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STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
I.
Purpose
Student
publications serve as a medium for student written expression and provide
opportunities and experiences for students interested in developing writing and
journalism skills. These publications are
operated for and by students and the views expressed are not necessarily the
views of the College, the Board of Regents or the student body as a whole.
The standards
established by the policies and procedures attempt to encourage student
publishers to maintain a high standard of performance and to provide
consistency and stability for the benefit of the student staffs, readers and
the college community regardless of any changes in personnel or positions. All student publications are expected to
conform to good taste, taking into account wide distribution of the
publication. Student publications must
adhere to libel, postal and other laws and regulations governing the American
commercial press.
The Board of
Regents and the college recognize and guarantee First Amendment freedom and
extend full editorial control of the content of student publications to the
student editors. A Code of Ethics
recognized by professional journalists will be observed by the student editors
and faculty advisors. In accordance with
the laws of the State of
II.
Organization and Responsibilities
The Board of
Regents through the Office of the President of Pellissippi State Technical
Community College has financial and administrative authority for student
publications. Our responsibility for
editorial content for student publications is limited to maintaining the
appropriate level of journalistic standards.
Student
publications are a function of Student Activities. The director of student activities will
recommend a faculty advisor for each student publication in accordance with
established policy. The two principal
parties for each student publication are the faculty advisor and the student
editor-in-chief. The student
editor-in-chief is selected by the faculty advisor and director of student
activities. The student editor-in-chief
will be a part-time or full-time
The student
editor-in-chief will recruit staff members and will be responsible for the
selection of a production manager and a business manager, as well as other
members of each publications staff. All
student staff members must be students at
A. Responsibilities of the
Student Editor-in Chief
1
To consult regularly with the advisor regarding the operation of the
publication, including but not limited to bids, budget, advertising and staff.
2
To ensure that the publication schedule is met and to take
responsibility for news and editorial content.
3
To organize and direct the publication staff, including the appointment
and dismissal of staff members after consultation with the faculty
advisor. A dismissed member has the
right of appeal to the faculty advisor and ultimately to the Student Affairs
Committee.
4
To propose a budget for each fiscal year. The budget proposal will reflect projected
revenues, projected needs or expenditures for equipment, travel and operating
activities.
5
To recommend the size of the publication and initiate the bid process
for printing.
6
To establish and ensure a system for the campus-wide distribution of
the publication.
B. Responsibilities of the
Faculty Advisor
1
To be available for and to encourage regular consultation with the
editor-in-chief.
2
To provide by advice, teaching and example, the highest ethical and
professional standards.
3
To have the authority to dismiss the editor-in-chief should it be
necessary, for reasons other than content considerations. Such reasons may include plagiarism, failure
to publish, repeated failure to meet deadlines or proven violation of
institutional policies or local, state, or federal law. The dismissed editor-in-chief has the right
of appeal to the Student Affairs Committee.
The following
organizational chart is proposed as a model for each student publication staff.
(Individual publications, at the discretion of the faculty advisor, may vary
from this model.)
ORGANIZATIONAL
CHART
|
Faculty Advisor |
|
|
Editor-in-Chief |
|
|
|
|
|
Production Manager |
Business Manager |
|
Typists |
Bids |
|
Artists |
Advertising Sales |
|
Photographer |
Marketing |
|
Layout/Paste-up |
Advance Orders Plan |
|
Printing |
Receipts/Fiscal Reports |
|
Creative Writers |
Distribution |
III.
Operational Procedures
Student
publications will strive to carry out good business practices which include
stating advertising rates and policies clearly and applying rates and policies
consistently. Advertisements which are contrary
to college policies and which violate the laws of the State of
Each student
publication, prior to being recognized by the college must submit to the
Student Activities Office written documentation of the operational procedures
for the respective student publication.
The document must
include the following elements:
A. Preamble - brief, yet
concise statement of mission and scope of publication.
B. Organization
1. Name of publication
2. Structure of publication
staff
Section
1. Job
Descriptions: description of the qualifications (GPA, minimum credit hours,
other), responsibilities of the position, and to whom each reports.
· Advisor
· Student Editor-In Chief
· Managing Editors
· Publications Staff
Section 2. Term of Office
Section 3. Staff Selection Process
Section 4. Removal from Publication Staff
C. Amendments: Description of procedures by which the
publications staff can amend established policies set forth in this document.
IV. Code of Ethics
Student
publications at
A. Responsibility
The right of a
newspaper to attract and hold readers is restricted by nothing but
considerations of public welfare. The
use a newspaper makes of the share of public attention it gains serves to determine
its sense of responsibility, which it shares with every member of its
staff. A journalist who uses his power
for any selfish or otherwise unworthy purpose is faithless to a high trust.
B. Freedom of the Press
Freedom of the
press is to be guarded as a vital right of mankind. It is the unquestionable right to discuss
whatever is not explicitly forbidden by law, including the wisdom of any
restrictive statute.
C.
1. Freedom from all obligations
except that of fidelity to the public interest is vital.
2. Promotion of any private
interest contrary to the general welfare, for whatever reason, is not
compatible with honest journalism.
So-called news communications from private sources should not be
published without public notice of their source or else substantiation of their
claims to value as news, both in form and substance.
3. Partisanship in editorial
comment which knowingly departs from the truth does violence to the best spirit
of American journalism; in the news columns it is subversive of a fundamental
principle of the profession.
D. Sincerity, Truthfulness, and
Accuracy
1. Good faith with the reader is the
foundation of all journalism worthy of the name.
2. By every consideration of
good faith a newspaper is constrained to be truthful. It is not to be excused for lack of
thoroughness or accuracy within its control, or failure to obtain command of
these essential qualities.
3. Headlines should be fully warranted
by the contents of the articles which they surmount.
E. Impartiality
1. Sound practice makes clear
distinction between news reports and expressions of opinion. News reports
should be free from opinion or bias of any kind.
2. This rule does not apply to
so-called special articles unmistakably devoted to advocacy or characterized by
a signature authorizing the writer's own conclusions and interpretation.
F. Fair Play
1. A newspaper should not
publish unofficial charges affecting reputation or moral character without
opportunity given to the accused to be heard; right practice demands the giving
of such opportunity in all cases of serious accusation outside judicial
proceedings.
2. A newspaper should not
invade private rights of feeling without sure warrant of public right as
distinguished from public curiosity.
3. It is the privilege, as it
is the duty, of a newspaper to make prompt and complete correction of its own
serious mistakes of fact or opinion, whatever their origin.
G. Decency
A newspaper
cannot escape conviction of insincerity if, while professing high moral
purpose, it supplies incentives to base conduct, such as are to be found in
details of crime and vice, publication of which is not demonstrably for the
general good. Lacking the authority to
enforce its canons the journalism here represented can but express the hope
that deliberate pandering to vicious instincts will encounter effective public
disapproval or yield to the influence of a preponderant professional
condemnation.
Approved: Executive Council, May 28, 1991
Editorial
Changes, April 20, 1993
Reviewed/Recommended:
President's Council, April 10, 1995
Approved:
President Allen G. Edwards, April 10, 1995
Reviewed/Recommended:
President's Council, May 8, 1995
Approved:
President Allen G. Edwards, May 8, 1995
Approved: President
Allen G. Edwards, April 26, 2001
Approved:
President Allen G. Edwards, May 18, 2001
Approved: President’s Staff, May 15, 2006
Approved: President Allen G. Edwards, May 15, 2006
Editorial Changes, June 30, 2006