About the content
Advertising
The Standard does not run advertisements.
Births / Marriages
The Standard will consider covering births and marriages involving ASL student, faculty and staff members, unless those members make clear that they do not want their announcement to be published.
Commentary
Commentary pieces express the views of the writer only and not the entire staff. Commentary pieces outside of the opinion section will be labeled as such.
Culture
The Culture section strives to cover and review all content related to technology, literature, TV, film, fashion and art in the ASL and greater community.
Deaths, suicides & obituaries
Deaths in the community, including suicides, will be covered with a 300-450 word story about their life, with the addition of the deceased person’s school picture. The editorial board will be respectful of the deceased person’s family and ask for consent before publishing any additional information regarding the death.
Donations
Donations to The Standard are not accepted, as the budget for the production of the newspaper is covered entirely by the administration. Mini-grants may be explored when needed. Parents of staff members may be asked to cover the costs of sustenance during production cycles.
Features
Content in the features section will include various types of human-interest stories of individuals in or associated with the ASL community, as well as other investigative pieces.
News
The News section should strive to cover all newsworthy items in a timely manner, as defined by the journalistic values of currency, timeliness, weight, and relevance to the school community. News briefs are short news stories that do not merit a full article.
Photo Credits
If The Standard receives a photo from an outside source that did not directly take the photo and is unsure of the actual photographer, write, “Photo courtesy of…”
If the photo is from an official website or a photo archive that allows certain photos to be used for non-profit reasons (e.g. Creative Commons in Flickr), write, “Photo used with permission from…”
For Flickr photos, write “Photo used with permission from photographerusername/flickr.”
Photo Illustrations
If a photo is manipulated in any way, depicting a scene that is not an exact representation of the moment shot, then the photo is credited as a “Photo illustration by…” This includes the removal or addition of people/objects and any edits that change the subject’s appearance in the photo.
Photo Usage and Placement
All photos are used with consent of the photographer. The staff must attempt to use student-generated content in all instances. When this is not possible and a photo from an external source must be used instead, the photo must either be an approved image from its official website to fall under “fair use”, or come from a photo archive that The Standard has permission to use.
Plagiarism
Any acts of claiming someone else’s work as one’s own will not be tolerated by The Standard. Anyone who plagiarizes will lose the right to publish for the rest of the school year. Plagiarism is a Code of Conduct violation, and any staff members who have committed these actions should expect to be held accountable by school administration as well as the editorial board.
Reviews
Each review should strive to show the reviewer’s opinion of the subject being reviewed, such as movies, books, plays, restaurants, video games, music, etc. All reviews should follow the quality standards and structures of professional review writing. School performances may be reviewed if the editorial board deems it appropriate. Reviews represent the opinion of the writer and not necessarily that of the staff.
Sources & anonymity
Generally, it is unacceptable for any form of anonymous quote or attribution to run in The Standard. Exceptions may occur in cases where the speaker may be faced with harm or damage to his/her reputation; such cases must be approved by both the section editor, editor-in-chief and adviser.
Sports
The Standard’s sports coverage is used to keep the American School in London community updated with news related to the school’s athletics. Stories should cover teams, results, players, and news related to faculty and school staff such as coaches or administrators. Since The Standard is a monthly newspaper, individual games should not constitute an entire article in this section with few exceptions. Statistics and/or pictures are expected for each story in the section as the situation requires. Professional sports should only be covered when there is a relevant ASL angle.
