All staff and prospective staff members must agree, in writing, to abide by The Hoya Editorial and Ethical Standards as delineated in this document. Failure to acknowledge acceptance of these policies will preclude writers, reporters, editors and other staff members from working for The Hoya.

All staff at The Hoya are expected to know and understand these rules and to submit the Plagiarism Policy & Ethics Statement as acknowledgement of having received this policy.

Staff must adhere to the following ethical principles in doing their work. They must read and sign this policy, understand The Hoya’s reporter competency process and take responsibility for adhering to the newspaper's Policy for Plagiarism and Copyright Infringement.

1. Staff will never submit plagiarized or fabricated material. Plagiarism at The Hoya shall be defined as submitting another person's work, whether previously published or not, as your own, or taking portions of another person's work, whether published or not, and presenting them as your own in your work without properly attributing them to the person who created the work. In terms of the law, if the plagiarized work is then published in the newspaper, that could constitute copyright infringement. Fabrication shall be defined as attributing to a fictional or incorrect source.

Any person caught committing plagiarism and/or copyright infringement will face the following disciplinary action:

a. The employee will be immediately fired from the newspaper and will never be permitted to work for the newspaper again.

b. A person who commits copyright infringement must pay all costs related to settling with any aggrieved party. For example, if the writer of a previously published work is entitled to receive payment as a result to the writer’s actions, the student who committed the plagiarism must pay the requested price to The Hoya. The newspaper will then pay the person to whom payment is owed.

c. Any student refusing to fulfill the financial obligations incurred from copyright infringement will be subject to legal action by the aggrieved party.

2. Staff will never submit work (story or photograph) concerning an organization, business, social group, or academic society to which they belong or to which they previously belonged without the approval of their editor. If an editor offers such a story to a staff member, the staff member will immediately disclose their conflict of interest and request another story.

3. Staff will not use anyone as a source whose relationship with them could create a conflict of interest or unduly influence the course of their reporting. In the event that they write a story that requires them to mention or interview a staff member of The Hoya, they will make their editor aware of this fact.

4. While working for The Hoya, staff will not take a job with any office of Georgetown University that disseminates information to the news media, including (but not limited to) the Office of Communications or the Office of Sports Information.

5. Staff will never promise that a source will be quoted anonymously. Only a senior editor in consultation with the editor in chief can promise anonymity to a source. If a source requests anonymity, staff will tell the source that they can make no promises and can only honor the request if the senior editorial staff agrees.

6. Staff will not print anything in the newspaper that is untrue, or that they have reason to believe is untrue. If a staff member believes a source may not be telling the truth, he or she will not print what the source says, and will seek a more reliable and credible source. Staff members will also point out any such suspicions to a senior editor.

7. Staff will not accept free gifts of any substantial value from a newsmaker or a source.

8. When a staff member covers a news event or interviews a source, he/she will always dress appropriately and behave courteously. Staff will not get personally involved in any news event that they cover, nor will they take part in any activity that occurs at a news event, unless a senior editor has assigned them to write about the event from the point of view of a participant.

9. Staff will only claim to represent The Hoya in an official capacity when performing an assignment for the newspaper. Staff will not speak officially on behalf of the newspaper, claim to represent the newspaper officially, or claim the identity of the newspaper in any personal or private matter, such as on a Web site or to the news media. Only the editor in chief and chair of the board of directors may officially speak for the newspaper. Staff also will not claim to represent The Hoya in any personal or private matter in an effort to get special favors or to persuade someone to act in their favor.

10. If staff take on a leadership position in any political or social advocacy group they will notify their editor immediately. While staff may pass on tips and information, involvement in any community group means they cannot report on or write about issues related to that group, and that if their advocacy becomes too public and they become a newsmaker, they may be asked to resign their position at The Hoya.

11. Staff acknowledge that all writing, photographs, illustrations, layout and other works developed, composed, compiled, produced or written by them, become the property of The Hoya once they appear in print or on The Hoya’s Web site. This includes any and all works developed composed, compiled, produced or written including during the reporter competency process. Reprinting permission requests for any works must be submitted to the managing editor. Staff acknowledges that the board of directors of THE HOYA through the managing editor and editor in chief has final discretion to grant or deny a release for reprinting and works may only be reprinted for the explicit purpose for which the release was granted.

12. Staff members understand that under the terms of The Hoya’s reporter competency process, they may apply to be a staff writer only after complying with the competency process’ minimum requirements. Staff acknowledge that The Hoya has no obligation legal or otherwise to ever grant anyone the status of a staff member.

13. Staff members may not be members of any secret organizations or societies.

14. Staff members will report to their editor all errors in The Hoya that they are aware of so the errors may be corrected in the next edition of the newspapers.

15. Staff members are expected to use common sense in their reporting and editing. They acknowledge that no ethics policy can be all-encompassing and will report anything that they feel is a violation of journalistic ethics, even if not included in this document, to their editor.

Parts of this document were adopted from the Kennesaw State Sentinal’s code of ethics