 Laws and Ethics

Copyright Law  Prevents others from plagiarizing your work and publishing it elsewhere  Makes it dangerous to copy things from the internet: stories, quotes, songs, movies, photos, etc.  “Fair Use”  Item in question is newsworthy  Always credit the source and offer suggestions where item can be bought  Don’t diminish value  Less is better  Photos/illustrations – less is better, as long as they serve journalistic purposes

Invasion of Privacy  Intrusion  Trespassing, secret surveillance, misrepresentation  Public Disclosure of Private Facts  Sex life, medical history causing emotional distress  Private – known only to family and friends, no legitimate public concern  Intimate – personal not ordinarily revealed  Offensive – liable to humiliate if info is widely known  False Light  Portraying someone in a false way (using a picture of someone with a wrong caption)  Appropriation  Unauthorized use of person’s name, picture, or words to sell something

Libel  Publication of a false statement that deliberately or carelessly damages someone’s reputation  5 Criteria must be met:  Statements must be false, based on facts that are wrong or unverifiable  Statements must be defamatory, damaging to image/rep  Statements must be published  Plaintiffs must be identifiable. They must prove they were the ones written about, described or pictured  The defendant (you) must be at fault either through negligence (not caring) or malice (deliberately printing lies)

Other Reasons Editors or Mr. A will ask you to rewrite a story  Vulgar Language  Offensive topics  Conflict of Interest  Legal/Ethical issues  Reporting flaws

How Much Can An Administrator Censor?  2 Supreme Court decisions  Tinker and Hazelwood  Rights of students shall be recognized, provided it doesn’t disrupt school discipline or invade the right of others  Censorship allowed – “poorly written, inadequately researched, biased or prejudiced, vulgar or profane”  Censored if censoring has a “valid educational purpose