I’m incredibly proud to say that I’m a teacher. I’m lucky to teach photography, graphic design and journalism – subjects that many other publication advisers do as well. “Oh, the fun stuff!” is usually the response whenever I tell someone this. I do teach the fun stuff, but that doesn’t mean that advising student publications is…
So your staff is trapped at home with deadlines looming, and not only do you have to find the name of that blurry-faced kid in the back row of the NHS photo, but now you need to toss out a spread on packed lunches to make room for two pages of coronavirus coverage. A spread,…
The year is starting to wind down, but that doesn’t mean your yearbook process stops! We’ve gathered some end-of-the-year resources your yearbook staff can use in March, April, May, June and beyond. Finish the Year Strong From celebrations to training next year’s staff, there’s plenty you can do at the end of the year! We…
I used to have a recurring yearbook nightmare – that when I died, every word in the 35 yearbooks I advised that was not completely accurate would turn red and would expose how much students made up. To avoid that potential embarrassment, I tried to create a culture with my staff that championed the essential…
Copyright, libel, privacy… these are complicated legal and ethical issues that many yearbook staffs ponder every year and often don’t ever fully grasp the way they should. Thanks to Walsworth’s newest eBook, Media Law and Ethics for Yearbook Journalists, that no longer has to be the case. Media Law and Ethics provides a condensed overview…
Few high school journalists have a keen understanding of libel law, but not knowing may put your publication and reputation at risk. Do study up on libel, but you can also use these five tips to remember the main points of how to avoid libel.
The National Scholastic Press Association’s Model Code of Ethics has made it easier to include an ethics code in staff manuals.
Teaching students under the age of 18 right from wrong is hard enough. But teaching them to navigate the gray areas in between while being responsible journalists can be daunting.
Many yearbooks depend upon advertising revenue to sustain financial integrity. It is important they have policy that guides business operations, advertising content decisions and ethical judgments.
I start the school year with ethics as the number one focus. I have my students research news stories on the internet, finding incidents where students violated the rights of others using school media. This exercise enables students to see their legal responsibility as part of the school media, and to be careful with images. I also give an essay assignment, allowing students to pick from two sticky, ethical situations, and ask them to respond as to how they would handle one of them.
With technology and digital media evolving at an incredible rate, it is not surprising that journalistic ethics have struggled to keep pace. In the struggle, we have yet to arrive at one set conclusion.
In March 2001, a Los Angeles Times photographer who was covering the war in Iraq used Adobe Photoshop to combine two photos. The resulting image was printed on the front page of two newspapers. Less than a week later, the photographer was fired.
In some of these situations, it is clear that photojournalists or their editors made unethical decisions. In others, judgment is not so easy.
