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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 Tennessee and the federal government no agent of the college is authorized to censor, to exert prior restraint of content, or to impose punishment for the content of protected speech.

 

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 Pellissippi State student who has earned and maintains a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.5.

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 Pellissippi State. The student editor-in-chief, in consultation with the faculty advisor, will be responsible for developing a job description for each publication staff member. All student staff members should keep themselves informed of policies and procedures regarding student publications and should seek advice of the student editor-in-chief or faculty advisor in matters of importance concerning the publication.

   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 Tennessee will not be accepted.

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 Pellissippi State Technical Community College are to look to the Code of Ethics of the American Society of Newspaper Editors as a guide. Although the following statements pertain primarily to newspaper journalism, all student publications will adhere to the principles stated in the Code of Ethics.

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. Independence

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