Law, Ethics and News Literacy

No matter how diligent its editors are, a publication can not live up to its ethical standards unless the writers are on board. Whether in one-on-one conversations with writers or whole-staff announcements, I emphasize the ethical rules that we must abide by as student journalists. For example, I make clear the writers should ask their sources before recording them, and should generally not send interivew questions or finished copy in advance. Additionally, last year I gave a presentation with my predecessor about different types of attribution, clearing up the waters on terms like "on the record" and "on background."

Over the years, I have dealt with a host of situations that related to journalistic ethics. For example, last year I worked on a piece wherein a lot material I was looking to quote from contained profanity. After speaking with my editor, we ultimately decided to quote the profanity, but with asterisks to obfuscate the words.

For that same story, a source provided screenshots of harassing text messages they had received. Since we weren't able to confirm that the messages were authentic, I struggled with how to report on them. So, I sought guidance from America's newspaper of record, The New York Times. I found that within the past week the paper had published an article with a similar situation. I liked how they had handled it — report that they had gotten screenshots from the source, decline to publish who the messages were purported to be from, and add that the authenticity of the messages couldn't be verified — and decided that I would do the same thing.

Later, as Editor in Chief, a source who was a teacher reached out to our adviser about removing their quotes from a story a writer was working on. I decided to pay the teacher a visit and, based on the context of the story and the teacher's role in it, opted to read the quotes to him and ask him to confirm them. After hearing the quotes, the teacher confirmed that he was okay being quoted in the story.

I have also dealt with anonymous sources. This year, staff writers Emily Ayars and Adelaide Petras wrote a piece about a local girl who was abducted and murdered in 1980. An organization had launched in recent years dedicated to remembering the child and solving the case, but its creators insisted on anonymity in order to focus on the victim. Because the organization relied on anonymity (or at least claimed to), and given the public interest in knowing the identity of this group was not high, I decided to allow the anonymous source.

Journalistic ethics isn't just a set of abstract rules; it has real-world applicability. On occasion, I'll come across an article or video detailing some event that actually happened that is relevant to press law or ethics. I like to share these pieces with the class to get a discussion going. I also invite staff members to share anything they would like to discuss.

Sometimes these conversations are light-hearted; sometimes they're more serious. What's consistent is that I aim to inspire earnest discussions about pressing journalistic issues. Frequently I ask staff members to imagine how we might act if we were in a similar situation as the journalist or journalists at hand. Through these conversations, I hope to create a staff that is more conscientious and professionally minded.

Over the year, we have discussed a number of topics by going over articles like:

• "Student Journalists Reveal a Changing World. Let Them."

• "Las Vegas Reporter Found Fatally Stabbed Outside His Home, Police Say"

• "How Parkland student journalists covered the shooting they survived and friends they lost"

• "Reporter Arrested While Covering News Conference in Ohio"

I aim to promote an appreciation of press freedom throughout the school. Whenever speaking about Arlingtonian before students, or in fundraiser promotional material, I describe Arlingtonian as "independent student journalism," which it is. I explain that our editorial independence means that we cannot be coerced or censored by school administrators. I also have promoted press freedom in pieces I've written, such as this staff editorial.