Declaration Social Media Policy

In the interest of being transparent and to remove inherent bias, our Declaration newsroom will adhere to the following guidelines:

• Journalists that play a sport will not be permitted to write an article about that sport unless it is a first-person column.
• Journalists also need to make sure that they are engaging responsibly on social media, in line with the values of our newsroom.
• Journalists should be especially mindful of appearing to take sides on issues that The Declaration is seeking to cover objectively.
• Always treat others with respect on social media. If a reader questions or criticizes your work or social media post, and you would like to respond, be thoughtful. Do not imply that the person hasn’t carefully read your work.
• If the criticism is especially aggressive or inconsiderate, it’s probably best to refrain from responding. We support the right of our journalists to mute or block people on social media who are threatening or abusive.
• Be transparent. If you tweeted an error or something inappropriate and wish to delete the tweet, be sure to quickly acknowledge the deletion in a subsequent tweet and report the issue to Mrs. Allen or the Administration.
• If you are linking to other sources, aim to reflect a diverse collection of viewpoints. Sharing a range of news, opinions or satire from others is usually appropriate. But consistently linking to only one side of a debate can leave the impression that you, too, are taking sides.
• We want our journalists to feel that they can use social media to experiment with voice, framing and reporting styles — particularly when such experiments lead to new types of storytelling

If You’re Unsure About What You’re Posting:

If you don’t know whether a social media post conforms to The Declaration’s standards, ask yourself these questions: