Policies
Muscatine High School Newspaper
Editorial Policies
The Purpose of the Newspaper is:
To inform readers of interests concerning MHS and its entire people.
To interpret the facts reported upon clearly and precisely.
To analyze subjects of interest and present them to the reader in a fair and honest way.
To provide stories to entertain the reader.
To serve as a public forum for student expression.
To function as an educational tool to allow students to develop skills in writing, editing, and dealing with people.
Profanity:
Professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist’s credibility. Although no laws exist that restrict the use of profanity, the staff must be sensitive to community and school values and take into account the school policy. Therefore, no profanity will be allowed.
The staff must also take care to avoid language that is sensitive in nature, offensive, demeaning or prejudicial to any ethnic group, race, religion, or creed.
The executive editors will consider any issues that may be controversial and rule on them.
Content:
The newspaper staff is responsible for the content.
The executive editors will determine what subjects are to be covered and warrant placement in the newspaper.
Once this is determined, the staff reserves the right to select and to limit the amount of content and determine priorities as to the coverage.
Materials which will not be considered publishable involve content which is considered libelous, slanderous, obscene, an invasion of privacy, or which causes physical disruption of normal school activities.
Staff Writing:
The staff is responsible for writing articles assigned and approved by the editorial board.
Students outside of the staff are encouraged to submit materials for publication which will be reviewed by the executive editors for inclusion.
Special columns may be submitted and included for publication by faculty or administration by executive editor approval.
Editorials:
Staff editorial subjects will be determined by the executive editors; viewpoint taken will be consensus of the staff.
Staff editorials will not be assigned as they are a consensus of the staff. One should be included each month and will be written by one of the coeditors whenever appropriate.
Signed editorials are the views of the writer and not necessarily a staff or board consensus.
Controversial Issues:
A controversial issue will be defined as a topic which does not allow total agreement to be reached on it.
Staff members will not be instructed to, nor expected to seek out on their own, any controversial issues. They will be expected to cover such issues thoroughly if they should present themselves.
All sides of controversial issues will be presented as completely and fairly as possible.
Political candidates or bond issues will be dealt with as any news item, with objective and balanced reporting. Although the paper will not officially endorse any candidate or bond issue, editorials on the subjects may appear on the opinion pages.
Letters to the Editor:
Space will be provided for letters when possible
Letters must be signed and writer properly identified and will be checked by the opinion editor for validity of the writer.
The staff will edit for length, grammar, and pronunciation with the writer’s final approval when warranted.
The executive editors along with the opinion editor will decide which letters will be published and reserve the right to refuse any.
Trivia:
Trivia articles have no journalistic value and should be avoided. This includes boy-girl issues, etc.
Popularity contests, “most/best” contests, etc. will not be included.
Material that is used to embarrass or ridicule, make fun of or draw undo attention to any person or group in a negative manner will not be considered for publication.
Reviews:
Reviews of professional artists, books, records, concerts, TV shows, and movies will put more emphasis on informing the audience of subjects of interest rather than a critique of the subject.
Those writing reviews should have some sort of involvement, awareness, and knowledge of the genre beyond that of the average reader.
Bylines:
Bylines will be assigned to all major articles.
News and Features:
The main emphasis of the Auroran will be to inform the readers of MHS news.
Community, state, national, and international news will be included only as it affects the school district and/or individuals within the district.
The school paper will avoid printing stories dealing with students, staff, or faculty members, or administrators being charged with a crime.
If the executive editors find it necessary to cover a crime as discussed above, the issue will be dealt with – not the personality — and coverage will be determined by timeliness.
Unchartered student organizations and off-campus activities will only be included as space allows.
Although the majority of features will appear for their informational value, a few will appear for entertainment value.
Obituaries:
As tragic as deaths of the members of the school district may be, they are considered newsworthy and will be covered in the Auroran.
Deaths of school personnel (students, faculty, staff) will be dealt with as straight news unless circumstances call for an editorial comment.
Errors:
Whenever necessary, major content errors will be corrected in the following issue on the last page.
The staff is intent on checking, editing, and proofreading for all mistakes and will try to guard against carelessness, bias, and distortion by emphasis or omission.
Because of the human element involved, mistakes may appear. The staff apologizes for any such occurrence.
Time, Place, and Manner of Distribution:
The Auroran will be distributed on Fridays during each homeroom section to all students whenever possible.
When due to printing problems and holidays, this is impossible; arrangements will be made to alter the time and manner of distribution.
Illustrations and Photos:
Photographs will be used to promote school activities and student/faculty achievements as well as to provide an insight into MHS life.
Illustrations must be approved by the photo editor, section editor, and executive editors before they will be accepted as newspaper material.
No suggestive, implicative, or obscene gestures will be tolerated, nor will photos that make people appear foolish.
All illustrations must be of a news or entertainment value.
Advertising:
The Auroran will not carry advertisements for those businesses, establishments, or constituents who do not conform to school morals or values or for any substance or service that is not legally available to teenagers.
All advertising agreements must be signed contracts.
Verbal agreements are nonbinding and not legal.
Prepayments are required for any business that has not established a previous credit reference with the Auroran newspaper staff.
The staff reserves the right to refuse any advertisement.
Staff Dismissals:
Grounds for dismissal include but are not limited to plagiarism, vandalism of equipment, violation of Code of Ethics, continued missed deadlines and failure to meet minimal education requirements and attendance requirements in accordance with school policies.
The adviser, Editorial Board, and a school administrator will review and decide whether a staff member in question needs to be dismissed.
The dismissed staff member has three school days to submit a written appeal to the adviser.
The adviser, Editorial Board and school administrator will consider the appeal and make a final decision.
