Editorial Policy

The following is the editorial policy for Bearing News.

Editorial Board: The paper’s editorial board, made up of the Editors-In-Chief  and editors of Southpaw and Bearing News and the Advisor of the Journalism Department will review all opinion pieces, including staff written editorials, submitted for publication, for us in the opinion pages only. Opinions expressed in signed works are those of the author and not necessarily of the entire staff.

Statement of Purpose: Bearing News is published and updated multiple times a week for the benefit of the population of Rock Bridge High School and the community. The purpose of the publication is to inform, involve, educate, enlighten and entertain our readers fairly and accurately. In addition, Bearing News operates as an open forum for student and faculty expression.

Letters to the Editor: The paper encourages letters but reserves the right to edit or reject material based on the standards set by all members of the journalism staff.
All letters with grammatical errors will be printed as received. Anyone wishing to submit a letter must sign with a valid signature. The author of the letter will be named. If a group writes a letter, all members must present a valid signature.

Content: Southpaw staff will write all stories for publication with the exception of letters to the editor, pieces submitted by students of the Journalistic Writing class or guest writers. Every story is reviewed by the editorial board and the editor of the section of the story.

Removing names from articles: Names or images of sources that appear in stories that have been published on Bearing News will not be removed, as to not adjust the truth of the situation as of the time of publication. Furthermore, if part of the article is altered in such a way, the article itself must come down, which is not fair to the writer, the artist or photographer and the other sources quoted.

Bylines and Credits: Southpaw assigns bylines to every published story to make the responsibility of the article publicly known. Staff editorials are the only articles in Southpaw which will appear without a byline. Staff Editorials are reflect the opinions of the staff on particular issues. For each Staff Editorial, Southpaw staff votes on the issue and the result of the vote is published.
Southpaw will assign photo and art credits to every photo or piece of artwork that is published. Such credits are the responsibility of the editor of the section in which the photo or artwork appears. Photographers are responsible for the photo and its caption. Artists are responsible for the artwork.

Error: Any noteworthy factual misinformation made in Southpaw will be corrected in the succeeding issue and on Bearing News upon request or detection by staff.

Advertising: Please use the contact submission form to inquiry for more details about advertising in Southpaw.

Publication: Bearing News is a joint publication produced by the staff of Southpaw newspaper and the Journalism Editors Seminar class and is advised by Therasia Brautigam. Bearing News is run from Rock Bridge High School, on 4303 South Providence Road, Columbia, Mo. 65203. The members of the Journalistic Writing class also publishes a special edition of Southpaw.

Comment Policy: Bearing News encourages comments to further discussion in the school and community and to engage readers. The Bearing News staff has the right to approve or deny any comments to a story. Comments should not contain provocative language, dubious language or profanity and cannot constitute personal attacks. The person commenting must enter his or her first and last name and email to comment on a story.

Editorials: Opinion pieces, including commentaries, blogs and editorials are all featured on Bearing News, and express the opinionated views of the writer. All opinions expressed in signed works are those of the signer and not necessarily those of the Bearing News staff, the RBHS faculty and staff or the administration of Columbia Public Schools. Opinion pieces express the opinion of the author and not necessarily the entire staff. Individuals may submit content by submitting the contact form on this website. The Bearing News staff holds the right to edit the letter to the editor as needed to hold it to the website’s standard and style. When a group submits a letter to Bearing News, each person in that group must sign with a valid signature. The Bearing News editorial board, made up of Journalism Editors Seminar students, will review all opinion pieces, including staff-written editorials, submitted for publication for use in the Op/Ed section of Bearing News.

Contact Information: Please fill out the contact form on Bearing News with any questions, concerns or feedback.