The Messenger Coverage Policies
Editorial Policy
The statements and opinions expressed in this publication and website are those of the individual writers and do not necessarily reflect those of the entire staff or those of Northview High School, its students, faculty, staff, or administration. Content is edited and controlled by staff editors. The staff will publish only legally protected speech, adhering to the legal definitions of libel, obscenity, and the invasion of privacy. While opinions will not be censored, published work will be edited and fact-checked to the best of the staff’s ability. One staff editorial is published per issue, usually pertaining to an event or theme covered in that issue. It is to be published without a byline.
Ethics
The Messenger will strive to present information in a fair, impartial, accurate, and truthful manner. The newspaper will function in accordance with all applicable laws, both in regard to the rights and restrictions of journalism. The National Scholastic Press Association’s Model Code of Ethics for High School Journalists and The Statement of Principles of the American Society of Newspaper Editors serve as the basis for the publication’s ethical standards.
Submission Policy
The Messenger welcomes letters to the editors and seeks to highlight student expression. Any pieces written by students outside of The Messenger Staff will be printed with the student’s name and “Special” in the byline. Any Northview High School student may submit work for publication, but The Messenger reserves the right to edit all submissions for length, grammar, libel, obscenity, and invasion of privacy. Guest submissions must be emailed to The Messenger Staff (nhsmessenger@gmail.com). Guest writers will have the ability to review the final work before it is slated for publication.
Anonymity Policy
Anonymously bylined pieces will not be published. Sources may wish to have their names withheld from a particular story with valid reason. The Editorial Board will decide on a case by case basis whether anonymity may be granted to protect the source. The Board recognizes that a high school is a very confined community of young people and that some topics, while important to the community, may involve public embarrassment and official sanctions if names are printed. Any content attributed to an anonymous source must be fact-checked. Once anonymity is granted, the Board must stand behind its decision. Once printed, The Messenger will stand by keeping such sources anonymous and protecting their identities as necessary. All anonymous sources must sign a Source Confidentiality Contract.
Prior Review Policy
The Messenger seeks to maintain courteous, professional relationships with sources and community members. Staffers are expected to treat sources with respect and attempt to accommodate their wishes. If a source asks to see an article before publication, The Editorial Board will assess the validity of their request. The Messenger does not allow sources to censor articles or retract on-record statements unless it is an issue of accuracy. Any objections will be addressed before the paper is published. A lack of objection will also be treated as unspoken approval.
Retraction Policy
The Messenger strives to provide accurate and unbiased news for the Northview High School community. If any incorrect information is published or an error is made in the magazine, the error will be acknowledged and corrected at the beginning of the following issue in the Corrections and Omissions section. On The Messenger Online, minor errors will be edited and corrected. Larger errors will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. The Messenger will publicly correct errors on both print issues and The Messenger Online.
Comment Policy
Readers who would like to comment can do so anonymously or with a Squarespace account. A screen name will appear with the comment as well as an optional website and email. All comments will be placed under review before publication.
The Messenger encourages thoughtful, respectful and relevant comments that contribute to a public conversation. We encourage feedback, tips for correction, questions and all comments in general. We have always and will continue to appreciate reader engagement.
We want to emphasize that:
Comments reflect the opinions of readers, not The Messenger Staff or Northview High School. Comments are meant to further the discussion set forth by articles and columns posted by The Messenger. Comments are never edited. They are either posted on the website or deleted.
We reserve the right to remove any inappropriate commentary, including but not limited to:
Any posts that demean others on the basis of race, gender, class, ethnicity, sexual orientation or preference, ability status, religion, or any other categorization.
Explicit content, including obscenities or anything sexually or violently explicit.
Any comments that are libelous or defamatory, or violate an individual’s reasonable expectations of privacy.
Any comments that are clearly irrelevant to the topic written about. The comments are meant for conversation, not attacks.
Anything intended to harass or intimidate reporters, commenters, or subjects of an article, column, letter or editorial. You can criticize The Messenger in a comment, but not an individual writer or editor.
Commercial promotion, spam, news releases, markup language or announcements.
Factually incorrect information.
We reserve the right to turn comments off on posts, which include but are not limited to the following:
Blotter or crime-related stories, including breaking news posts about murder, suicide, rape, sexual assault or molestation.
Stories where commenting has gotten out of hand, and the debate has taken away from the topic put forth by the article, column, letter or editorial. The commenting may be temporarily disabled.
Obituaries. In order to protect the families of members of the community who have died, we will ensure comments do not violate our policy before posting them with the story. To reiterate, comments will not be edited, but rather deleted or posted.
We ask that readers help monitor the comment threads on The Messenger Online. If you read a comment that violates this policy, we encourage you not to respond to it. Instead, contact us here with your concerns.
Death Policy
In the unfortunate event of a student or faculty death, obituaries or any related coverage is at the discretion of the staff and advisor. If the story is determined to be newsworthy, The Messenger will confine its coverage to the news section and obtain factual information surrounding accidental deaths as appropriate. Any coverage will avoid romanticism or embellishment. Photographs may be used with permission from the family. The Messenger will strive to give equal attention to all deaths.