Newsroom Standards

Ethics & Newsgathering Protocol

Status: Interim operating standard · in force now · formal adoption pending · v1.1 · last updated 27 August 2026

This protocol is in force now as an interim safety standard while it completes school review. Every AFY reporter signs and practices it before the first reporting exercise, and signs it before conducting any interview, photograph, or community contact. The four gates are non-negotiable. The bilingual scripts apply when interviewing Chinese-speaking sources in the Sunset District or any AFY family member; reporters use the language the source prefers.

Every interview begins with the reporter identifying themselves, their publication, the topic, and how the conversation may be used. An interview does not guarantee publication, and agreeing to be interviewed does not give a source the right to approve the finished story.

“Hi, I’m [name], and I’m a student reporter for the AFY Journalism Club. I’m writing a story for our school paper about [topic]. May I ask you a few questions? I’d be quoting you by name.”

您好，我叫 [姓名]，是 Alice Fong Yu 學校新聞社的學生記者。我正在為校報寫一篇關於 [主題] 的報導。請問我可以向您請教幾個問題嗎？我會在文章中具名引用您的話。

Every source is told what they are agreeing to. Consent is recorded in the reporter’s interview log.

• Publication. The source is told how their words may be used. Issue 1 is published in print and as a PDF sent to AFY families; from Issue 2, January 2027, the paper also publishes on this public website, and a source is asked separately about the website when a story may appear there. Not every interview produces a published story.
• Attribution. Named attribution is the standard, and the source is told they will be quoted by name. Anonymity is not automatic: it is requested before publication and granted by the student editor and advisor only where being named would expose the source to real harm and the information cannot reasonably be obtained from a named source.
• Minors outside AFY. A parent or guardian gives written consent before the interview begins. No exceptions.
• AFY peers. The advisor maintains the media consent file and the club’s own publication consent roster; a reporter checks both before quoting or photographing a classmate.
• Sensitive topics. If a story touches discipline, family circumstances, health, or immigration status, written consent is required in addition to verbal, and the student editor and advisor review the story before publication.
• Consent can be withdrawn. A source or family may revoke media consent in writing at any time (SFUSD media-consent form). Once consent is revoked, no new identifiable material is published and the source is removed from the publication roster.

What advisor review means. When the student editor and advisor review a sensitive story before publication, that review is limited to safeguarding, consent, and legal risk — is everyone protected, is consent in order, is there a defamation or privacy problem. It is not viewpoint approval. Under California Education Code §48907 and SFUSD Board Policy 5145.2, students determine the content of their journalism, and the advisor does not exercise prior restraint over a story’s viewpoint or conclusions.

• Recording requires explicit permission from every participant, before recording starts — audio, video, telephone, meeting-platform or screen. Ask before pressing record. No covert recording, ever.
• Notes are always taken even when audio is recording — in case the file fails.
• Storage and handling. Recordings live on the club device or a club-managed account only, never on a personal phone or social media, and are not uploaded to any transcription, translation or AI service that is not school-approved. A lost device or file is reported to the advisor the same day.
• Off-campus reporting requires an adult. Year 1 reporters do not interview off-campus alone, and a Year 3 mentor is not a substitute for an adult: either by phone or email with parent consent on file, in person with the advisor or another approved adult present, or in person at pickup with a parent present.

Interview recordings, notes, and logs are working records, handled like this:

• Access. Only the reporter, the student editor, and the advisor may open a story’s recordings and interview logs.
• Retention. Recordings and raw notes are kept only until the issue they support is published and corrected, and no longer than the end of the school year.
• Deletion. At year’s end, recordings and identifiable raw material are deleted from club devices and accounts; the advisor confirms deletion.
• Consent revoked. If a source revokes consent, their identifiable recordings and material are removed and deleted, and any unpublished material is not used.
• Lost or exposed material. A lost device or file, or any exposure of source material, is reported to the advisor the same day; the advisor decides what must be changed or who must be told.

• Read back every direct quote at the end of the interview: “I have you saying X — is that right?” This is an accuracy check: a source may fix a quote that is wrong, but does not rewrite or approve an accurate quote (see What a source can and cannot do, below).
• Translated quotes are flagged for the Bilingual Copy Editor before publication. The original-language quote is preserved in the interview log.
• Cultural read. If a phrase is accurate in one language but would be misread in the other, the reporter notes it and consults the Bilingual Copy Editor rather than deciding alone.
• No quote is invented, smoothed, or combined from multiple sentences. If a source rambles, paraphrase — do not fabricate a clean quote.

• Correct an inaccurate quote — always. If we got it wrong, we fix it.
• Approve the finished story — no. Agreeing to an interview does not give a source approval over the article.
• Stop cooperating — yes. A source may end an interview or decline further questions at any time.
• Revoke media consent (AFY students and families) — yes, in writing at any time (SFUSD media-consent form). Once revoked, we publish no new identifiable material and remove them from the publication roster.
• Ask for removal after publication — this goes to the student editor and advisor, who weigh accuracy, harm (especially to a minor), and the public record; see Correcting the record.

• Where. A correction is requested through the advisor or the student editor; a correction contact is listed with each issue.
• Who decides. The student editor and advisor evaluate the request for accuracy and, where a minor or a safety concern is involved, for harm.
• How it’s marked. An online article carries a dated correction note at the foot of the piece stating what changed; the original error is not silently overwritten.
• Both languages. A correction to a bilingual story is published in both the English and the Chinese versions.

Protecting a source does not mean keeping a secret about someone getting hurt. If anything in an interview suggests a person is being harmed, is hurting themselves, is being threatened, or is in danger, the reporter stops and tells the advisor the same day, and does not promise a source to keep it secret. That responsibility belongs to the advisor, not the reporter.

• No photograph of an identifiable AFY student is published without a signed media consent on file and the family’s choice recorded on the club’s publication consent roster.
• No identifiable photograph of a minor outside AFY is taken or published without written consent from a parent or guardian. Verbal permission is not sufficient for a photograph intended for publication.
• Crowd and public-event photographs in which no minor is identifiable or the subject of the frame do not require individual consent; if a reporter is unsure whether a child is identifiable, the photograph is treated as identifiable.
• Adult sources in commercial or public settings may be photographed with verbal permission, logged in the interview note.
• Captions identify who, what and when — plus one detail not visible in the photograph.