Introduction
Understanding the laws that protect me in my role as a student journalist has been integral to my time reporting on the Northwest Passage. I’ve written about Trump’s executive orders targeting migrant students and changed their names in order to protect their identity. I’ve advised staffers as they cover the mistreatment of female teachers, and uncovered bullying in school-sanctioned group chats. I’ve photographed protests, and so much more. I used to think about journalism press, law, and ethics in the context of censorship or extensive legal battles. But every story, design and photo comes with its own set of ethical questions. As an editor, and reporter, I have to question how content is best serving readers, protecting sources, and uncovering injustices, errors and issues that affect society. Me and my editors have had lengthy discussions before contacting the Student Press Law Center over legal concerns with publishing a column that entailed assault, and named the assaulter. And we’ve also made comments questioning whether it was right to include a photo in an Instagram post. One isn’t more significant than the other. Knowing my rights and responsibilities as a student journalist have continued to act as the guard rails for my ambition.
Ethics in Reporting and Publishing (Content Overview)
Back story: This story came after divisive messages were sent in the class of 2026 group chat that was created and monitored by student council. A large portion of our staff are seniors, so conversations about the messages, which were making fun of one female student, spread quickly. The writers for this story were also senior girls, who were very passionate about what was happening and consistently advocated about why it was wrong. Especially in high school, there are many circumstances where I see journalistic features lean into advocacy, which compromises credibility. I made sure throughout the editing process that their writing was objective and lacked editorialization. We had a class discussion about whether the male students who sent those messages should be interviewed, and predicted how they might respond, or what questions they should be asked. We decided that it was important to contact everyone involved in the situation such as student council exec, the student council sponsor, the girl who was being bullied, and the male students who sent those messages. To our surprise, the boys involved were interested in being interviewed. We weren’t interested in publishing their opinions on the situation or recount of what happened. We wanted to know why they sent those messages, how that female student was impacted as a result, and how students and administration feels about it/what they planned to do. What happened can be found by simply scrolling through that group chat. We also made the decision to publish screenshots of messages, full naming senders, in a photo illustration, because it was a school regulated group chat that over 400 people had access to.
Back story: This profile I wrote is about the experience of a senior who did students’ homework for money. I heard about this through my Editor-in-Chief and knew she had to be covered. Not only did I find it interesting that in an age of artificial intelligence abuse a student was manually completing assignments for others, which seemed old school, but I’d wanted to know how she wasn’t getting caught. To protect her identity she was given a fake name and her face wasn’t shown. Me and my adviser also scrutinized each description to ensure she wasn’t being clearly identified. While our staff takes many measures to avoid using fake names, as that can diminish our credibility, and creates general disinterest amongst readers, sometimes they are necessary, and the seriousness of that varies.
Back story: The Northwest Passage was one of the first student newspaper staffs in the country to cover I.C.E. raids, specifically at a local level. In March of 2025 when President Trump first signed executive orders that targeted immigrants — making good on promises he made of detaining immigrants and securing the southern border during his campaign trail — it felt as though half of our story brainstorm document pertained to this. Almost immediately, we assembled a team of reporter, which I lead, and interviewed local legislators, law enforcement, English Language Learner (ELL) teachers, and migrant students. We had many conversations about the student interviews, which disclosed close encounters with I.C.E., and didn’t want to endanger them further through publishing their stories. We decided to change their names, even though many sources had surprisingly said they didn’t care if their names went in the paper or not. Despite their opinions on the matter it was our job as reporters to protect their identities. We also made sure to not be too descriptive in ways that revealed their identity. This story had many drafts and was looked through by numerous sets of eyes because we understood the weight this had comments from the office of Congresswoman Sharice Davids. We also reached out to Republican Senators for their comment as well. Our story starts with a girl hiding with her family, crying, as I.C.E. agents pounded on her door. I’ve learned that in practicing journalistic ethics I need to not only ensure that I’m protecting sources, but approaching serious topics with sensitivity, and delivering information in ways that are compelling and unbiased.
Back story: This was a very interview-intensive story, so I had to make many decisions about what should and shouldn’t be included from those difficult conversations. This feature displays various perspectives from the loved ones of Will Ensley, a rising senior who died in a nine-car pile up at the start of my sophomore year. I spoke with his parents on their living room couch, they even took me up to his bedroom. I attended his funeral, and talked to his girlfriend, best friend and swim coach. His death was already a very traumatic event for the community, so I had to think deeply about framing this story with moving details that weren’t over the top or insensitive. Ethical dilemnas didn’t only arise in the writing and publishing of this story, but with contacting people such as Sharon Ensley, Will’s mother, or what questions I should ask his girlfriend, Josie, who was more reluctant to speak. The only other news about Will or his death had been published in 200 word news briefs or video clips where one question reporters asked Josie at school was “if Will was here, what’s one thing you’d say to him.” I thought it was very important especially for this story to talk with sources in spaces where they were most comfortable. Originally, Sharon wanted to come in on a school day for the interview, but I proposed her house to give her more privacy. There are also particular details in this story where Josie is hinting at how serious Will’s injuries were based on his physical appearance in the hospital before he passed. I had to strike a delicate balance between revealing just enough to insinuate he withstood so much damage after his car was essentially crushed, but not too much where it was graphic or disturbing. I wanted this to be both informative and deeply personal. I wanted readers to know what the inside of his room looked like, how his parents were carrying on, and why his girlfriend wasn’t going to school. As a reporter I have the privilege of obtaining and understanding information that is mostly inaccessible. It’s my duty share that, but in ways that are best serving readers and their understanding.
Back story: My Editor-in-Chief and I worked on this story my junior year, which covers how our football team was commemorating their season to a football player, Ovet Gomez-Regalado, who died of heatstroke during summer conditioning. We not only interviewed players and coaches, attended practice, rode the bus to and from the game, and stood on the sidelines at games taking notes. We noticed a contrast between the emotional vulnerability players showed in closed door conversations, versus when they were playing. We were also startled to hear how coaches spoke to players on the sidelines. Towards the end of our story we decided to publish a quote where on of the coaches is cursing at their players. We censored the curse word, and there was a long conversation with our adviser about whether it was right to publish this. One of the worries was whether this would make the football coaches look bad. But me and Grace thought this best served the story, because it is a very real depiction of their dynamics and relationships. That even though this boy died and each member of the team was grieving in their own way, when they came together during practice and at games it was as though nothing changed. They cared about Ovet, and football. They dedicated the season to Ovet and pushed very hard to win their games in his honor. There are circumstances where publishing curse words could detract from the meaning and only sensationalize what’s happening, but we believe it was doing the opposite here. We also worried about the potential repercussions of coaches getting upset we had published this and how that might negatively impact relationships between them and future reporters. That didn’t end up happening, and we still maintain strong relationships with players and coaches at Northwest, but we still took a very big risk.
Back story: Last year we created a politics centered issue featuring political polarization in high school, like teacher relationships, student friendships, political clubs, and more. We wanted to create a mock election and administer it to students. Our principal made a visit to our classroom and advised us not to do it, stating that would further cause issues and divides, not only amongst students and staff, but also upset parents. Knowing our rights, we decided to do it anyway, and published an editorial about how we were the only student publication in our district that did this. We advocated as a staff for the importance of civil engagement and how mock elections help us independently collect data that is local and relevant only to Northwest. In this editorial we also recognize our protections under the Kansas Student Press Laws that protect us from being censored, and which allowed to conduct a mock election, despite reservations from administration, and publish this story. Our adviser said, after we distributed the issue, that many people and advisers outside of Kansas were talking about this and how it was bold at a time where journalists, especially students, are becoming increasingly censored, specifically when in publishing remotely political content.
Contests
I competed in the Press Law and Ethics category at the JEA 2025 Fall Convention in Nashville, Tenn. Hundreds of successful student journalists that come from award winning publications across the country come to compete in categories like this, so the competition intensity is high. In this contest I was quizzed on specific court cases such as Tinker vs. Des Moines, Hazelwood vs. Kuhlmeier, McCulloch vs. Maryland, and more. I was also presented with hypothetical ethical dilemmas and asked to respond as head editor. For this contest I studied notes and a presentation given to me by my adviser that he teaches his introduction to journalism class. I received an honorable mention in this category and plan on competing again in Minneapolis this spring for a superior.
Understanding Press Laws, and Protections
I am extremely lucky and privileged to be in Kansas, a state that recognizes protections for student journalists. Not only am I protected under the Kansas Student Press Laws, which my previous adviser, Susan Massy, played an important advocacy role in its passage. I understand that this state law not only protects press freedom of student journalists, bu also of my adviser, and it guarantees that they cannot be punished for refusing to censor student speech, with some exceptions (i.e. libel, obscenity, or substantial disruption). Since my time on staff we have published content that some might label as controversial, relating to transgender rights, spanish language curriculums, executive orders targeting migrants, politics, and more. I am grateful for the ways our school administration is always willing to work with us and recognizes our rights and power. Our staff doesn’t ever try to abuse this privilege, and above asking “but, can we publish this?” we ask “why should we publish this?”