Student Newspaper (The Spectator)

PS# 8701

Issue # 2

Page: 1 of 5

Title: Student Newspaper (The Spectator)

Author: Head, Division of Communication

Effective: September, 1983

Purpose: To establish general and scholarship policies for The Spectator

Reviewer: Head, Division of Communication

Operating Details

1. The campus newspaper entitled The Spectator is administered by the Division of Communication. The publication is governed by a board composed of the division head, the journalism director, the faculty advisor, and the student editor of the publication. The board will interview applicants; select and appoint staff members; set policy; review operations of the publication; and determine the recipients of scholarships.

2. The Spectator budget will be administered through the division; and the faculty advisor will be directly responsible for administering the budget, including approval of purchase orders.

3. Students are provided an opportunity to gain valuable work/learning experience with The Spectator in their reporting, advertising, photography, and editing classes. Students will not be paid to work for The Spectator. Scholarships are available for some students who work for The Spectator above and beyond class requirements, and who meet eligibility requirements. The names of students chosen to receive scholarships will be submitted to the Director of Financial Aid. Eligibility criteria follow.

4. To be eligible to apply for a Spectator scholarship, a person must be a full-time (minimum 12 hours) student at MUW majoring in one of the programs in Communication. The student must have completed at least one full semester of satisfactory work for The Spectator and must be a current member of the staff when making application for the scholarship. The student must demonstrate financial need and/or above average academic performance. A minimum GPA of 2.5 is required to apply for, receive, and retain a scholarship for above average academic performance. Eligibility does not guarantee the student will receive a scholarship.

To maintain a scholarship, a student must continue to demonstrate financial need and/or above average academic performance, and continue to perform satisfactorily in duties and responsibilities with The Spectator. Failure to comply with the above standards constitutes grounds for rescinding the scholarship at any time.

Scholarships may be renewed but are not automatically renewable. They are awarded for one semester at a time and are renewed in accordance with the above eligibility requirements.

5. To be a member of The Spectator staff, a student must be a registered student at MUW and maintain a GPA of 2.0 minimum. This requirement does no preclude student majors from meeting COM 405-406 requirements (see paragraph #7).

6. The publication will be administered under the Sigma Delta Code of Ethics (copy attached). The Spectator is a student publication with final approval and editorial control the responsibility of the faculty advisor.

7. All journalism majors are required to complete COM 405 and 406, normally during the junior and senior years. These courses include practical work experience on The Spectator for a total of 3 semester hours credit.

SIGMA DELTA CHI CODE OF ETHICS (adopted 1973)

The Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi, believes the duty of journalist is to serve the truth.

We believe the agencies of mass communication are carriers of public discussion and information, acting on their Constitutional mandate and freedom to learn and report the facts.

We believe in public enlightenment as the forerunner of justice, and in our Constitutional role to seek the truth as part of the publics right to know the truth.

We believe those responsibilities carry obligations that require journalists to perform with intelligence, objectivity, accuracy, and fairness.

To these ends, we declare acceptance of the standards of practice here set forth:

I. RESPONSIBILITY: The public's right to know of events of public importance and interest is the overriding mission of the mass media. The purpose of distributing mews and enlightened opinion is to serve the general welfare. Journalists who use their professional status as representatives of the public for selfish or other unworthy motives violate a high trust.

II. FREEDOM OF THE PRESS: Freedom of the press is to be guarded as an inalienable right of people in a free society. It carries with it the freedom and the responsibility to discuss, question, and challenge actions and utterances of our government and of our public and private institutions. Journalists uphold the right to speak unpopular opinions and the privilege to agree with the majority.

III. ETHICS: Journalists must be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know the truth.

1.Gifts, favors, free travel, special treatment or privileges can compromise the integrity of journalists and their employers. Nothing of value should be accepted.

2. Secondary employment, political involvement, holding public office, service to the community organizations should be avoided if it compromises the integrity of journalists and their employers. Journalists and their employers should conduct their personal lives in a manner which protects them from conflict of interest, real or apparent. Their responsibilities to the public are paramount. That is the nature of their profession.

3. So-called news communications from private sources should not be published or broadcast without substantiation of their claims to news value.

4. Journalists will seek news that serves the public interest, despite the obstacles. They will make constant efforts to assure that the public's business is conducted in public and that public records are open to public inspection.

5. Journalists acknowledge the newsmen's ethic of protecting confidential sources of information.

IV. ACCURACY AND OBJECTIVITY: Good faith with the public is the foundation of all worthy journalism.

1. Truth is our ultimate goal.

2. Objectivity in reporting the news is another goal, which serves as the mark of an experienced professional. It is a standard of performance toward which we strive. We honor those who achieve it.

3. There is no excuse for inaccuracies or lack of thoroughness.

4. Newspaper headlines should be fully warranted by the contents of the articles thy accompany. Photographs and telecasts should give an accurate picture of an event and not highlight a minor incident out of context.

5. Sound practice makes clear distinction between news reports and expressions of opinion. News reports should be free of opinion or bias and represent all sides of an issue.

6. Partisanship in editorial comment which knowingly departs from the truth violates the spirit of American journalism.

7. Journalists recognize their responsibility for offering informed analysis, comment, and editorial opinion on public events and issues. The accept the obligation to present such material by individuals whose competence, experience, and judgment qualify them for it.

8. Special articles or presentations devoted to advocacy or the writer's own conclusions and interpretations should be labeled as such.

V. FAIR PLAY: Journalists at all times will show respect for the dignify, privacy, rights, and well-being of people encountered in the course of gathering and presenting the news.

1. The news media should not communicate unofficial charges affecting reputation or moral character without giving the accused a chance to reply.

2. The news media must guard against invading a person's right to privacy.

3. The media should not pander to morbid curiosity about details of vice and crime.

4. It is the duty of news media to make prompt and complete correction of their errors.

5. Journalists should be accountable to the public for their reports and the public should be encouraged to voice its grievances against the media. Open dialogue with our readers, viewers, and listeners should be fostered.

VI. PLEDGE: Journalists should actively censure and try to prevent violations of these standards, and they should encourage their observance by all newspeople. Adherence to this code of ethics is intended to preserve the bond of mutual trust and respect between American Journalists and the American people.