Law, Ethics, and News Literacy
As a student in the Journalism 1 class, I was taught intensively about the importance of law, ethics, and news literacy. I was able to apply everything I learned to my work when I transitioned to the literary-art magazine and was also able to train my colleagues in journalistic ethics.
Journalistic Ethics
Upholding journalistic law and ethics was the first unit I was taught as a student learn in the Journalism One class. It is taught through several presentations, thought-provoking questions, and essays. We also had the privilege of having Dr. Joe Dennis give a presentation titled Journalism Ethics and Censorship where we learned general ethics rationales as well as going through real situations and deciding whether they followed the journalistic code of ethics while handling them.
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Transcribing With Fidelity
One responsibility of our Editorial Board members is to get short interviews with creative students or community members and write Q&As or create scenes with a photo and a journalistic caption with a quote. One way I ensure ethics in this process is teaching the importance of transcribing interviews with fidelity. When writing stories, ensuring exact quotes is vital to publishing an accurate story and maintaining good relationships with those they interview.
Staff Handbook and Editing Policies
Every year, the Editor-in-Chief of the iliad writes a staff handbook to give Editorial Board members a guide to reference throughout the year for any questions about the iliad and our policies. In the handbook I wrote this year, there is a section on our Editing Policy and Sensitivity when it comes to our submissions. We take this policy very seriously and refer to it frequently in the magazine production process.
Click on the photo to view our editing policies.
Ethics and Journalism Worksheet
The Ethics and Journalism worksheet that I completed in the Journalism One class asked students to choose five of seven articles to read and to write a paragraph explaining how journalistic law was broken. I was fascinated by analyzing these real-world examples which taught me a great deal about how journalistic ethics can be applied to my life and the lives of those I work with.
Click on the photo to view my worksheet.
Shattered Glass Reflection
One of the assignments for the Journalism One class in the Law and Ethics unit was writing a reflection on the movie "Shattered Glass" which tells the story of a journalist who does not uphold journalistic integrity. It got me interested in the subject and gave me the opportunity to practice my writing while also making the severity of upholding journalistic law evident. Click on the photo to read my essay.
Click on the photo to view my reflection.
Shattered Glass Reflection
One of the assignments for the Journalism One class in the Law and Ethics unit was writing a reflection on the movie "Shattered Glass" which tells the story of a journalist who does not uphold journalistic integrity. It got me interested in the subject and gave me the opportunity to practice my writing while also making the severity of upholding journalistic law evident.
Click on the photo to view my reflection.
Staff Contract
One way that we encourage ethical journalism in the iliad Literary-Art Magazine is our staff contract. Every member signs it upon joining the Editorial Board and it ensures that students are making wise and ethical decisions in their pursuit of journalism. From a leadership standpoint, it also allows me to set clear expectations with my team members from the beginning. Click to photo to view the contract.
Restorative Justice
We take staff conflict very seriously and when a member of our Editorial Board broke our staff contract, we agreed that the ethical approach was contacting the Restorative Justice team at our school to assist us in handling the situation. We ended up having a Restorative Justice Circle that focused on every participating member sharing openly and honestly with a trained Restorative Justice Practitioner facilitating.