OHS Observer Editorial Policies

1. General policy – The OHS Observer newspaper, the official online news publication of Stanford Online High School, is written and produced by students under the guidance and direction of student editors and an advisor. The Observer is designed to inform, educate, and entertain members of the OHS community. OHS Observer writers work with editors and faculty advisors to solicit, edit, and publish a wide range of content that represents and integrates the variety of interests of our unique and diverse online community.
Simultaneously, the OHS Observer upholds ethical and professional standards of journalism and adheres to the Journalism Education Association guidelines.

The OHS Observer and its students are protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Students determine content in the Observer; the adviser’s role is to maintain professional standards of English and journalism. Final content decisions and journalistic responsibilities shall remain with the student editorial board. Content cannot be restrained unless it is libelous, obscene, or puts the educational mission of the school at risk.

2. Final editing policy – Student editors make all editorial decisions for the Observer; such decisions must not violate the tenets of “English and journalism” that must be upheld by the adviser, as outlined in the Code of Ethics for Advisers established by the Journalism Education Association. The adviser maintains such standards, but does so in a collegial, collaborative, educationally appropriate way.

3. Roles and responsibilities – Editors are responsible for ensuring the Observer is a responsible media member, pursuing important stories but following appropriate journalistic guidelines and traditions. Writers must abide by the decisions of team editors; team editors must abide by decisions of the Co-Editors-in-Chief.

4. Research and sources – Student reporters, writers, and editors working for the Observer have the right to conduct research, including interviewing sources, for stories they are pursuing. Students are expected to appropriately source stories.

5. Use of language – The Observer moderates use of language that is considered inappropriate. Profane language is published at the discretion of the editors if determined to align with the Observer’s mission to promote diverse, meaningful expression and to adhere to the Stanford OHS Community and Personal Integrity Standards.

6. Columns and opinion pieces – While writers are given tremendous freedom to express their opinions in the Observer, opinion pieces should adhere to editorial policies. Staff writers and contributors working on articles critical of school programs or personnel are required to request an interview with relevant individuals during their research; in their published article, they must either incorporate information from their interview or note that the interviewee declined to comment.

7. Anonymous sources – The Observer uses anonymous sources sparingly and only when it is journalistically appropriate to do so. Requests by reporters to grant anonymity to a source must receive approval from the relevant team editor and a Co-Editor-in-Chief. The Co-Editor-in-Chief and advisor should know the identity of the source, with some exceptions (unless it would force a legally mandated report to law enforcement or other officials).

8. Corrections – Online Observer content shall remain online indefinitely. Any inaccuracies will be corrected. However, the adviser and Co-Editors-in-Chief will consider take-down requests on a case-by-case basis.

9. Obituaries – In the event of the death of a student or staff member, a standard, obituary-type recognition will commemorate the deceased on the Observer news site. Given consent and input from family members of the deceased, an unbiased, fact-based feature will be written by a staff member and placed on the website in a timely manner.