The following student journalist code of conduct is meant to present some industry journalistic guidelines and common ethical concerns from a Humber student’s perspective.
This aligns with Humber College’s existing student code of conduct and Humber’s policies on academic dishonesty which cover plagiarism and the falsification and fabrication of content (such as interview sources).
Reporting on Campus
As Humber journalism students, you can practice your filming and interviewing skills in common areas around your campus, within reason. When setting up cameras and tripods, we’d ask you to be mindful of others and try not to impede traffic flow in the hallways. Please sign out an official “press pass” from the newsroom so that security guards, staff and other students know you are journalism students working on projects.
Journalism is considered non-commercial speech, and as a result, we generally do not need our interview subjects to sign waivers or releases when we film in public areas. We respect people’s reasonable expectations of privacy – this means we do not film them without permission in an area where they might reasonably expect privacy (such as washrooms, classrooms, doctor’s offices, through windows of buildings or their homes). You are generally okay to film people in public spaces on campus or walking in public areas outside.
When you film on private property (such as a shopping mall, or another University or College campus) you will require permission beforehand. Please check any relevant rules before you head out. You generally do not require permission to film on public sidewalks.
Some areas of Humber’s campus are more sensitive and do require advanced permission. Check with a faculty member if you want to film in the health centre, the daycare centre, or any retail setting. The Humber Athletics and Recreation centre also requires advanced notice for any filming. If you are working on a longer feature, like a TV special or documentary, and will be occupying one space for a longer period, you may be required to fill out a Temporary Use of Space permit. Check with your faculty member for details.
Accuracy and Fairness
Journalism’s foundation is built on the trust of our viewers, listeners or readers. The integrity of Humber Journalism depends on our efforts to ensure everything we produce is accurate. We must also provide any subjects of potentially harmful allegations with the opportunity to respond. When we make errors (or errors of omission) we should correct them promptly and transparently as warranted.
To quote the Toronto Star’s guidelines:
“Fair news reports provide relevant context, do not omit relevant facts and aim to be honest with readers about what we know and what we do not know.”
Objectivity
Humber student journalists bring to their work their own opinions and life experiences. This can help inform their reporting and enhance the work of our student newsroom. Our work should be approached in an objective manner, with the goal of reflecting multiple sides of a story.
Opinion Writing
It may be common for most people to express their opinions on social media, or share stories that align with their pre-existing opinions, but as student journalists, we try to hold ourselves to a different standard. You should refrain from directly expressing a personal opinion on a topic, unless you are working on an editorial assignment. Opinion pieces should be clearly identified as such on our website, and should not misrepresent other points of view.
Conflict of interest
Humber journalists are required to approach assignments from a position of impartiality and independence. This can be threatened if there is a real, or perceived, conflict of interest. According to the CBC’s Journalistic standards and practices:
“This means we strive to avoid actions that create an impression of partisanship or of advocacy for a cause. It means we consider carefully what organizations we associate with. It means that we are mindful of our public statements. And it means we recognize that our personal and business relationships have the potential to affect the perception of our work.”
What does a conflict-of-interest mean for a student journalist? It means you should avoid reporting on a situation that could put you in a situation that questions your independence. It means you cannot report on your immediate family. It also means you cannot report on places where you work, or teams, clubs or political organizations to which you are a member (that includes positions with IGNITE).
To paraphrase the New York Time’s ethical guidelines, when it comes to politics, it is okay to be a spectator, but “journalists have no place on the playing field.” That means you are encouraged to vote and hold political opinions but should not campaign or endorse candidates or lobbying efforts. If you have any doubts, then discuss the situation with a faculty member. Transparency is required when dealing with a real or perceived conflict of interest.
The Canadian Association of Journalists provides very clear guidance on the issue of conflicts of interest.
Plagiarism (Taking credit for someone else’s work)
A journalist's job is to learn about a subject by conducting interviews and then weaving those comments into a story. To quote the Globe and Mail’s journalistic principles: “It is unacceptable to invent or falsify a quote, source, anecdote, detail or anything else pertaining to the news.”
It is not acceptable to copy and paste interviews from other sources and misrepresent it as your work. This is called plagiarism, and it is a violation of Humber’s Academic Misconduct policies:
Plagiarism can be understood as the act of copying, reproducing or paraphrasing significant portions of someone else’s published or unpublished material, and representing these as one’s own thinking by not acknowledging the appropriate source or by the failure to use appropriate quotation marks.
Generative AI
Generative AI is a technology that uses trained data models to generate high-quality original text, images, graphics and video. You may be familiar with products like ChatGPT, MidJourney, or Google's BARD.
Humber News will not publish stories with text written by generative AI services. Wired magazine provides excellent guidance for its reporters in this area:
"The current AI tools are prone to both errors and bias, and often produce dull, unoriginal writing. In addition, we think someone who writes for a living needs to constantly be thinking about the best way to express complex ideas in their own words. Finally, an AI tool may inadvertently plagiarize someone else’s words. If a writer uses it to create text for publication without a disclosure, we’ll treat that as tantamount to plagiarism." - Wired
Humber Journalism publications will not publish AI-generated images or graphics without explicit permission of faculty. The rare exceptions to this rule might involve scenarios where the fact that content is AI-generated is the whole point of the story. In that case, any use of AI content must be fully disclosed to our audience.
Generative AI can be used as a great tool to assist reporters with their work, such as helping to brainstorm questions and refine story structures. Your faculty will discuss appropriate uses in class. Humber students should never soley rely on generative AI programs to conduct research: the CBC advises its journalists to "always use multiple sources to confirm facts."
Writing for Outside sources
Student journalists are encouraged to develop their portfolios by writing for outside sources. However, you cannot submit that material for your Humber assignments. Conversely, you cannot submit material produced for Humber Journalism to outside publications without the explicit permission of faculty.
Conducting Interviews and Providing Questions in Advance
Humber student journalists are open and transparent when seeking interviewees and presenting their comments and statements.
Sometimes you may encounter situations where you are asked to provide questions in advance of an interview to help them prepare. It is not considered good journalistic practice to do that. Instead, you can inform people of the subject of your story, and the general topics your questions will cover, but we do not provide actual questions in advance (Think of it as the difference between telling someone where you’d like to drive, and giving them the turn-by-turn navigation instructions on your GPS).
Humber student journalists never pay someone for an interview, or provide a veto over the final content or promise to let interviewees review their stories before publication.
If the only way to gather comments from a subject is through email or social media, we should disclose this in our stories. If a person refuses to be interviewed or provide comment, we should advise our audience of this refusal (and when appropriate, provide the reasons given).
Diversity of Sources
Humber student journalists should be conscious of the range of opinions and experiences in our audience. Care should be taken when developing sources or seeking comments for our stories to reflect the diversity of our community in terms of gender, race, sexual-orientation and gender identity.
Real Names policy
Humber student journalists should strive to identify all interview subjects using their full names. We do not withhold someone’s first or last name because they are shy or embarrassed about speaking to us. However, there may be some situations where a person’s safety or job security may be at risk if they are fully identified. Discuss these situations with a faculty member who must approve each situation beforehand.
Correcting, Withholding stories or Unpublishing Stories
The work of Humber Student Journalists is part of the public record, and we reserve the right to publish any material gathered provided it complies with established journalistic standards and practices. We may correct or update articles as necessary if there is a significant factual error.
We generally avoid “unpublishing” content or removing details such as names from stories already on our website or in our archives. Requests to withhold stories or unpublish material already on the website are taken seriously and must be made by faculty. We may decide to remove material if: 1) a person’s safety or job security is threatened, or 2) the information gathered is no longer accurate or relevant. These policies are in line with other media outlets such as the Globe and Mail and the CBC’s journalistic standards and practices.
Social media (Humber Journalism related)
Humber College has specific media guidelines concerning “official” social media accounts: these are channels that are clearly identified as belonging to one of our platforms (such as HumberETC or Scribe magazine). In order to comply with Humber’s social media policies, all log-in information must be shared with faculty, who in turn, must share that with Humber Communications.
Social Media (personal)
Humber student journalists are encouraged to use their own personal accounts to promote their stories, or stories by their colleagues.
Please be responsible in your use of social media, and be aware that potential employers may audit your content when you are looking for work.
Humber’s student code of conduct also applies to your personal use of technology and personal communications (which covers email, texting and social media). You cannot use your personal accounts to harass or bring harm to another student, a community member at Humber, or the community in general. Please review the policy.
For further reference:
These guidelines are based on the professional practices and guidelines set out in the following journalistic codes of conduct: