News Literacy
A good student publication produces good journalism. A great student publication produces great journalists.
Recording interviews
Braswell Media creates audio recordings of all interviews. This makes transcribing the quote easier during the writing process and protects the program from charges of misattribution.
Once the subject has granted permission to record, we ask them to state their name to prevent errors in attribution.
Reagan Netherland interviews Jada Inanga, senior, regarding her experiences on the Braswell Royals Drill Team.
Keep opinions in the opinions section
Reagan Netherland leaves a comment on a spread assigned to Jordan Doty, section editor. Throughout the year, Netherland pushed staff members to rely on quotes to tell the story.
From the smallest caption in the yearbook to the latest hard news article, all copy produced by Braswell Media must be free of editorializing. The way we teach it to our younger staff members is: "Let the quotes tell the story."
Often, when a writer injects their opinion into a piece (outside of clearly-labeled op-ed and opinion articles, of course), they are not relying upon their quotes nearly enough.
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Consumers of our newspaper, yearbook, and broadcast are expecting nothing but credible information. The insertion of anything but fact, even at its most "harmless", breaks that trust between the publication and our audience.
ABC (Always Be Crediting)
Our program benefits from an abundance of local amateur and professional photographers who are willing to contribute photographs to our newspaper and yearbook.
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We use these resources sparingly, as we want our publications to reflect the work of the students that run them. However, when we do accept these photograph donations, we are sure to properly credit them for their work.
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Doing so gives these contributors the recognition they deserve, and also gets our staff members into the practice of abiding by copyright laws (essential to a career in journalism).
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Click the images to expand. Credits to photographers are indicated by an orange box.
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Braswell Media reposts a video from the Braswell Guitar Club's Instagram feed.
Mind your sources
Before we submit any page or article, we ask our writers to check their sources.
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In the newspaper, this could look like verifying with campus or district administration before publishing news specific to our school or district.
In the yearbook, this means double-checking that all quotes and names are attributed to the correct people in a photo, or making sure an individual was on the roster of an extracurricular before publishing their quote about being in that activity.
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This dedication to being truthful and reliable can also be seen in our social media platforms. For example, our Instagram and TikTok pages only repost the official accounts of administration, staff, or school-related activities.
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The gist.
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Creating a solid foundation for a program matters.
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There is no excuse for sloppy journalism.
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Creating good writing habits in Braswell Media staff members will set them up for whatever future career they find themselves in.