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Laws, Ethics and News Literacy

Laws & Ethics

When writing stories on controversial or serious topics, I always allow my source the option to be anonymous because their safety is the highest priority. As I reached out to one girl to talk about the racism she faced in the school for my story about the increase in misbehavior, I was shocked to hear her concerns. She told me that two years ago she was interviewed by our publication under the condition they use a different name to preserve her anonymity. However, the details in the story about her background that were included in the story allowed antagonistic individuals at school identify her. While that writer may not have intended this to happen, a lack of attention and caution caused another person pain. I described to her my process of including anonymous sources: to interview her, but as I do so, I ask which details she is OK with me including so that she isn't identifiable. 

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When considering a story on how to report a case of sexual assault with the inclusion of a girl who filed a police report for that crime, I knew anonymity was going to be a primary concern. I reached out to the Student Press Law Center for legal advice and how we could safely develop this story. I didn't want to proceed without understanding the potential implications, so I decided to seek guidance on it, which was extremely beneficial in considering whether writing this story would be possible and for considering similar topics in the future. 

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Occasionally, we get a requested by a source to show them a draft of the story before distribution, but we know that would violate our journalistic integrity, so we tell them that we can review an interview recording with them instead. This is also why we emphasize getting follow up interviews and confirming information if it's unclear, but we are honest about our practices and will not violate that policy. 

A few months ago, there was a controversial situation that upset a staff member at our school on our publication. A photo of a security guard was attached to a staff editorial critical of the deans and enforcement of certain security rules. While I was not directly a part of that situation and the decision making leading up to it, which by no means carried poor intentions, I went to meet with that staff member one on one to discuss how we could make it up to him using our platform. I wrote an apology letter to post to our website and run in the newspaper along with the editor who wrote the staff editorial and created the page. However, after discussing the situation with the staff member, he said our personal conversation was more than enough. While I would still love to do more for him, he said that he just hopes we maintain our amiable relationship and that he was glad I went to talk to him to listen. Even though I wasn't directly involved, I felt responsibility as a leader in the program and wanted to face issues for my less experienced editors because I am willing to handle those tough situations head on to set them right. Mistakes will be made, but it's how we recover and learn from them that matters. It's easy to say that I learned a lot in that moment, and I want to learn more in the future, even if they are learned from upsetting conflicts. 

Analyzing the Media

As a producer of the media, it is crucial that I understand how to consume media, too. This year, I took it upon myself to enroll in the course "Media Analysis" to learn to analyze and comprehend bias in news and entertainment media as well as identifying where the crossover between those lie. We discuss how the inclusion of certain sources and exclusion of others may impact the perception of certain people or demographics and what those effects leave on society as a whole. This course has taught me to ask what messages the media may be sending, purposefully or not, and how I can identify them as a consumer and as someone that leads a media organization. What narrative am I portraying and is it accurate? Is it one-sided or does it show multiple perspectives? How can I better my understanding of certain topics and become aware of my own bias?

A note sheet from my Media Analysis course that I use as reference when consuming news media. It includes separate steps of observing and analyzing messages the media is sending. 

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