These guidelines, adapted from the National Scholastic Press Association’s model code for high school journalists, offer a baseline reference for students, teachers and administrators on the rights and responsibilities of scholastic journalists. While all Julio staff support and adhere to the code, participating schools are encouraged to add to or adapt the code wherever necessary to reflect their own principles.

Key Points

• Be Responsible

• Be Fair

• Be Honest

• Be Accurate

• Be Independent

• Minimize Harm

• Be Accountable

Responsible journalism

The right to publish comes with the responsibility to meet ethical standards in researching, writing and publishing stories. Free speech is intended to serve the reader, not the writer, who must understand that writers and editors are directly responsible for whatever they put into print under all circumstances. While teachers, advisors and administrators can help enforce ethical and quality standards, it is ultimately writers and editors who take responsibility for the writing and editing they do.

Begin the search for truth with a neutral mind.

Wait until the facts and perspectives have been gathered and weighed before making judgments.

Discover truth without letting personal biases get in the way.

Present information objectively in a context that reveals relevance and significance.

Explore controversial issues dispassionately and impartially.

Don’t go into a story with a personal agenda.

Justify coverage decisions by showing newsworthiness of story.

Do not use your position with the paper to inflate your ego, favor friends, or advance other personal agendas that are self-serving.

If you profile an “athlete of the week,” be ready to show the criteria and objective process for selection.

If you are a yearbook staffer, avoid a conflict of interest by working on spreads where you are not tempted to right to say something doesn’t make it right to say it.

Demonstrate credibility and exemplify trustworthiness, reliability, dependability and integrity in and beyond journalism work.

Your personal attributes affect the integrity of the news medium you work for.

Be careful in covering stories about wrongdoing not to perpetuate misdeeds.
For example, publishing a photograph of malicious graffiti expands the vandal’s canvas.

Do not allow vulgar or profane language to distract from the essence of a story. If used, have compelling purpose and rationale to justify the audience’s need to read/hear vulgar or profane words. In most cases, avoid all profanity. In others, exhaustively consider alternatives. For example, words may be partially obscured or bleeped. Never use profanity in opinion articles, such as editorials, columns and letters to the editor.

Cultivate respect for advisers, staffers, school officials and others affiliated with the news team and school.

Pursue a panoramic vision of issues and events to achieve balance and fairness.
You may not know what the story really is until the story unfolds as you research it and talk with sources.

Always take initiative to ensure subjects of allegations have a reasonable opportunity to respond.

Disclose any potential conflict of interest by a journalist or news medium — for example, conflicts of interests could involve personal relationships with news subjects or sources, associations with organizations, gifts and “perks” and vested interests in issues or events.

Appreciate the fact that at any given time a reporter sees only a part of what can be seen.