Knowing journalism law and ethics is absolutely essential for any journalist. Knowing my staff’s policy has helped me steer wlhsNOW away from any kind of legal trouble. Through my years of experience, I’ve also learned the ethics of being a student journalist. Below, you will see examples on how knowing journalism law and ethics can empower a student journalist like me.
Having an Editorial Policy and why it’s important
Our publication has rules, like any other publication. This includes rules regarding our content, editorial board, and press law. Through this Editorial Policy, I have been able to avoid any kind of lawsuit or any kind of legal trouble. I think it’s very important to avoid things like legal trouble because it can prove a distraction in my high school journalism career and as a high school journalist, I want to focus on things I love. With that being said, having the Editorial Policy in mind keeps me on the right track to make sure our publication doesn’t get into any legal trouble.
Our Editorial Policy has many layers. The sections include Freedom of the Press, The Editorial Board, The Adviser, The Building Administration, Content of WLHS Media, Press Laws, Ethics, Errors, Editorials and Opinion Articles, Expulsion From Staff, and Anonymous Sources. All these chapters provide a vital role to our overall Editorial Policy. Without one, our publication doesn’t have a functional Editorial Policy. Above all else, our Editorial Policy shows that we are an independent organization and not completely under West Linn High School. Under The Building Administration, our articles aren’t previewed to any school administration. Things like this put into perspective how our staff promotes an independent source for creativity. It’s a part of our staff identity. Without things like this, our publication’s identity is a bit tarnished. This is why the Editorial Policy is so important and why I follow it.
Voicing staff opinion through editorials
An editorial gives input on what the staff wants instead of the staff reflecting what the community wants. Through this process of creating an editorial for the first time, it felt kind of weird because it was newfound territory in journalism writing. Usually, I would expect to write factually in journalism. However, this type of journalism is more on the argumentative side as you strive to build persuasive reasons on why you are voting this particular side.
Now, you also don’t want to make the editorial as if it’s factual. I learned that it’s ethical to properly display the purpose of the opinion so it can be clearly seen as more commentary writing. If it’s not shown like this, our staff risks leading readers on and giving them the wrong idea of what our motivations are. To have the staff mislabeled damages the staff’s credibility and hurts many aspects of journalism such as audience engagement and news literacy.
Doing an editorial also empowers the Editorial Board. For my junior and senior year, I was a part of the Editorial Board, which governs the decisions of the staff. Doing an editorial helps us display our opinions so that we can be a part of the community. Being on the Editorial Board means I’m not only looked up to in the classroom, but also the community and to me, making an editorial is an extension of this idea. You can learn more about the importance of the Editorial Board in our publication with the sample below.
Also, the Editorial Board organized the social media promotion of the editorial. It was designed to look professional (which indicates the watermark and the editorial board policy) because an unprofessional-looking setup loses credibility in my opinion. We don’t want to be mislabeled. We want our opinion to be shown clearly and in a way that is transparent, as we don’t want our opinion to hide. Being on the editorial board, we wanted to make sure our opinions are displayed clearly.
Understanding the role of the Editorial Board
Our staff has always had an Editorial Board. The board’s purpose is to fulfill the needs of our classroom through decisions such as publishing content and legal issues. Having an Editorial Board is significant because it not only improves communication, but it makes it clear who is responsible for published content. This is important because I have learned that it’s ethical to be clear of the staff’s responsibility as it can prove important during any kind of legal issues.
I have not been in any legal issues with our staff (as of January 2024). However, having an Editorial Board has helped steer clear of legal issues because we have been able to make decisions in the best interest of our Editorial Policy so that we make sure we aren’t sued for libel and things like that. In this way, I have learned that having an Editorial Board helps gather most opinions of the staff’s leaders, therefore giving different perspectives on issues of legal concern. All in all, if a staff member is ever skeptical of a legal concern, our staff is perfectly suited to review any skepticism to make sure we aren’t sued through responsibility, leadership, and perspective. Being a member of the Editorial Board for two years, I am no different.
The significance of my photo rights
Through using my photojournalism skills, I have also learned a lot about copyright on my images. I’ve always had a hard time knowing the legality regarding my photography and who owns a certain photo after a transaction is made. Starting out as just a photographer for a free student journalism publication, I transitioned into a freelance photographer for various sports teams which led to monetary transactions. I was always very confused on who really owns the photos so I was extremely hesitant to also use photos for wlhsNOW when a client has already paid for them. Despite refutes from my adviser Glenn Krake, I thought photos were then owned by the client when a monetary transaction is done.
However, this isn’t always the case. My eyes opened during the Les Schwab Invitational Basketball Tournament at the end of 2023. I was a photo intern for this big basketball tournament, and I learned a ton on how photo’s copyright is distributed. The trick is that it’s not really distributed; the creator of the photo owns the copyright almost always. The only instance where the transaction receiver owns the copyright is through a special contract directly stating the copyright rules. Unless otherwise noted, I usually own the copyright of my images. I remember heading back to the classroom and telling Krake about my experience with copyright and he gave me the look of ‘I told you so.’ So, I also learned to trust my adviser with these kinds of things.
Above all else, it was extremely important for me to learn my photo rights. It helped my publication because now I have the ability to distribute my images to the publication without any worry about if I’m disobeying copyright laws. I can’t thank enough for the experience at the Les Schwab Invitational because it was able to open my eyes on copyright. Knowing about your copyright privileges is essential because you get to make choices on how you distribute your images. I don’t like getting ripped-off from my work— knowing my copyright laws has helped me know how to not get ripped-off.
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