Laws, Ethics and News Literacy
I have learned that as a journalist, you will likely always face a form of scrutiny due to having the job of reporting the news of your community. Over the years I have engaged in several training activities related to laws, ethics, and news literacy. I have also been put in situations where I am required to put my training into action to address the situation in the best way possible as a leader of the program. The preparation and experience I have had within this category will help me navigate similar situations that may arise in the future.
NSPA Law Presentation
During the NSPA virtual fall conference in 2021, I attend a law presentation. During the presentation, I took notes on how to access public records and was able to better understand my rights as a student journalist. Prior to this lesson, I had never fully understood what student journalists could and could not access. Freedom of information was a less explored area of knowledge for me. This presentation gave me a better understanding and unlocked new opportunities for me to improve my reporting skills.
Social Media Backlash
At the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year, we posted the fall sports schedules on social media and faced a large amount of backlash on Instagram. due to COVID-19 concerns. However, since we are a news organization we are required to objectively report on the news within our school. In reaction to the concerns, I helped post a statement outlining our policies and intentions. This post also invited anyone who wanted to voice their opinions to write an editorial as a guest writer.
Ethics Unit
Every year, our staff reviews journalism ethics and laws, as well as analyzes several journalistic stories. In order to get our grounding before production, we participate in critiquing articles and analyzing ethical situations to help us understand our rights and purpose as student journalists. In Journalism I, I helped lead this unit and encouraged critical thinking of ethical dilemma’s that we have or may have experienced as a program.
News Literacy Unit
Every year, the staff participates in some form of news literacy unit. In this unit, we read and analyze various articles and media, typically from professional organizations and previous NSPA winners. As a J1 facilitator, I was part of leading this unit for the freshman last year and this year as well. While leading this unit, I pushed students to critically think about what worked and what didn’t in each article they reviewed.
iliad Staff Manual
As part of our staff manual and policies, the iliad has included a sensitivity portion on submissions and editing. While we do not want to censor or edit anyone’s work, we do uphold the policy that all work must maintain a “TV-14” rating as we are a publication under the Clarke County School District. Any editing needed to be done to a piece is done by the creator of the piece and will not be done by anyone on staff or without the creator being notified.
Digital Ethics in Photojournalism
At the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year, we posted the fall sports schedules on social media and faced a large amount of backlash on Instagram. due to COVID-19 concerns. However, since we are a news organization we are required to report on the news within our school. In reaction to the concerns, I helped post a statement outlining our policies and intentions.