Law, Ethics, and News Literacy

A lot of journalism today is flooded with controversy and bias. As a news reporter and editor-in-chief, I have had to navigate this fine line with extra caution, as not only does my work represent myself and my name, but also Denebola and Newton South as a whole. 

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More than evidence of decisions made to pursue articles that would have been potentially unethical or too controversial, this volume faced several moments in which we decided not to pursue these stories because of the ethics implied.

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Two examples are:

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- We had a reporter who wanted to write an article that was an "explainer" of the tension in the Middle East, but after a set of lengthy discussions with our adviser, Sam Lee, and the reporter, we decided not to have this writer pursue this article because it was impossible to do thoroughly and fairly. This article felt personal, and with a large Israeli population at Newton South, we didn't want Denebola to seem to be taking a political stance.

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- With the recent teacher strike, we constantly found ourselves having conversations about what was appropriate to publish and what wasn't. One Newton parent reached out to me asking if I could cover her lawsuit against the Newton teachers. At first, I was excited to highlight this progression in the situation as it concerned a third party in a story that was being framed as two sides: the teachers versus the School Committee. After lengthy discussions with my co-editor-in-chief and adviser, we decided against pursuing this sole perspective as it was a fringe perspective and not representative of the entire parent community. Publishing this as a standalone article would've created an unfair impression of where the parents stood in this conflict. We therefore endeavored to write an article that included many perspectives from a variety of community members, including some Newton parents, an article that is still in production today.

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Beyond these examples, I have personally been very careful with what I publish and the way that I convey my characters and interviewees. After my article in which I interviewed Newton South teacher Ryan Normandin, I sent him the finished product before posting to make sure he stood by everything he said and that nothing was taken out of context. In my piece about ChatGPT, I asked each interviewee if they would prefer to stay anonymous. One said yes, and I gave them the alias of "M."