Law, ethics & literacy
Law
My advisor makes sure not only me, but my fellow reporters are up to date with the law when it comes to student journalism and the 1st Amendment. When joining The Pinion, the first thing we ever do is learn about the ethics and laws surrounding journalism; as students we have to do lessons and pass a quiz before we can start reporting. Even for returning newswriting students, we review the law and ethics of journalism often. This helps ensure that we are knowledgeable about our rights and what we are allowed to do.
Throughout the year, my advisor keeps us updated on the law surrounding journalism, and gives us opportunities to help fight for bills that will protect student journalists.
For an assignment our advisor had us make a poster that described and show what the 1st amendment is.
Ethics
When it comes to my articles where I share my own mental health struggles, I often have to think about how much I want to share about myself. Knowing that this information will be out for everyone to see, I had to consider whether this information would add anything to the article or help strengthen it.
Taking into consideration the NSPA Code of Ethics, I had to minimize harm to myself. This was heavily prevalent in my article "It Still Hurts" as I shared very personal and vulnerable moments within my life. Since I was still a minor, I had to share the article with my parents as it includes information about them, share it with my therapist and psychologist, and talk with my school counselor to ensure everything in the article is something I want to share.
I always consider this when I write articles where I share information about myself. I ask "Should I include this?" or "Would adding this harm them in the future?"
Literacy
Being up to date with the news is important when you are a journalist. One way I stay up to date with the news is an assignment our advisor has us do called "reading journalistically." For the assignment, we look for a recent news source and summarize the main points of the article, while also trying to think from the point of view of the journalist. We ask ourselves what kind of questions they would have to ask, what the journalist wanted toanswer, and what they wanted to find out.
The recent articles can range from local news sources to other high school journalism classes. By doing these assignments, I can apply what I have learned to my own writing. It helps me plan out my reporting stages more thoroughly, how I structure my article, and what should be added to my article.
