LAW, ETHICS, &
NEWS LITERACY
I'm quite fascinated by the legal and ethical side of journalism. If it's about student press law (or press law in general), copyright, or whether or not to print certain information, I've got it down. Journalism isn’t just about gathering facts—it’s about navigating the legal and ethical responsibilities that come with publishing them.
As editor-in-chief, I’ve tackled complex questions about what we can and should publish, whether it’s handling takedown requests, verifying anonymous sources, or ensuring our coverage remains fair and accurate.
Legal Experience
Copyright Law
"AYAAN, CAN I USE THIS IMAGE?"
Good question.
Ask any member of my staff, they’ll tell you that this is probably the single-most heard question over the past year…up until this past October. But we'll get to that.
When I took over the newspaper in June 2023, I realized that many of the images we had used over the past few years had been in violation of copyright law. (Shhh!) Rest assured, I found out that the statute of limitations in most cases is three years, and I’m proud, grateful, and relieved to say we have now passed that date.
That being said though, one of my first major actions as editor-in-chief was to crack down on the illegal use of images. Our September 2023 issue was full of me pestering my staff with the constant question:
"Where did you get
this image?"
By December of that year though, my staff had learned the drill: no random internet images. I gave them resources like Wikimedia, Creative Commons search filters, and more to find the right visuals. What they didn’t know was, “what exactly makes an image legit?”
For most of last year, I mostly answered “can I use this image?” with a simple “yes” or “no” after briefly looking at the site they got it from (veering on the side of caution).
This year, though, I decided to stop handing my staff proverbial fish and instead teach them how to fish.
Don't get me wrong: I love answering my staff's questions. Still, it's important for everyone to have this essential knowledge, not just me.I prepared a presentation on copyright law for
I've worked with the Student Press Law Center on numerous occasions, including being part of the team working to get "New Voices" legislation to protect student press rights in Pennsylvania. I've also consulted with them on issues of Right-to-Know laws, FOIAs, legal threats, and more.
I've made many engaging lessons for students I teach as a TA, including this slideshow. I like to give lessons using fun stories and interactive scenarios, encouraging students to actively respond and interact with the lessons.
Journalism 2, 3, and 4 classes, along with factsheets from the Student Press Law Center. I’m pleased to say they’ve all gained a lot — now that they know what they’re looking for, my editors and designers search for the best usable image instead of the first thing that meets legal criteria.
Litigation Threats
Running a real-world, impactful newspaper also means external challenges to our content.
One major issue both myself and my recent predecessors have faced has been legal threats stemming from an article published in February 2022. The article concerned allegations against an EHS alum, who was accused of stalking and harassing a district employee.
A few months after publication (while I was still opinion editor) our paper received an email from the subject's attorney asking us to remove the 100% factual story — corroborated by police reports and reporting from The Morning Call. His attorney incorrectly claimed it to be defamatory, and used this reasoning to ask us to take it down. If you want, you can read the article in question here — but I ask that you don't just yet (it'll spoil the ending).
After consulting with legal counsel from SPLC, politely refusing, and asking which specific part they considered defamatory, his attorney began to send more aggressive emails:
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Eventually, my former editors just decided to ignore him, his lawyer and the ten emails they sent repeating the same threats over the next few months.
The next one, however, was addressed specifically to me:
He soon followed up with a second email:
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Firstly, note that in every article published about the case, we made it clear that these were allegations, as they were charges against him. After again consulting with legal counsel, we kept the story online.
Second, notice the softer language they use, as well as the part at the beginning about the importance of student press (they’ve clearly read the editorials I’ve written). However, behind the toned-down language still lies their threats: “All that can happen if this does not get any traction on your end is a legal battle that will be costly for the school and to the students' families.”
At this point, I decided to take action — I wasn’t going to let the alum or his lawyer harass our editors forever, but I also understood his argument. As a compromise, we added a precursory statement to the story in question:
All material presented in this article represents the facts of the allegations and charges against the alum at the time of reporting in February 2022. The Stinger’s subsequent reporting on the progress and final disposition of the case can be found here, here, and here.
I'm happy to say that this appears to have been a satisfactory solution — we have not received any emails from the alum or his attorney since.
FOIAs & RTK Requests
One of my favorite things to do when writing an investigative piece is file Freedom of Information Act or Right-to-Know Law requests. There's something exhilarating about uncovering information that was previously hidden, knowing that every document I obtain brings me closer to the full story.
I filed my first FOIA request ever with the United States Department of Justice ahead of the 2023 East Penn School Board elections. A local community member and former school board member accused a candidate running for school board of being legally involved with an allegedly fraudulent local business. In 2020, the said business (owned by the candidate's husband) paid $425,000 to the DOJ to resolve allegations of falsifying Federal Student Financial Aid claims as well as running a high school diploma mill.
The candidate had previously claimed to be a co-owner of the business but backtracked after these allegations came back. In my quest to find the truth, I filed a FOIA request to obtain the details of the settlement, and report on whether or not the allegations against her were true.
You can imagine my excitement upon opening my email and finding a response from the DOJ enclosed. It wasn't the answer I was looking for, however.
Here's the full denial form:
Naturally, I was disappointed. But nevertheless I persisted in the investigation — if the government wasn't going to give me the answers, I'd just have to find them myself. Using interviews with various sources, the Internet Archive, and other resources, we were able to give the full context for the allegations against the candidate.
Since then, I've taught my staff how to file multiple other requests for various investigations we've conducted, questioning our school district, the Pennsylvania State Police, and the Department of Health.
First Amendment Work
First Amendment advocacy has been a center of multiple editorials and opinion pieces I've written, but my passion for the subject goes deeper.
In addition to my "New Voices" involvement, I was chosen this summer to represent Pennsylvania at the USA Today/Freedom Forum Al Neuharth Free Spirit and Journalism Convention in Washington, D.C. with
a $1,000 scholarship. Named in honor of the late Al Neuharth, founder of USA Today, the 100% free program focuses on teaching young journalists from around the country about the five freedoms of the First Amendment, but specifically freedom of the press.
Over the course of a week, I met with media personalities like Chuck Todd (formerly of NBC) and Brian Lamb (the founder of
C-SPAN) and national New York Times and Washington Post reporters, discussing the current media landscape. I learned about how to protect student press freedom and further apply it in my own newsroom.
Ethics Experience
To address both legal and ethical concerns, I created from scratch a standardized Stinger Policy Handbook, detailing protocol on takedowns, advertisement policies, and more.
This ensures standardized and rational responses to situations (like the one with the aforementioned alum) that may arise. It also provides clarity for our staff when handling sensitive issues, protecting our journalistic integrity and reinforcing our commitment to ethical reporting.
One of the newest parts of the handbook I added contains a detailed entry on artificial intelligence, and our paper's response to AI in an-ever shifting climate. Read about it on pages 5-7 in the handbook.
As an innovator, I genuinely believe that AI is a great tool for our young journalists — if used carefully in controlled environments. We've started introducing ChatGPT and other AI platforms into the classroom in limited contexts — like first round copy editing — but I've made one thing absolutely clear: No content generation using AI. Not headlines, stories, photos, cutlines, or anything else.
Now, we still have copy editors go through the stories as usual, but they're able to focus moreso on things like style and fact-checking as opposed to little things that bogged them down, like AP Style or grammatical errors.
Media Literacy Experience
Last year, I won first place and a $1,000 scholarship in the Journalism Education Association/Society of Professional Journalists High School Essay Competition for writing about ways to improve media literacy.
One of the problems I see in my own community today is a lack of civic engagement and rampant disinformation, and I believe a lack of media literacy lies at the root of this issue. By increasing the emphasis on media literacy in public education, we can work to fix this.
Media literacy, like algebra, must become a state-mandated high school
graduation requirement. Being able to tell the difference between information and entertainment is just as vital as the logical thinking skills developed through algebra, and going forward, we must emphasize it as such. Through a thorough curriculum curated by journalists, educators, and media literacy specialists, this nation should teach future voters to think critically of how national and global news is presented. I want to work to make this a reality through public policy.
Next year, through work with the University of Pennsylvania’s Netter Center, I want to emphasize media literacy to West Philly’s K-12 population, so students understand the news they read. Through working with youth, I want to help develop awareness of media literacy in my new community — and later, bring my experiences across the country, sharing this vital practice where it's needed the most. I recently submitted a research proposal to Penn's Center for Undergraduate Research (CURF) to conduct media literacy research in West Philly, Sweden, and more.
As an intended political science major, I also plan to work with lawmakers, educators, and journalists to make my dream of standardized media literacy training a reality in public education.