Hi Guys, I am out of class today hosting a consultant for our nascent IB program. While I’m away, I want you to work on the following:
Please Do Now:
- Read the following article: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/story/684711.html
- Answer: Invent an ethics policy for The Beachcomber. What actions should be prohibited? Which ones should be allowed under special circumstances? Why?
Today, students will:
- Read the following wikipedia entry on news style (surprisingly helpful): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_writing
- View the following diagram: http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson249/pyramid.pdf
- Also check this out: http://www.jprof.com/writing/invertedpyramidchecklist.html
- Conduct any outstanding interviews you might have (and fill out notes and quotes sheets)
- Begin writing your first draft.
Tonight’s homework is:
- Make sure all your interviews are complete and the notes and quotes sheets are uploaded onto your blogs.
- Begin writing your first draft.
21 responses so far ↓
patrickquinlan // September 15, 2008 at 5:05 pm |
Student journalists should not try to cover any story with a possible conflict of interest, except in the event of an undercover story where the reportewr has to get involved with the story that he/she is covering in order to get the story. If the story has become to biased towards whatever the journalist was covering, then a new story should be written with less bias and involvement ; the new story should be written by a new journalist
allisonnovack // September 15, 2008 at 5:06 pm |
For the beachcomber, some actions should be prohibited such as: interviewing anyone without telling them, and speaking of personal issues should be allowed under certain circumstances like if someone allows it and if it’s relevant to the topic that people in the school would be interested in.
xkatastrophe // September 15, 2008 at 5:11 pm |
An ethics policy for the Beachcomber, which I believe already exists, is that any person affilated or in a specific club or event should not be allowed to do the story, and if they DO report the story it should be throughly reviewed by a teacher or editor to make sure there is no bias. While writing the story, nothing that does not pertain to the story should not be done between the reporter and the person he/she is interviewing for the story. The only reason any of that should occur would be under the circumstance of undercover reporting or an investigation, where you NEED to know every detail of things even if they are irrelevant to the story.
Kelsey Sumalla // September 15, 2008 at 5:13 pm |
Ethics Policy: A journalist should not interview someone or write an article about something they are personally involved with. If a journalist does interview someone or write an article about something they are personally involved with then the article might turn out biased. The exception to this would be if the only person they can possibly interview is someone they are personally involved with or if there is no other topic the journalist can possibly write about.
nadineg2012 // September 15, 2008 at 5:14 pm |
Prohibited Actions: Reporters should not cover stories that they are involved in or allow their relationships to affect their writing.
Special Circumstances: One scenario in which these rules could be broken/bent might be when writing an opinion article, where you wouldn’t be able to develop your opinion without being somewhat involved in the topic.
alicel2011 // September 15, 2008 at 5:15 pm |
Ethics policy for The Beachcombers
There should be no romantic ties between the interviewer and the person being voted, don’t be biased on an interview unless it is an editorial, don’t try to harm no one on your article. Some things that should be allowed under special circumstance are talking about a someone’s personal things but only if they agree to it.
rachelcoller // September 15, 2008 at 5:17 pm |
Prohibited Action: A journalist should not cover a story that he/she is personally involved with. This way the article will not become bias.
Exception to this: An exception to this rule is if the journalist becomes involved with the subject of the story during their investigation.
jessekirk11 // September 15, 2008 at 5:18 pm |
Journalists should not have a personal relationship with people who they interview, or make any decisions based on personal life. Also, journalists should not write about topics that they are personally affiliated with. However, if a journalist is the only person available to do a certain story that they happen to be affiliated with, they should be able to write a report, as long as it is not biased.
carmenk2012 // September 15, 2008 at 5:20 pm |
All good newspapers need an ethics policy to follow to make sure that they keep everything professional. The rules that should apply to all of the sudent journalists here at the Beachcomber are: a writer cannot write a story about a topic that they are directly involved with, because this can cause the story to have bias. A writer cannot interview somebody who they know, this might also cause a story to have bias. A writer cannot put his/her opinion in the story they are writing. A writer cannot tell somebody what to say during an interview. A writer cannot insert quotes into an article without the person being quoted knowing about it.
alexandragenta // September 15, 2008 at 5:22 pm |
Ethics Policy for Beachcombers
I think that that someone that is on the beachcomber cannot wirte for the team that they are involved in or anything taht they are personally involved in otherwise the article is going to be very biased.
kevins2011 // September 15, 2008 at 5:23 pm |
Students in Beachcomber should not quote anybody in the paper without their consent. Also, students should not be allowed to use any profanity in the paper. Finally, a student should not insult any other students through the Beachcombers or WordPress websites.
7y13r // September 15, 2008 at 5:23 pm |
Ethics is a very tricky subject, as it is derived from morals. For the Beachcomber, there are a few things that are certain. If you are in a club, you should not be able to interview members of that same club. If you are too close to a story, you should choose a different topic. Anything to avoid bias.
LyssaG2011 // September 15, 2008 at 5:24 pm |
Journalists for the Beachcomber shouldn’t write about topics they are personally involved with or interview people that they are too friendly with. For opinion articles, a journalist may write an article on something that they are involved with because they have to have personal knowledge about the subject.
RayL2012 // September 15, 2008 at 5:26 pm |
A journalist should not cover a story that s/he is personaly involved in. But if that person really wants to get an understanding of the group then s/he may want to join that group for a short period of time in order to get even more information.
brittanywaserstein // September 15, 2008 at 5:30 pm |
ethics policy for Beachcomber: the actions that should be prohibited are articles should not be based on personal problems or interview someone they have personal relations with because this can effect their article by turning out bias. But there can be exception to this. For example, if the writer has no other choice but to interview that specific person who they have a relationship with or a topic involving personal problems.
hkramer14 // September 15, 2008 at 5:32 pm |
A journalist should never report on a story that they are personally involved with. This can show bias. The journalist should also never rely on interviewing people they have a relationship with.
jessicaw2010 // September 15, 2008 at 5:35 pm |
A journalist should never interview anyone without telling them, write something someone didn’t say, involve themselves and their own opinion in the story they are writting about, and write an article on personal issues.
hrynor // September 15, 2008 at 5:35 pm |
Ethics Policy for Beachcombers: Your Club and sport can not be ones that you are part of. You should not interview people that you really don’t like or really do like, because might make you write something that you would not have normally written and is not truthful. An exception to this rule would be is if that person happened to be the only person that witnessed the event or got it on tape or took a picture. Another exception would be if that was the only person directly involved with the topic of the article, and you had no other choice, but to interview them.
hrynor // September 15, 2008 at 5:35 pm |
madisonjsanders // September 15, 2008 at 5:36 pm |
ETHICS POLICY FOR BEACHCOMBER:
What actions should be prohibited?
– Interviewing members of a club in which you
are an active member should be prohibited
because you may have a different perspective
and attempt to change how their quotes are
stated so it seems they agree with your
opinion.
Which ones should be allowed under special circumstances? Why?
– A student should be able to interview a
teacher of a class that they are currently in if
they are a major role in contributing to the
topic.
laurenpeterson1 // September 21, 2008 at 2:31 am |
A journalist should never interview anyone without telling them, write something someone didn’t say, involve themselves and their own opinion in the story they are writting about, and write an article on personal issues. Any of these can show that the journalist is biased.