Welcome to Pasadena City College’s online school news publication, The Courier. The Courier has been serving the local community since it began at Pasadena High School in 1915, and continues to do so over a century later at the community college. The Courier has undergone changes over its tenure, including moving from print to solely online; however, what has remained the same is the ethics the paper stands by that are the core of journalism.
The Courier has always been a student-run publication. An advisor oversees the class and is available to help where needed, but the composition of the paper, including what stories are published, is at the discretion of the student reporters and the editors overseeing the staff writers, namely the Editor-In-Chief and Managing Editor. While the reporters in this publication are students, the newspaper operates under the same structure as other independent publications.
As a result, the Courier has its own set of policies as it pertains to the reporting, publishing, and overall configuration of the newspaper which are listed below.
- Reporters are not permitted to share any of their questions in advance. This policy is set in place to retain authenticity in the answers provided by sources.
2. Reporters are not permitted to show any portion of their story to sources before publication. This policy, in a similar strain to the previous, is in place to maintain the authenticity and to prevent manipulation of the story and the information provided by sources. While reporters are allowed to send sources a link to the story after it is published, they can not show any portion of the story to the source before this time. Reporters may, however, read back quotes or information at the time of the interview to ensure that they have not made any mistakes.
3. Reporters will strive to conduct in-person interviews with their sources in order to get the best perspective on the story, which at times can be best captured when talking face to face. If this is not feasible, the reporter will attempt to conduct an interview through video or voice call, with their last option being email, which is only to be used if there is no other way. In-person interviews remain the best option for interviews conducted by Courier reporters.
4. The Courier appreciates the hard work done by the spokesman for the college, but is always looking for direct contact with public officials, inside and outside of the college.
5. Reporters will ask for permission to record interviews. These recordings will not be used in the story, unless explicitly asked for and agreed upon between the reporter, source, and editor. These recordings are used only for the notes of the reporter and to maintain a record of the interview, in the event in which a mistake is made.
6. Unless explicitly asked to be “off the record” at the beginning of the interview, it is the policy of the Courier to be “on the record” which means the name of the source and the information they have provided to the reporter is free to be included in the story. Any “off the record” information asks for the source’s name not to be included in the story. A source can not ask for “off the record” in the middle of or after an interview, or claim “off the record” was implied and ask for removal. “On the record” is implied unless explicitly said otherwise before the interview begins.
7. The Courier’s policy for including sources is always naming them, in order to be transparent on where they received their information. Reporters will ask sources for their first and last names, both of which are necessary to be included in the story. Reporters will ask sources to spell their name in order to keep from misspelling any names on mistake.
8. The Courier, while having its own style, follows the SPJ Code of Ethics as an outline for how they conduct the newspaper.
9. The Courier is a class, not a club or other organization. Students who are interested in writing for The Courier can take the prerequisite class, Beginning Journalism (Jour 002), and then begin with the paper in the first production class available, Reporting and Newswriting (Jour 004A). Students in the production class can write stories for the newspaper. People outside of the class are not allowed to publish stories for the Courier unless explicitly agreed upon by the editors.
10. The newsroom is explicitly for use by the Courier staff, who need it to work on reporting and publishing stories. The Courier staff takes priority over newsroom materials, e.g. computers, printers, cameras, etc. Visitors, invited or not, must be respectful to the newsroom and staff.
11. The Courier is a newspaper, with the goal of providing the truth for the community. It is not the Courier’s job to promote or advertise for anyone, as it is not their job to share out the information others want.
12. The Courier makes its own language style guide. While it does follow the standards and outline of AP Style, at the end of the day the word choice and language is at the discretion of the reporters.
13. Reporters may pick up stories and start the reporting process, but there is no guarantee that the story will be published by a certain date or at all. Asking for updates is permissible but persistent questioning on publication status is not.
14. Bringing story ideas to the Courier staff is welcome. The Courier consists of students, who may not be aware of everything going on at the college. However, it is not a guarantee if or when stories will be picked up and reported on.
15. The Courier is an independent newspaper, unconstrained from any outside force. Neither the college or any other source can dictate what the paper publishes, ask for stories to be taken down or any information removed. However, if a mistake is made, contact the Editor-in-Chief and the reporter. The matter will be investigated, including listening to the record of the interview, and if a mistake was made, the Courier is more than willing to claim responsibility and make corrections to the story.
These policies are in place to maintain the ethics and structure of the newspaper. The Courier is proud to serve the students and staff at Pasadena City College and the surrounding Pasadena community and hopes to continue to do so for as long as possible.