What do you do in the event of
student, faculty death? QT5
This guideline is the one you must have, but never want to use.
It’s important to have a guideline in place before a student or staff member dies. Journalists should report a student or staff death in an objective, consistent manner that has been decided when the staff manual is being revised. Choosing what to publish at the time of any tragedy is not wise and can cause staffs to make choices that create problems in the future.
Guideline:
In the event of the death of a student or staff member, a standard, obituary-type recognition will commemorate the deceased in the newspaper and online news site. A maximum one-fourth page feature, or similar length for each obituary, should be written by a student media staff member and placed on the website within 24 hours and in the newspaper at the bottom of page one.
For the yearbook, if the fatality happens prior to final deadline, the staff might include feature content as the editors deem appropriate. For those unofficially affiliated with the district, the editors-in-chief should determine appropriate coverage, but should not include an official obituary.
Stance:
Journalists should report a student or staff death in an objective, consistent manner that has been decided when the staff manual is being revised. Choosing what to publish at the time of any tragedy is not wise and can cause staffs to make choices that create problems in the future.
Reasoning/suggestions:
In the event of the death of a student or staff member, students should follow guidelines to produce a standard obituary.
- The staff manual should outline type and size of photo use. For example, the editors may determine a school portrait-type photo is preferable. It also should provide guidance on length of the obituary and should specify the recommended timeline (such as posting via electronic media within 24 hours) as well as whether it will appear in upcoming print media in a place previously established.
- Web and print coverage should include school and community reaction as it happens.
- The editorial board should consider what place, if any, an obituary has in the yearbook and should specify how time, space limitations and cause of death (as well as any other factors) play a role in that decision.
- For deaths of individuals not officially affiliated with the district, student editors should determine appropriate coverage. This may or may not include an official obituary.
- Facts individuals provide for the obituary should be fact-checked like those of any other news.
- Staffs should obtain public records as available.
Resources:
Obituaries, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee
Lesson: With Freedom of the Press Comes Great Responsibility, Journalism Education Association
Summing Up a Life: Meeting the Obituary’s Challenge, The Poynter Institute
Audio: Covering Death, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee, Press Rights Minute
Read More
Don’t let death derail your publication
by Mary Kay Downes
The loss of any student is a tragic event either through sickness, accident or suicide.
Often times staffs are shocked when events such as this occur and frozen into either inaction or precipitous action. They ask, “Do we cover this?” They ask, “How do we cover this?” They ask, “Should we call the parents?”
All of these are questions which can be taken care of by establishing a policy by the editorial board for inclusion in the staff manual having to do with death. We have a policy in our yearbook staff manual and it precludes any type of memorial page.
We include a picture of the deceased student in the senior section of the yearbook the year they would have graduated. It is in a box with year of birth and death. If a faculty member dies, we include a similar box in the faculty section of the current year’s book.
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