Law, Ethics and News Literacy
Law
If you had told my freshman self that being an editor would ever mean I had to think about law, I would’ve laughed in your face.
It’s just not something a high school student wants to think about. I fell in love with journalism — with talking to people, AP Style and writing stories — not with scholastic journalism law. Besides, I would’ve chided naively, There’s nothing a high school journalist will ever encounter that will have to deal with law.
Obviously, I was wrong.
Over the next four years, I’ve learned from my naivety and dove into scholastic law. As I became an editor, and eventually the editor, every story fell under my responsibility. This included stories that our district frowned upon, and photos we didn’t legally have the rights to.
Here’s how Texas laws have affected “The Hawk Eye,” and how I’ve made sure to follow them without giving up what should’ve been our rights.
Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier
Sometimes, it shocks me that more people don't know about this case. As a high school student trying to cover anything that feels important and tell stories that I feel need to be heard, it feels like everything always circles back to "Would administration allow this?" This case controls my life.
At Hebron, we have been fortunate enough to have a fairly laissez-faire administration when it comes to reading our work before publishing. However, this does not mean we have not dealt with our share of censorship.
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The first three years of my time on staff, we had it easier. Hebron was not the source of any scandals, and so the furthest we went with any "controversial" topic was a few political columns. Halfway through my junior year, however, a video of a male teacher in a dress found its way into the spotlight. The school, and the principal, got slammed for supporting the teacher enough to wear a dress and for not supporting the teacher when he was placed on paid leave. Like any scholastic journalist would, every reporter in the room wanted to cover the topic. So, we sat down, wrote an editorial supporting the teacher, and were told we could not publish it.
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That was the first time I had ever encountered the true affects of Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier. It would not be the last.
How has Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier affected "The Hawk Eye"?
Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier allows the school administration to censor stories they deem "inconsistent with the school's educational mission." This vague description gives administrators the right to censor almost any story they choose. For the first three years of my time on staff, the rule was to send anything my adviser thought should be seen to our principal. Very few things ever made its way across her desk. This year, the assistant principal took over the job of monitoring our journalism department and handed us a list; if an article mentioned politics, religion or personnel issues, the article is to be sent directly to her after editing.
How have we worked through this?
Some schools have it much worse than we do, and some schools have it much better. Regardless of our preferences, there's not much we can do except follow the rules and earn their trust. This can be a little difficult at times, especially since we really only have a few years in high school, but I've tried my best. I've sat down with my assistant principal and my principal dozens of times this year and last to talk over plans for the year, stories we want to cover, and the best way to make the system an efficient one for all parties involved. Gaining trust with administration might only affect me for a handful of years, but it is imperative to leading "The Hawk Eye" and being able to cover all the stories we wish to cover.
Copyright Law
While, in all honesty, a high school newspaper would very rarely get sued over a copyright issue, that doesn't give us the permission to use any photo we want. In theory, the solution is easy: just take original photos of everything you need. In practice, it got a little more complicated.
How does copyright law affect "The Hawk Eye"?
While we mainly rely on photos we get, that hasn't always been the case. My sophomore year, the newspaper was still figuring out the photo elements to accompany every story. Most of the time, it's a simple task of taking photos of whatever event we're covering. Sometimes, it gets a little harder, like when we need to take photos for opinion or entertainment stories. My editor-in-chief at the time sat us down in our weekly editor meeting and told us about the problem. While she had been catching photos that looked copy righted throughout the year, there were plenty from years ago that were still up.
What measures do we take to follow it?
My sophomore year, we divided the fifteen years of our website between our editor team, and dove through to make sure every photo was free to use for our purposes. When that was done, even though it took the better part of a month, we were able to focus on triple checking every photo that appeared in the future and properly citing the sources for each photo or fact we use.
Ethics
I grew up on Disney princesses and the “Barbie” movies, which meant every movie I watched ended with a lesson. My role models were all saints, especially in the early movies. So if someone ever asked me about ethics, I would tell them with absolute confidence that I’ve seen Disney movies, like that answered the question.
When I began journalism, it was a different ballpark entirely.
There are ethical dilemmas in almost every part of journalism, no matter how minor they might seem. When you’re tasked with running a publication, those ethical dilemmas fall on you. Here’s how I make sure “The Hawk Eye” retains its moral compass.
In-Depth Features
My junior year, there was one story I wanted to cover that I didn't quite know how. I had seen in-depth features done in other publications, but I had only a brief overview from Gloria Shields to help me with the process. After a long talk with my adviser on every detail I could think of, I began to figure out a system.
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In-depth features can be tricky, not just to write in the way the story deserves, but because you work much closer with a source than in any other article I've experienced. The process is full of ethical questions and making sure you never push too far.
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The way I do this is as simple as I could make it for the source: I pitch the story to them and share examples I've done in the past, then walk them through the potential angle I want to take. I ask them broad questions about moments in their life, and circle back around for the details. Then, when I finish writing, they are the first ones to see it. They also see it a final time before publishing, and I ask what feels like a hundred times if they are comfortable with everything being published.
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I want to share stories that need to be shared, but I will only ever do so when the source believes in the story as much as I do.
Equal Coverage
Journalism is honest; if there is one thing I must believe in, it's that fact.
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Being honest comes from a multitude of things. A reporter must remain unbiased, tell the truth and never bend facts. A newspaper, however, must do more than just tell the truth if it wants to be honest; it must also make sure everything under its jurisdiction is getting a proper amount of equal coverage.
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I first learned this lesson as the entertainment editor my freshman year, when I began accepting pitches. At the beginning, it was just about making sure everything was equal --- not too many reviews and not too many rankings. The idea continued as I became managing editor the following year, but it changed, too.
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I began to look at the stories we posted as more than just a question of "Would this look weird to our audience?" It was about how much coverage we gave to our football team as opposed to the baseball team, and how we could make things more fair across the board.
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We aim to tell every story we can at Hebron High School; it's unethical to say we do so if we were to give one club or sport any more coverage than the other in a regular district season.
Interviewing
While I say every part of a story is my favorite, interviews actually take the cake. Getting to sit down with someone and learn their story not only gives me the chance to connect with someone, but it allows me to put puzzle pieces together for when I start writing my story.
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However, all great stories contain great details. Sometimes, that means asking the tough questions.
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Especially for those tough questions, I always preface that they have a choice. Most of the time, the person will continue; sometimes, they brainstorm phrases they'd most like certain aspects of their life to be described as.
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Of course, not every quote and fact will be used, and sources always have the choice to retract statements if they wish once they see the final product in tougher stories. However, it's crucial to the process to be as kind as possible in the beginning, even if it means sacrificing a potentially good part of the story.
Being Unbiased
If there's one thing I comment on almost every story in the beginning of the year, it's the word "Opinion."
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Before journalism, I thought "opinion" just meant something you believe. Now, I know that it's anything that cannot be proven by facts. This is something I remember learning during a UIL practice prompt, when my adviser circled the word "believes" and told me that I could not prove this; just because a source says they believe something does not mean they actually do --- the fact is simply that they said it.
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From then on, every time I saw words like that, it stuck out like a siren. I'd add "said" to pretty much every story, and scan every article for any mention of opinion. When teaching writing at the beginning of the year, I'd hit this point as hard as I could: if every statement could not be proven, then we could not run the article.
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By the end of the year, whether it was because they believed in the ethics of telling the truth or if they hated the comment "Opinion," every reporter fact-checked two or three times before sending it through the editing chain.
The "Little" Things
Being ethical in journalism means being honest in every "little" thing you do. Despite what new journalists believe every year, this can become most prominent in photos.
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When editing photos, we try to keep the style consistent through a consistent method: open the photo in Adobe Photoshop, then use "Auto" for brightness/contrast and levels. This keeps every photo the same style when posted on the website.
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This also, however, keeps it all looking real.
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As photojournalists, sometimes it can be easy to over-edit a photo because it looks better. A vibrant photo might sell a location more, whereas something dim might make the story look much less intriguing. However, when a photo is not labeled a "photo illustration," the grass can only remain as green as it is in real life.
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Not every reporter loves this rule; in fact, some despise it because they want to show their artistic style. I do my best to gently remind them every time that journalism's "style" is honesty.
Building Relationships
Whether I'm in Room 1315, the halls of Hebron or even a few hours away, I represent "The Hawk Eye." My role in "The Hawk Eye" is one of the first things you'll learn about me through any conversation or Instagram search, and therefore something I'm tied to in everything I do.
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I love being so intertwined with something that means so much to me, but it comes with a certain weight to it. Everyone I talk to, everything I do, represents "The Hawk Eye."
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This has led me to trying my best to build relationships with anyone I can. All of my reporters are told at the beginning of the year that the great power of being able to roam the school comes with the great responsibility of being respectful. Every interview has to be good and every interaction must be kind. If not, it reflects on "The Hawk Eye." ​
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If we want to be an unbiased newspaper, it means we have to be a trusted one. That comes from the hard work of every member of staff, but especially those who lead.
News Literacy
For the first 14 years of my lfe, the only person I ever saw reading the newspaper was my grandpa.
It comes largely from living in a time where someone can skim through all the news they want without clicking on a single article. So, when I’d go over to my grandpa’s house and see him working his way through a stack of newspapers, I would always ask him why he still read it.
But there’s so many, I’d tell him when he said he liked to remain informed. Don’t they all tell the same stories? Why do you need five hundred of them?
He’d laugh, and then go on the same spiel about each and every newspaper. They all told the same stories and focused on different things — not one of them didn’t come with its fair share of bias.
Later on, I’d come to know that this is something that makes a large portion of Americans dislike journalism. I’d also come to know that this is the very thing journalism stands against. That’s why, throughout the four years of my scholastic journalism career, I’ve strived to tell accurate, unbiased stories and work to change the perception of journalism. Here’s how news literacy led me to understanding journalism in a deeper sense, and how that drove me to share it with my community.
Sticking to Strict Facts
When I first reached out to Plano Magazine and began talking about a potential internship, my favorite stories were the opinion-based ones. It came with being the entertainment editor the previous year, I suppose, to have such a soft spot for opinion-based stories.
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However, one of the first thing the editor told me was that they were largely donation-based. If the community didn't agree with the stories and opinions the magazine released, it would be harder to get funds. So instead of anything-opinion based, I turned to objective writing.
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Throughout the next two years, I fell even further in love with "true" journalism. Telling stories and sharing the identities of my community became my passion, rather than the simple reviews I'm still fond of.
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This love didn't just lead me to a string of awards or a higher position, it led me to understanding journalism on a deeper level. I understood the "why" of every decision a newspaper or magazine has to make, which helped me in leading. But even more, I understood the importance of sharing stories from and with my community, along with the power of journalism.
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Branching out gave me experiences that I will always be grateful for and taught me valuable lessons in the trade, but, more than anything, it taught me the value of news literacy and the power of journalism.
Meeting My Community
While holding my own bit of knowledge about news literacy is imperative to being a good journalist, it is also important to educate others. We try our best to market our program and our publications to students, but I've found it most effective when I'm outside of the high school.
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Becoming literate in news is something most Americans will have to figure out eventually --- this is even more of a necessity in the political field or any social media platform. Interning for Plano Magazine and working on a political campaign has given me a little bit of insight into this.
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People lie, or bend the truth, more often than not. News companies shouldn't; that does not mean they don't.
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Educating the people I interview about the publications I work for is one of the best ways I can spread awareness and news literacy. I can explain the goals of local publications that cover the smaller, tight-knit parts of the community, rather than big news companies that cover national topics.
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Though it wasn't much, I had the same opportunity when working on the Fredrick Fraizer campaign two years ago, when I worked side-by-side other volunteers for and against Fraizer. I learned insightful lessons about the art of holding the attention of voters, and the kindness that comes with local elections. Though it's not journalism, it works the same; as different news publications and platforms, we should not compete with one another --- we should work together to share the truth.