T.R.U.E. Ethic Guidelines and Policies
Mission Statement
The student voice is an important aspect of each individual’s self-expression and our community’s growth.
Purpose
TRUE Ethic is committed to ethical journalism that encourages student autonomy and student leaders as collaborative content creators and decision makers that produce a student-run news publication as a trusted source for our multi high-school community.
Who Are We?
TRUE Ethic is a student-run news online publication for public high schools in the Redlands Unified School District. TRUE is the Latin acronym for “Publication of Redlands’ Unity” and is a reference to “truth in reporting” or “report what you know to be true,” which is the first journalistic principle. Ethic refers to the code of ethical standards we hold ourselves to as journalists.
TRUE Ethic welcomes each and every student who wants to participate, publish their artwork, photography, editorials, news briefs, or share other ideas for news production. We are determined to offer a platform where students have the opportunity to express themselves and share their work they create with others.
We, as the editors of TRUE Ethic, plan on providing a friendly online collaborative system that encourages individual self expression and ultimately works to emphasize the commonalities among the high schools of the Redlands Unified School District. Although accepting of all ranges of work, as the responsible journalists that we aspire to be, we must hold ourselves to high standards.
The Editors
The TRUE Ethic editors have the overall responsibility of ensuring that the work being submitted is accurate and suitable for the specified audience. The editors also have the task of making sure that the writers of TRUE Ethic are contributing their best work that accurately portrays the standards to which TRUE Ethic holds itself. We do not condone plagiarism in any means, as being apart of TRUE Ethic is a display of our integrity and loyalty we hold as high school journalists.
Technicality of Published Work
A few enhancements to photographs are legally acceptable such as light, brightness, adjustment and cropping. Enhancing photos that alter their original appearance significantly are not acceptable in any means. In regards to that, recreating an image to appear as something else is not tolerated by the standards of TRUE Ethic. Editors do not publish or condone falsely portrayed articles, photos, artwork, etc. Works that are created for purely artistic and interpretive purposes and are labeled as such are permissible.
Revision Process
Editors correct errors according to The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law 2017. We edit each article to ensure that correct punctuation, sentence structure, spelling of words and proper grammar are used. Editors hold themselves to high standards and ensure the editing job is being performed with the best quality work. Interviews may be subject to light editing for coherence and clarity.
Forum
TRUE Ethic is the first online publication for high school students in the Redlands Unified School District and is strictly run by the editors and journalist students. Advised by Mrs. Vanessa Aranda, the overall decision is made by the students involved in this online publication.
This student-run publication is unique in that the students have the overall say and are able to witness their own creation come to life. With that being said, the student views in editorials do not reflect Ethic, any high school or school official, or the Redlands Unified District.
Each student is entitled to their First Amendment rights; freedom of speech, religion, press, etc. In addition, the staff of TRUE Ethic support the expression of our writers. If their form of expression is revealed through controversial, such as religiously-based, articles they are protected to do so through the First Amendment.
TRUE Ethic is a public forum for student expression which respects the rights of school officials to prohibit publications that will cause a substantial disruption pertaining to school related activities.
ETHIC NEWS 