Carlmont Journalism Policies

Below are the policies that the publications of Carlmont journalism including Scot Scoop News, ScotCenter, and The Highlander adhere to.

Student, teacher, and staff death policy

Scot Scoop News

If a Carlmont student, teacher, or staff member dies, a news brief will be published in a timely manner on Scot Scoop. The news brief should be unbiased, fact-based coverage and include:

• Who, what, when, where, and why
• Person’s full name if the family allows media coverage
• If opinion/subjective: should focus on a broader topic (focusing on broader implications of suicide, gun violence, etc.)

The Highlander

If a Carlmont student, teacher, or staff member dies, an obituary will be offered to the family and, if accepted, be printed on a page of the Highlander. The obituary should be approximately 300 words in length and include:

• A recent headshot of the person
• The person’s full name
• Date and place of death (This will not include how the person died).
• Main events in the person’s life: birth date and place and other major events.
• List of schools attended
• Survivors (parents, grandparents, and siblings).

Social Media

If a Carlmont student, teacher, or staff member dies, social media will send out a respectful, unbiased post that will include: 

• Who, what, when, where, and why based correlating on Scot Scoop article
• If opinion/subjective: focus on the broader topic in Scot Scoop article (suicide, gun violence, etc)

*The Editorial Board has the right, with a 67-80% vote, to determine whether an event is newsworthy and needing more in-depth coverage beyond this policy.

Anonymity policy

A source shall be granted anonymity upon request if revealing the identity of the source in the specified published work…

• May result in physical or emotional harm to the person or others
• May result in legal harm to the person or others 
• May result in intervention by the school, including but not limited to suspension or expulsion

The source’s identity will not be revealed to anyone except the writer of the article and the Editor-in-Chief of the publication.

• Should an anonymous source’s identity be revealed, legal action may be taken

The journalism advisor is a mandatory reporter but is not obligated to know the identity of the source. 

• Journalism students are not mandatory reporters, and therefore have no obligation under the law to report any issue which may cause harm to the source.

Anonymous tips will be investigated further and must be confirmed by at least two other known sources before any information is released to the public.

Emergency publication policy

In most cases, following the emergency, the social media team will do some form of coverage; however, this does not qualify as an emergency publication. 

Any person within the Carlmont Journalism Program (MAS included) can spearhead an emergency publication. 

• The person wishing to create an emergency publication must contact the Executive Board and the advisor.
• Executive Board must vote with an 80% majority to create the emergency publication.
• The Board must also agree with an 80% majority on which medium the emergency will be published.

Emergency multimedia publications must be created within 24 hours of the event. (Example: Smoke on the water)

Emergency print publications must be created in response to a topical event that will remain relevant for at least 2 months. (Example: Issue 4.5 Gun Reform & School Safety)

• Should the emergency publication require funding, it must be established prior to creation.
• Money may not come out of the planned annual budget.
• Money may come from a budget overflow or a donation.

Guest Article Submission Policy

Requirements:

• Headline
• Word Count: 300 – 800
• Minimum of three quotes from three sources with their permission, none can be anonymous.
• Information that was not personally witnessed must be attributed. 
• Online sources should be hyperlinked within the article.
• Every Scot Scoop article is accompanied by a photo that relates to the topic of the article. If you would like, you may submit a photo that you’ve taken with your article to be reviewed by Scot Scoop. If you do not, Scot Scoop staff will find a photo for your article. Do not submit photos that are not your own.

Please provide the following personal information:

• Full name and a way to contact you (email or phone number).
• Let us know if you are a student (and which grade you are in), parent, or a community member.

We will not publish material that is:

• Potentially libelous: Libel is a published false statement that is damaging to a person’s reputation; a written defamation. Disagreement is acceptable, but you must be able to substantiate your claims. 
• Discriminatory on any grounds: Discrimination includes, but is not limited to, prejudice based on ability, age, culture, gender, religion, or sexual orientation. This will not be tolerated or published in any of Carlmont High School’s publications.
• Obscene: Articles that are profane and vulgar will not be published. 
• Threatening: This includes, but is not limited to, bullying, harassment, intimidation, or personal attacks.
• Copyrighted or printed in another publication: Plagiarism will not be tolerated by Scot Scoop or any of Carlmont’s publications
• Poorly written: Subject to the opinion of Scot Scoop editors.

Additional information:

• As part of the submission policy, you are assigning copyright to Scot Scoop News
• Email your article to [email protected]
• Your article will be edited by Scot Scoop editors before it is published. 
• Possible article genres include local news, Bay Area news, sports, opinion, campus, features, reviews, profiles, and student life.
• News articles must be submitted within two days of the event
• Sports articles must be submitted within 24 hours of the sporting event

Scot Scoop reserves the right to refuse publication of guest articles.