship should not be an option
by Kristin Taylor
When the editors of the Panther Prowler, the student-run school newspaper for Newbury Park High School, decided to write a feature article about teenagers having sex in 2015, they knew it was going to be controversial. The controversy wasn’t just about the content of the article, however — it was also about the image they paired with it, which appeared on the cover of their special edition magazine.
Since the article’s focus was the impact of limited sex education in and out of the classroom, the editors decided to use an iconic sex ed image: a condom on a banana.
Respecting the students’ freedom of speech guaranteed by the First Amendment and California Education Code section 48907, administrators did not censor this feature. However, its publication led to an outcry in the parent community, many of whom believed the adults at the school should have censored it.
In an open letter to the community, editors Grace O’Toole and Courtney Brousseau explained their purpose in using this image.
While acknowledging that some felt the picture was “obscene or scandalous,” the editors argued, “It is the quintessential image of sex education. Moreover, it is a nurse-honored, military-practiced, and physician-approved method of teaching safe sex, and while it is not employed at NPHS, public schools across the nation model the proper method of practicing safe sex as a part of their official health curriculum. For this reason, we felt it reflected the angle of the article without sensationalizing the issue.”
The students also pointed out that those upset with adults at the school were missing the point. “It is important to note that while our adviser and administration did protect our guaranteed freedom of press, they did not produce or in any way endorse the magazine,” they wrote. “The decision to publish and distribute the magazine rested solely with the editors of the publication, not the adviser or the administration.”
O’Toole and Brousseau did not back down from their choice to use this image, but they did choose to take down the posters they had distributed to advertise the upcoming special edition. They also did not include the image when they published the article online.
“We maintain that [the images on the posters] were not obscene or pornographic. While they may have been suggestive, they were not revealing,” they wrote. “That being said, we did take [the posters] down several days before the distribution of the magazine. We didn’t want the buzz surrounding the posters to detract from our original intention of starting a productive dialogue and for that reason, we chose to focus on what is important – the article.”
This situation illustrates a few important takeaways about visual images and student journalism:
- Just as with other forms of content, students should have final say over any image they choose to publish. Responsible editors should be ready to explain why they used the image if challenged by the member of the public, but they should not self-censor if they feel a controversial image is justified.
- Student publications that operate as public forums for student voices provide some legal protection for adults and the school itself, as they operate separate from these entities.
- Students should evaluate whether the impact of a controversial image will overwhelm the purpose of the reporting. If they feel the image might overshadow the message or is merely sensational, they may want to adjust accordingly.
Ultimately, students have a right to publish images along with their other content, but they should have a discussion about whether those images will hurt or help the main focus of their reporting when warranted. Having a consistent process and ethical guidelines helps student reporters to make good decisions about their images.
Quick Tip:
Visual images and censorship
Guideline:
Students should consider not only the news value of an image but also the emotional effect of the image on the audience.
Social Media Post/Topic:
If a picture is worth 1,000 words, should journalists be 1,000 times more careful about them? And what if someone wants to censor one?
Stance:
Students should have ethical guidelines in their staff manual to guide their decisions about visual images and be able to explain the newsworthiness of any image they publish. Student editors should have final say in all content decisions.
Reasoning/suggestions:
Just as with other forms of content, students should have final say over any image they choose to publish. Student publications that operate as public forums for student voices provide some legal protection for adults and the school itself, as they operate separate from these entities.
Responsible editors should be ready to explain why they used the image if challenged by the member of the public, but they should not self-censor if they feel a controversial image is justified. Students should evaluate whether the impact of a controversial image will overwhelm the purpose of the reporting. If they feel the image might overshadow the message or is merely sensational, they may want to adjust accordingly.
When constructing a process for determining whether to publish an image, students should consider many questions, including:
- is this image important and relevant to the story?
- What makes it meaningful?
- Will the audience understand the information conveyed without reading any accompanying text?
- What story does it tell?
- What story would others be able to get from that photo?
- What, if any, warnings should accompany online content?
- Is there an alternative, better, way to show the story?
Resources:
Visual ethics guidelines, Principal’s Guide to Scholastic Journalism
Visual Journalism, NPR Code of Ethics
Lesson: To Print or Not to Print, Journalism Education Association
Lesson: A Picture Never Lies, Journalism Education Association
Lesson: When Journalists Err Ethically, Journalism Education Association
Lesson: Pushing Photo Editing Boundaries, Journalism Education Association
Lesson: With Freedom of the Press Comes Great Responsibility, Journalism Education Association
SPJ Code of Ethics, Society of Professional Journalists
NPPA Code of Ethics, National Press Photographers Association
Photojournalism ethics needs a reexamination, The Poynter Institute
Visual ethical guidelines join online, yearbook ethics, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee
Audio: Using Images from Social Media, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee Press Rights Minute
Audio: Ethics in Editing News Photos, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee. Press Rights Minute
Read More
Be relentless and read the fine print
by Stan Zoller, MJE
Sometime in its advertising history, Hewlett-Packard, now known simply as H-P because people were in too much of a hurry to spell the entire name out, had a campaign that touted its corporate innovation.
Quite simply, all it said was “At Hewlett-Packard, we never stop saying ‘What If. “
The concept was their product development staffs were always looking for ways to improve technology by taking chances and asking what would happen ‘if’ they did something different.
The approach might also work well for journalists in their dogged pursuits of accurate and verifiable information.
At the 2009 JEA convention in Washington, D.C., keynote speaker Jackie Spinner, then a Washington Post reporter, said “the problem with the American media is that it’s more concerned about getting it first than getting it right.”
The unfortunate reality in many cases that is still the case. It’s not unusual for a news organization to post information on social media and within minutes, post an update that corrects a previous post.
An obvious way to avoid this is to fact check and verify before posting a story. However, to really add to the basic information, follow H-P’s lead and ask “what if” about your information. In other words, go beyond the basic information at hand.
This can be true when using public records. Despite the fact public agencies are required to adhere to open meetings laws, some will go out of their way to avoid meeting the full intent of the law. School districts seem to be the biggest culprits of this.
Effective deconstruction of materials received through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request entails that journalists – whether students or professional – understand the breadth of their state’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) as well as the appeal process.
I filed two recent FOI requests using Illinois’ FOIA and have found by asking “what if” I have been able to garner additional information.
The first case involves a school district that heavily redacted information without sufficient explanation for the redaction. A second FOI request resulted in a similar situation. Rather than accept the district’s response, I filed for a review with the Pubic Access Counselor (PAC) in the Illinois Attorney General’s office.
They agreed to investigate my query and are in the process of weighing the district’s response. However, the district’s response about the confiscation of the student newspaper dropped more than a subtle hint that the issue was not, in fact, a journalism situation, but likely a personnel and/or personality conflict.
The district’s response also touted student confidentiality, something that was not part of my original two FOI requests. What the district seems to have done was fine-tooth combed the allowable exemptions allowed by the Illinois FOIA. Working with community advocacy attorneys, I thought an additional explanation was due, which led to the filing with the Attorney General’s PAC. Quite simply, it was a matter of asking “what if.”
Another situation, which unfolded last week, involved the use of the FOIA to find out why a village trustee in my hometown was trying to gauge interest in a proposed bill that would allow recreational use of marijuana in Illinois. By gathering emails on the topic, I was able to determine that he had not been transparent in his social media posts, as well as phone calls and emails to me.
This was revealed in a blog I posted, which drew swift reaction, including one from an attorney who said the village had violated the Illinois FOIA by providing me with information that should have been withheld because of the exemptions in the FOIA.
Undaunted, I checked with attorneys who told me that I was right (always a good feeling) and that exemptions are voluntary. I posted that information, to which he responded, “that’s right.”
As Caesar allegedly said, “Veni, vidi, vici” – I came, I saw, I conquered. While conquering may seem a bit overstated, the bottom line is by utilizing resources and understanding the nuances of the law, I was able to (at least hopefully) protect the public’s right to know.
Is it a lot of work? Yes. Using the FOIA or asking for support from the SPLC or local advocacy attorneys may rattle your administration, but as journalism educators we have a fiduciary responsibility to make sure our student journalists seek the truth and report it using the legal and ethical tools available.
Student journalists need to understand the ramifications of under reporting as well as the rewards of not just getting it first, but also getting it right.
Which in many cases means not only using resources available to them, but also learning to ask, ‘what if?”
Read MoreSeeking visual truth is just as important
as written truth QT48
by Kristin Taylor
A reporter working on a story pauses from her transcription. “Hm,” she thinks. “This is a good quote, but my source could have said it so much better. I’ll just change it around and add a bit …”
By this point, responsible student journalists and their advisers are horrified. Of course you can’t change a source’s quote! Our job is to seek truth and report it, not to create fiction.
Yet those same students may have a harder time understanding why photo manipulation is just as problematic. In a time where social media platforms include an array of pre-made filters and changing a picture is as easy as swiping left or right, student journalists may need a reminder about the difference between ethical photo editing and unethical manipulation.
Photojournalism is still journalism, which means visual images should reflect the truth as accurately as other forms of reporting. Just as journalists shouldn’t manipulate a quote because it will “make the story sound better,” they also shouldn’t manipulate a photograph beyond basic editing that maintains the journalistic truth of the image.
Students wondering about the consequences of faking photographs professionally might benefit from reading cautionary tales about people such as Brian Walski, Souvid Datta or Narciso Contreras — these once respected photojournalists lost jobs, reputation or even awards as a result of their photo manipulation.
Here are some tips to ensure student journalists are being truthful visually:
- Edit digital photographs minimally; limit changes to basic cropping (without removing important context), adjusting brightness or contrast, and minor color adjustments.
- Do not flip images or edit out elements of the photo.
- Avoid staging photographs and passing them off as candid shots; this is similar to asking someone to say something for a quote you need rather than gathering candid quotes.
- Clearly label manipulated images used as art (filters, colorized images, etc.) as photo illustrations and use these sparingly to maintain the journalistic credibility of your publication
Quick Tip: Ethical photo editing vs. unethical manipulation
Guideline: Student media should avoid electronic manipulation that alters the truth of a photograph unless it is used as art. In that case it should be clearly labeled as a photo illustration.
Social Media Post: Filters are fun on social media, but are they journalistic? How do you know when editing crosses the line to unethical manipulation?
Reasoning/suggestions:
Photojournalism is still journalism, which means visual images should reflect the truth as accurately as other forms of reporting. Just as journalists shouldn’t manipulate a quote because it will “make the story sound better,” they also shouldn’t manipulate a photograph beyond basic editing that maintains the journalistic truth of the image.
Here are some tips to ensure you are being truthful visually:
- Edit digital photographs minimally; limit changes to basic cropping (without removing important context), adjusting brightness or contrast, and minor color adjustments.
- Do not flip images or edit out elements of the photo.
- Avoid staging photographs and passing them off as candid shots; this is similar to asking someone to say something for a quote you need rather than gathering candid quotes.
- Clearly label manipulated images used as art (filters, colorized images, etc.) as photo illustrations and use these sparingly to maintain the journalistic credibility of your publication.
Resources:
Visual ethics guidelines, Principal’s Guide to Scholastic Journalism
Visual Journalism, NPR Code of Ethics
Posing Questions of Photographic Ethics, James Estrin, New York Times
Lesson: A Picture Never Lies, Journalism Education Association
Lesson: When Journalists Err Ethically, Journalism Education Association
Lesson: Pushing Photo Editing Boundaries, Journalism Education Association
Lesson: With Freedom of the Press Comes Great Responsibility, Journalism Education Association
SPJ Code of Ethics, Society of Professional Journalists
NPPA Code of Ethics, National Press Photographers Association
Photojournalism ethics needs a reexamination, The Poynter Institute
Visual ethical guidelines join online, yearbook ethics, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee
Audio: Using Images from Social Media, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee Press Rights Minute
Audio: Ethics in Editing News Photos, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee. Press Rights Minute
Read More
Today is Day of Action Day
for curing 30 years of Hazelwood
The SPLC has events scheduled throughout Jan. 31 to bring attention to the negative effects of Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier.
This month marks the 30th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision, which gives public schools the right to censor student publications. Now, more than ever, we need a coordinated effort to protect student journalists’ rights.
Here’s how the SPLC suggests schools (and others) can speak out about the damage this case has brought:
- Speak out on Twitter and Instagram why you think student journalists deserve better than the Hazelwood standard using #CureHazelwood.
- Change your profile picture to #CureHazelwood to help support the cause.
- Tune in to Facebook Live. At the top of every hour from 10am ET through 7pm ET we’ll have 10 minute mini-broadcasts from lots of cool people talking about the impact of censorship on student journalists and the need to overturn Hazelwood. We even have Cathy Kuhlmeier Frey (the named plaintiff and brave student journalist) as one of the guests. Everyone will be broadcasting live from the SPLC Facebook Page. Make sure to like the page and follow us so you don’t miss it! (Full schedule here.)
- Check out our Hazelwood: Then and Now webinar: Hear from former SPLC directors Frank LoMonte and Mark Goodman and current senior legal counsel Mike Hiestand as they talk about what it was like when the Hazelwood decision came down and the rise of the New Voices movement in response. Tune in to our YouTube channel at 11 a.m. ET.
Two videos developed by JEA’s SPRC also talk about Hazelwood’s history and legacy.
A one minute roundup.
And a 3.5 minute explainer:
The SPRC also has the additional materials about Hazelwood:
• A Teacher’s Kit for curing Hazelwood
• Seeking to cure the Hazelwood blues