Commitment

 As a part of a minority myself, I understand the fundamental responsibility journalists have to respectfully represent the people of this world. When considering a story and its sources, I do not only think about simply diversifying race and gender but the representation of entire life experiences. I have done well to cover an expansive variety of races, disabilities, genders, ages, opinions and issues.

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I have multiple stories that exemplify racial diversity. I wrote a personal opinion about my self-esteem struggles with my race and collected stories of Asians around the school to speak against Asian hate attacks. My Q&A with Muhammad discusses her book that addresses her family history with not only racism but domestic violence, an issue that needs to be shared and not shamed.

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I also have several stories that cover the diverse world of disabilities. I am a peer helper and work with kids with a spectrum of special needs and disabilities; because of my position, I was able to write a story covering the bowling team sharing their love for their sport with the SLC (Sparkman Learning Community) kids. I also interviewed several SLC students regarding their driving experience. While they could not give the most elaborate answers, they were genuine. I carefully worded my questions to get the most authentic answers and responses. 

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I also have a personal passion for learning ASL (American Sign Language) to accommodate those who use it to communicate. I wrote an opinion expressing why others should learn it. ASL is not only used by the deaf community, but can be used by those who are mute or have trouble verbally communicating. 

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Besides just mental disabilities and apparent physical disabilities, I featured a girl with a nearly invisible medical disability – Epilepsy. The story not only describes her experience, but informs the reader of what it is and its triggers.

 

It is of utmost importance and a priority of mine to inform the general public of disabilities and how to respectfully accommodate them, especially those that have life-threatening effects. I write to inform readers the beauties and struggles of the diverse life experiences each and every person has. 

At the beginning of the year, my advisor teaches us about significant Supreme Court Cases that deal with students and the First Amendment. By knowing the case decisions, we are able to better understand our rights under the First Amendment.

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An example of practicing truth and accuracy is demonstrated in a decision I made pertaining to Muhammad's Q&A. It originally was supposed to be a normal story, but when I heard Muhammad's so eloquently thought out answers, I knew there was no way I could truthfully replace any of her words with mine and do her and her book justice. 

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As Editor-in-Chief, I find that committing to laws and ethics for my staff is part of my responsibility. As I was editing stories and offering my help, I saw that one of my reporters was having trouble adding her bias and editorializing into her story. I reminded her of the importance of staying independent from the story. She tried to write a feature on people who held a very specific opinion and it ended up falling through because her sources were not giving her the same passionate responses she personally had on the topic. She was trying to fit the sources to her story and not let the sources write the story. Since she was clearly passionate about her opinion, I advised her to write an opinion if she felt so strongly. 

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I am aware that words impact others and this day in age, fake news is quick to spread. One time when interviewing a school staff about her new position, she made snarky comments about advisors. With a clear risk of inciting something by publishing her quotes we had to scrap the story. Even though the interview was conducted through a school email and she was aware her quotes would be published, I still made the decision to scrap the story. A journalist's job is to report news, not spread gossip. 

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My publication had to held accountable for not having a disclaimer with our staff editorial. I understand that it is our responsibility to provide readers context for opinions and facts that may be subject to change. When this was brought to my attention, I immediately changed the layout of the page to now include a disclaimer. We clearly state that the staff editorial is written by one person with the staff's majority ideals in mind. 

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The law and ethics of journalism exist for a reason. I value the trust of my readers and I have no intentions to break that trust. I understand it is my duty as a journalist to responsibly report the truth while also making decisions to consider the impact that what I publish will have. 

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