Law & Ethics
Anonymous Sources
For my story about the experiences of DGN's undocumented immigrants, I was able to indirectly interview my sources through a reporter in J1 who shared a similar cultural background to them asking questions that I wrote.
The sources were so protected that I didn't even know them, but I think that serves as a valuable symbol: when someone's life is potentially in danger for speaking out, it's critical to reward their bravery by giving them anonymity.
Confidentiality
Choosing Not to Use a Source
For others, anonymity is insufficient.
There was a tricky situation last semester where a student who was the victim of a racist incident reached out to me with inside info, but expressed hesitation about being quoted.
Because it would've put him in an uncomfortable and potentially harmful situation, I made the decision to avoid using his quotes.
Photo Credits & Copyright Usage
Copyright law is something that I make sure I teach the staff as early in the school year as possible.
Still, we always have some issues of staff members accidentally using a photo not authorized for use.
This is when I archive the story, conference with the staff member to make sure they understand the laws of photo usage, and have them repost with a legal photo.
Most of the time when there's confusion, however, it's cleared up before publishing. An example of this is on the far right when a staff member contacted me about using a picture for her story.
I made sure to mention to her that we want to use our own photos whenever possible but that, for the Super Bowl, it's understandable to use a photo from the Internet.
I explained that the photo has to be authorized for non-commercial use and then offered steps on how to find them. I finished by telling her how to properly credit the photo.
The credits are important as well because, while the images are public, we still have to give recognition to the individual who took it. You can see an example of that up above with the image a staff member used for a Super Bowl guide article.
Sensitive Stories
Several of the stories I've written so far this year have addressed complicated racial issues both at our school and around the country.
I wasn't 100% confident in myself for certain elements of both my minority student and teacher experiences story (top email) and the staff editorial I wrote about Black History Month (bottom email).
In both instances, I reached out to the sponsors of our school's Black Student Union for advice and direction. They were very helpful and guided me in the right direction for both stories.
Luckily, one of those BSU sponsors has become an assistant adviser for our publication this semester, so for the staff editorial I was able to talk more in-depth with her in class about the ideas I expressed and what I wasn't so sure about.
Seeking this advice in both these situations was absolutely key for me in writing these stories in the most conscientious way possible.
I used to be afraid of asking for advice, fearing that it would make me look like I didn't know what I was doing. What I've learned in the last year or so is that seeking advice for elements of journalistic writing from those who know more and can help in order to improve is not just a good idea, it's necessary.
Board Policy
The Omega has had a long-standing battle with our District's administration about its Board policy, 7.15.
The policy, in essence, requires any survey sent out to the student body that asks for student opinion to go through a process of parental approval before it can be sent out.
I, along with the last several years' worth of editors-in-chief before me, consider this a blatant violation of student press freedoms because, as it was ruled in Tinker v. Des Moines, no school policy can override a student's rights to speech unless that speech disrupts school operations.
As a sophomore, I took up a supporting role for our December in-depth issue, co-writing a story about consuming digital news as well as helping my former editor-in-chief Matt Troher deliberately defy the Board policy.
Previous editorial staffs had already sent letters to the district's lawyers with the help of SPLC and been denied, so Matt was advised by the lawyers at the Citizen Advocacy Center to defy 7.15 and only 7.15.
For about three hours every night for a week, I went through a tedious process of getting the emails of hundreds of students and then sending them to Matt to put in the spreadsheet.
Although I played a minor role in the defiance, being a part of that team and being told of the injustice we were subjected to really opened my eyes and showed me how serious the situation was.
The conflict persists to this day between our staff and the administration.
Our procedure now is that we send our student activities director the link to a survey, asking him to send it out to the student body. What we make sure we include is that the District does not have our consent to send it to the parents of the students.
The administration then either sends out the survey for us, like they did for a co-editor of mine earlier this year (picture on the right), or, if it is deemed too "controversial" for their standards, they explain that they cannot send it out without parental approval (pictures above). We use the latter response as a key to open the door to further discussion of the policy and how to eventually eliminate it.
At the time of writing this, I am laying the groundwork for both a conversation with the administration about 7.15 and a survey to resend them regarding student thoughts about the state of racism at our school. The administration rejected that same survey last December, and I responded with a request to talk more in-depth about it this semester. They have not responded.
It's a strange dynamic to be the editor-and-chief as well as the student Board representative, but if it means resigning from the latter this spring to fight back against the suppression of students' rights, that's absolutely what I will do.
Learning from Experts
In November 2019 at the JEA/NSPA Fall National High School Journalism Convention in Washington, D.C., I got a law lesson on Tinker v. Des Moines from perhaps the best possible person who could teach it: Mary Beth Tinker herself.
She came and gave a talk at D.C.'s Newseum and answered questions about her case as well as the First Amendment and the responsibility we have as journalists.
After her talk, I was able to score a one-on-one interview with her (shown in my "broadcast journalism" category) and learn even more from her about what students' rights were like in her time compared to now.
Learning from this legend of the First Amendment taught me a whole lot about the laws and ethics related to journalism and the responsibilities that come with it.
