We take our responsibility as mentors and educators seriously.
We support student journalists through co-curricular, volunteer and paid opportunities and provide guidance and best practices.
We strongly decry bullying and personal attacks on any journalist, including student journalists. Critiquing news coverage and editorial decisions is valid, but attacking individuals is not.
We believe all news organizations, including those run, managed and led by student journalists, should be open to thoughtful criticism and transparent about decisions to amend — or not — individual stories and/or newsroom practices.
We believe all news organizations, including those managed, run and led by students, should take care to publicize and follow clear standards for news reporting that prioritize truth, fairness, diverse perspectives and context.
We understand errors happen and standards can be revised. If and when that happens, we believe news organizations should be public, transparent and accountable.
We recognize students are not full-time professionals and bring an array of life experiences, personal beliefs and opinions when participating in student media. We support clear and consistent standards for news organizations led, managed and run by students. We believe that when reporting for those news organizations, students should make every effort to abide by the organizations’ standards. We recognize students can and will create content for personal platforms or other outlets which may have different standards.
We expect that student leaders will follow Annenberg Media policy on conflict of interest, which could include recusal from a topic or issue.
Finally, we reaffirm our commitment to educating and caring for all of our students, regardless of their identity, beliefs or affiliations.
For further reference, see the Annenberg Media Ethics Guide and Code of Conduct, along with the Guide for Equitable Reporting and Newsroom Style.