Guidelines & Policies

Grand Valley Lanthorn Guidelines & Policies

The Lanthorn as an Organization

The Grand Valley Lanthorn is published by Grand Valley State University students with its business office on the Allendale Campus. The group’s general purpose is to publish and distribute news publications for the community of Grand Valley State University and to serve as a practicum for the students enrolled at Grand Valley State University. Decisions regarding the content and tone of the news coverage and of advertising materials are determined by the student staff, with final authority resting with the Editor-in-Chief.

It is expected that the Grand Valley Lanthorn will report fully, accurately and fairly on news concerning the University, its outlying communities, Michigan, the United States and world affairs. Grand Valley Lanthorn offers an outlet for expression by students, faculty, staff and others directly associated with the University. News and editorial operations shall conform to generally accepted standards of professional journalism and the SPJ Code of Ethics.

Right to Edit

All work is edited before publication. Editors or managers reserve the right to edit and correct all content.

Editor-in-Chief Discretion

The Grand Valley Lanthorn’s bylaws assign final responsibility on the acceptability of content to the Editor-in-Chief. In exercising this responsibility in regards to advertising, , unless deadlines make it impossible, the Editor-in-Chief must first confer with the Advertising Manager. The Editor-in-Chief and the Advertising Manager in such instances should confer with the adviser.

Representing the Grand Valley Lanthorn

In the ordinary course of reporting, no staffers shall misrepresent themselves as anything other than representatives of the publication. No staffer shall represent the Lanthorn when working on projects outside of Lanthorn employment. Permission by a supervisor must be obtained before pursuing a project and representing the Lanthorn.

Staffer Conflicts of Interest

Employees may engage in outside activities unrelated to the performance of assigned Grand Valley Lanthorn responsibilities, for compensation or otherwise, on a limited basis provided that such outside activities will not interfere with the performance of assigned duties or create a real or perceived conflict with the Grand Valley Lanthorn. Conflicts of interest, such as outside employment and organizational involvement, must be disclosed to the Editor-in-Chief or the Business Manager by the Lanthorn staff member if involvement is in relation to the work being produced.

Staffers must recuse themselves from writing, editing or producing stories about outside organizations or causes in which they are directly involved, so as to uphold the Lanthorn’s credibility. This does not preclude coverage of such organizations or causes. It requires that the conflicted staffer assign or delegate the reporting, editing and producing of such stories to other staffers who have no such conflicts. This applies to third-person news, feature and sports coverage, and would still allow for first-person pieces in which the disclosure is apparent.

Such outside activities should not exploit the employee’s association with the Grand Valley Lanthorn for commercial or personal purposes and should not be conducted during scheduled hours of work without disclosure and approval from the Editor-in-Chief or Business Manager.

Obtaining Information, Interviews

Staffers may not steal or knowingly receive stolen materials, regardless of their importance to a story. Except in situations judged by an editor as extraordinary, a staffer shall not record an interview or meeting without the interviewee’s permission or the obvious placement of a recording device (not hidden) at the start of the interview or meeting, in which case the interviewee or newsmakers do not object and are aware of the presence of the recording device. Committing an illegal act to eavesdrop on a source is not allowed.

Confidentiality & Anonymity

A reporter should not promise confidentiality to a source without the permission of the Editor-in-Chief. Confidentiality should only be given if there is a real danger that physical, emotional or financial harm will come to the source if his or her name were revealed. The Editor-in-Chief should have all the facts and the source’s name before the decision is made. The Editor-in-Chief should know of any laws pertaining to confidentiality and disclosure before a decision is made. A reporter should make every attempt to get the same information from another source who agrees to be named since the goal is to attribute all information to a specific source for all stories.

Generally, anonymous sources are not used in stories. Information that comes from an unnamed or unknown source should not be used unless it can be verified through another, known source. If two independent sources verify the information and are both unnamed, an editor may decide to publish the information with careful consideration of the need for immediacy and the news value of the information. The source may be identified generally as one associated with an agency to give some degree of credibility to the information. The danger exists that the reader might not believe the information if sources are not given; the publication’s credibility might suffer; information obtained later from a named source and verified might disprove the information given by the unnamed or unknown sources.

Sharing Drafts with Sources

Drafts shouldn’t be shown to article sources before publication. In certain instances, a source’s quotes and the surrounding article context might be previewed by the source for accuracy, but permission must be given by the Editor-in-Chief to do so. It is critical that truth and accuracy guide this process, and that Lanthorn editors retain full control of wording.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is prohibited and is illegal if the material is copyright protected. For the purposes of this code, plagiarism is defined as the word-for-word duplication of another person or entity’s writing. Limited passages that contain distinctively personal thoughts, uniquely stylized phraseology or exclusive facts may be used and must be attributed. Graphics, photos or other images duplicated from another creator only may be used with express written permission by the copyright holder. Information obtained from a published work must be independently verified before it can be reported as a new, original story. This policy also forbids lifting verbatim paragraphs from a wire service without attribution or pointing out that wire stories were used in compiling the story.

Opinion Columns & Reviews

Opinions expressed by columnists, reviewers and other individuals do not reflect the views of the Lanthorn, and writers must not suggest otherwise. The Opinions Editor and the Editor-in-Chief reserve the right to approve or deny any opinion piece. Reasons to reject an opinion piece include, but are not limited to, taste, accuracy, relevancy, and adequacy of research.

Staffers may pitch and submit opinion pieces reflecting their views. Only the staff-written editorial, the product of a team of editors, shall reflect the institutional opinion of the Lanthorn.

Letters to the Editor

The Grand Valley Lanthorn accepts opinion submissions from students not employed by the Lanthorn, faculty, staff, community members, alumni, etc. The Opinions Editor and Editor-in-Chief reserve the right to edit letters, although attention will be given to maintain the author’s original position. The Lanthorn reserves the right to accept or deny guest opinion pieces.

Guest Submissions & Independent Contributors

All content published in the Lanthorn is to be written and edited by students employed by the Lanthorn. Exceptions will be made for letters to the editor and guest submissions. Guest submissions are not limited to but may include content sent to the Lanthorn by students in journalism classes. Even in these instances, the Lanthorn reserves the right to edit such pieces.

While the editorial side of the Lanthorn doesn’t normally enter into contracts with freelancers and independent contractors, the newspaper’s business side works regularly with advertisers. Promotional material is reviewed and approved by business staff prior to publication.

Vulgar, Offensive & Distasteful Language

The Grand Valley Lanthorn should not publish material that would be considered offensive, distasteful or vulgar by the ordinary standards of the Grand Valley State University community, unless there is a strong justification of newsworthiness that the material is required to sufficiently inform the community. It has been a standing rule that vulgar words or phrases will not appear in the newspaper and that any vulgarity, if included at all, will be indicated with asterisks replacing one or multiple letters.

Material that refers to individuals and groups in terms of race, religion, gender, age, color, sexual orientation, disability, nationality or political belief is especially prone to contain words or phrases that are socially offensive. Material that a staffer suspects will offend a reasonable portion of the readership should either be excised or, if published, published with the full knowledge of the Editor-in-Chief, who should have consulted with the current GVL faculty adviser and perhaps others (Student Press Law Center, Associated Collegiate Press, Michigan Collegiate Press Association, Michigan Press Association, etc.).

Fact & Fiction

The use of imaginary situations or characters will not be allowed in news or feature stories. A columnist may, occasionally, use such an approach in developing a piece, but it must be clear to the reader that the person or situation is fictional and that the column is commentary and not reporting. The growth of narrative story development (storytelling devices) means that reporters and editors should be especially careful not to mix fact and fiction, and not embellish fact with fictional details, regardless of their significance.

Photography

Photos have a tremendous impact on readers. The question of privacy versus the public’s right to know should be considered. The line between good and bad taste and reality and sensationalism is not always easy to draw. Care should be taken to maintain the dignity of the subject as much as possible without undermining the truth of the event. In making a final decision on a photo of this type, an editor should consider: Do the readers need information from this photo that helps explain the story better than words or another photo? Who is hurt by the publication of this photo?

Crime Reporting

Staffers need to know the state laws that govern the publication of the names of crime victims. Customarily, the names of rape survivors are not published; however, some news mediums have asked rape survivors to identify themselves for publications. This may be negotiated between the survivor and the publication. Victims of nonsexual crimes may be identified, but the publication has a responsibility to give some protection to the victims. Almost without exception, an arrested person is not named until charges are filed.

Copyright

All work produced for the Grand Valley Lanthorn is work made for hire, which means it belongs to the Grand Valley Lanthorn. This pertains not only to work published in the Grand Valley Lanthorn, but work and the resultant product of work done on assignment by the Grand Valley Lanthorn and/or Grand Valley Lanthorn time.

Each copy of the Grand Valley Lanthorn is published with notice of copyright. The copyright for material published in the Grand Valley Lanthorn belongs to the Grand Valley Lanthorn. The Grand Valley Lanthorn also reserves the privilege to obtain copyrights to work produced on behalf of the Grand Valley Lanthorn, whether the work is published in the newspaper or not.

As a condition of being a member of the Lanthorn staff or applying to join the staff, you agree that the Lanthorn has exclusive and unlimited copyright and trademark ownership of any content you submit for publication, broadcast or other uses by the Lanthorn, including material that is not published or not otherwise used. All of these efforts are considered to be staff-produced and prepared by compensated students within the scope of their employment by the Lanthorn.

Content includes words, photographs, graphics, illustrations, cartoons, designs, advertisements, videos, source code and any other intellectual property that may be subject to copyright or trademark. The content is considered work product whether it is assigned to the compensated student by an editor or manager or is an enterprise effort of the compensated student.

However, the Lanthorn grants the staff member the limited use of the copyrighted work for the purposes of use in the staff member’s portfolio or resume, applications or job searches, contest entries or as a part of an artistic or journalistic exhibit or display. This also applies to Lanthorn photographers, as the Lanthorn grants staff members the ability to utilize work in portfolios or upload photographs to social media, as long as credit is given to taking said photos for the Grand Valley Lanthorn.

The staff member may not give another entity permission to publish or reprint the material that has been submitted to the Lanthorn. The Lanthorn has the exclusive right to assign reprints or copyright permissions.

Corrections Policy

The Lanthorn strives to publish the most accurate news possible. If you find any factual errors in the Lanthorn that can be supported by substantial evidence, contact [email protected]. After being notified of an error, the Editor-in-Chief, in connection with the relevant section editor, will correct the digital article if needed, and run a correction in the following print edition. In the rare instance a retraction is requested, the Editor-in-Chief, in consultation with the faculty advisor, will determine the course of action in terms of enacting a retraction.

Takedown Policy

The Lanthorn is an archive of news and information associated with Grand Valley State University, the local community and global affairs. Taking down, or ‘privating,’ articles from our website, along with permanently deleting them from our website is an act of removing history. In most instances the Lanthorn will not take down content, and very rarely will content be deleted. An article should only be taken down if there is a real danger that physical, emotional or financial harm will come to the source if the article remains public. If you feel an article written by you or involving you needs to be removed from our website, contact [email protected]. The Editor-in-Chief and faculty advisor reserve the right to approve or deny takedown requests.

Lanthorn Equipment

The Grand Valley Lanthorn supplies equipment, hardware, software and tools to employees for use on the job. The tools and equipment remain the property of the Grand Valley Lanthorn and should not be used for personal projects. The employee is responsible for the loss or damage of employer-owned property due to the employee’s negligence. All equipment provided to the employee must be returned to the Grand Valley Lanthorn in the same condition as it was received, other than normal wear and tear. If property and/or equipment is worn or damaged through normal use, the employee should return it to his or her supervisor for replacement. An employee must return all employer-owned property and/or equipment at the time of termination of employment.

Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ Code of Ethics)

Preamble

Members of the Society of Professional journalists believe that public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues. Conscientious journalists from all media and specialties strive to serve the public with thoroughness and honesty. Professional integrity is the

cornerstone of a journalist’s credibility. Members of the Society share a dedication to ethical behavior and adopt this code to declare the Society’s principles and standards of practice.

Seek Truth and Report It

Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.

Journalists should:

Test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid inadvertent error. Deliberate distortion is never permissible.
Diligently seek out subjects of news stories to give them the opportunity to respond to allegations of wrongdoing, identify sources whenever feasible. The public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources’ reliability.
Always question sources’ motives before promising anonymity. Clarify conditions attached to any promise made in exchange for information. Keep promises.
Make certain that headlines, news teases and promotional material, photos, video, audio, graphics, sound bites and quotations do not misrepresent. They should not oversimplify or highlight incidents out of context.
Never distort the content of news photos or video images. Enhancement for technical clarity is always permissible. Label montages and photo illustrations.
Avoid misleading re-enactments or staged news events. If re-enactment is necessary to tell a story, label it.
Avoid undercover or other surreptitious methods of gathering information except when traditional open methods will not yield information vital to the public. Use of such methods should be explained as part of the story
Never plagiarize.
Tell the story of the diversity and magnitude of the human experience boldly, even when it is unpopular to do so.
Examine their own cultural values and avoid imposing those values on others.
Avoid stereotyping by race, gender, age, religion, ethnicity, geography, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance or social sum.
Support the open exchange of views, even views they find repugnant.
Give voice to the voiceless; official and unofficial sources of information can be equally valid.
Distinguish between advocacy and news reporting. Analysis and commentary should be labeled and not misrepresent fact or context.
Distinguish news from advertising and shun hybrids that blur the lines between the two.
Recognize a special obligation to ensure that the public’s business is conducted in the open and that government records are open to inspection.

Minimize Harm

Ethical journalists treat sources, subjects and colleagues as human beings deserving of respect.

Journalists should:

Show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by news coverage. Use special sensitivity when dealing with children and inexperienced sources or subjects.
Be sensitive when seeking or using interviews or photographs of those affected by tragedy or grief.
Recognize that gathering and reporting information may cause harm or discomfort. Pursuit of the news is not a license for arrogance.
Recognize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves than do public officials and others who seek power, influence or attention. Only an overriding public need can justify intrusion into anyone’s privacy.
Show good taste. Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity.
Be cautious about identifying juvenile suspects or victims of sex crimes. Be judicious about naming criminal suspects before the formal filing of charges.
Balance a criminal suspect’s fair trial rights with the public’s right to be informed.

Act Independently

Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public’s right to know.

Journalists should:

Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived
Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility.
Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and shun secondary employment, political involvement, public office and service in community organizations they compromise journalistic integrity
Disclose unavoidable conflicts.
Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable,
Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence news coverage.
Be wary of sources offering information for favors or money; avoid bidding for news.

Be Accountable

Journalists are accountable to their readers, listeners, viewers and each other.

Journalists should:

Clarify and explain news coverage and invite dialogue with the public over journalistic conduct.
Encourage the public to voice grievances against the news media.
Admit mistakes and correct them promptly
Expose unethical practices of journalists and the news media.
Abide by the same high standards to which they hold others.

Sigma Delta Chi’s first Code of Ethics was borrowed from the American Society of Newspaper Editors in 1926. In 1973, Sigma Delta Chi wrote its own code, which was revised in 1984 and 1987. The present version of the Society of Professional journalists Code of Ethics was adopted in September 1996.