Policies

Updated 12/24/2024 by Ian Faul

To increase transparency, The Hullabaloo discloses various newsroom policies related to reported coverage and publication of submitted columns here. Reach out to [email protected] with any questions.

Opinion and Letters to the editor

A letter to the editor is a brief communication written to the Opinion Editors and Editor-in-Chief, usually sent in reaction to previously published articles and editorials. Letters to the editor are a way for non-Hullabaloo staff to share their thoughts, insights and opinions on issues affecting the Tulane community.

Letters to the editor are solely the opinions of the writer(s) and not that of The Hullabaloo staff. Letters should be 500-800 words in length, and sent to [email protected].

The Hullabaloo reserves the right to edit, abridge or reject any letter, especially letters espousing hate or violence or using inflammatory language. Every letter will pass at least through fact checking and copy editing, the Managing Editor and the Editor-in-Chief, with the Editor-in-Chief having final say on whether the letter will be published. Once the letter has been submitted, no further edits from the writer, except those requested by the editor, are permitted.

Letters addressing recent issues covered by The Hullabaloo will be given precedence.

Letters must be signed and include phone number and email address. In cases of possible harm to the author, names will be withheld at editor’s discretion if authorship can be confirmed. Readers may submit anonymous tips, using the form linked here.

To contribute to the Views section, interested writers should submit an application and attend a training session. Training sessions are usually held in person throughout the first month of each semester, but an online training option is available upon request for those unable to attend. For more information, reference the Join tab or email [email protected].

Online comments and posting

The civil exchange of information and opinion is critical to The Hullabaloo’s mission and we encourage reader participation in our social media feeds and website. However, The Hullabaloo has the right to not approve and/or remove comments that meet one or more of the following criteria:

• Racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic or other bigoted language
• Personal info (doxxing)
• Unrelated to issue
• Commercial/spam
• Violent or threatening
• Violates copyright

Requests to have comments removed will be considered on a case-by-case basis by The Hullabaloo and the Editor-in-Chief.

Sources and interviews

The Hullabaloo relies on good interviews to report news.

In person interviews are always preferred, followed by phone interviews. Email interviews should only be used as a last resort.

Reporters should record interviews, but also take notes. Writers should let interviewees know they are recording them. While Louisiana is a one-party consent state, it is not ethical to surreptitiously record an interview.

It is the reporter’s responsibility to transcribe interviews and submit the transcript with their story. Fact checkers will consult interview transcripts.

Interviewees cannot change their minds about being named in an article for which they have previously given their consent, except for in extreme circumstances. If an interviewee contests the accuracy of a quote or attribution, the reporter may share the relevant portion of the interview transcript with them; interviewees may not, however, rewrite any of their previously given statements. Anonymity is not given after the fact.

Anonymity

Anonymity damages The Hullabaloo’s credibility. It is a tool to be used only when there is no other option. In addition, verification of anonymous claims is imperative, but it is harder on a paper with fewer resources such as The Hullabaloo, so anonymity should be used sparingly.

Anonymity will only be granted by the Editor-in-Chief and only in cases where real harm will be caused by naming the source or writer. The Editor-in-Chief, section editors and reporters must evaluate the value of the information being provided.

Even if anonymity is granted to a source, the reporter should come up with other descriptors that show the source’s credibility and authority to speak on the topic. For instance, an anonymous source in a story about faculty pay raises should be identified as an assistant professor, faculty senate representative, 20-year Tulane employee, member of the Liberal Arts & Sciences faculty — whatever fits, but doesn’t disclose identity.

Anonymity will only be granted for truthful comments. The Hullabaloo is not required to uphold confidentiality agreements if the statements made or information given are determined to be false.

Anonymity should never be granted for personal attacks on students, faculty, staff or others or unsubstantiated claims or rumors.

The names of sexual violence victims and abuse victims are withheld. Given the stigma sexual violence carries, reporters should not identify victims of most sexual crimes, unless the victim is willing to speak publicly. Reporters should report the victim’s relationship with the accused and what happened as long as these details do not specifically identify the person.

Pseudonymous authorship may only be used in the case of a specific recurring column. Section editor and Editor-in-Chief approval is necessary for this to occur.

Plagiarism, fabrication and AI usage

Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s work as your own either through dishonesty or through lack of attribution. Fabrication is inventing events, quotes, etc. but also includes not verifying sources for truthfulness. Both fouls can apply to any material put out by The Hullabaloo — graphics, photos, stories, social media posts, etc.

There must be a clear distinction between The Hullabaloo’s original reporting and what is being reported from other sources.

The Editor-in-Chief must know the identity of anonymous sources, but they also need to know if the source is truthful and if their information can be verified.

If a member is found to have plagiarized or fabricated their work, an editor’s note should be published explaining what happened and what steps The Hullabaloo took to rectify the situation. Affected works should either be removed or corrected.

Plagiarism and/or fabrication by staff members will lead to sanctions, although the editor in chief may consider mitigating circumstances. A member accused or suspected of plagiarism or falsification is not allowed to continue working for The Hullabaloo while the matter is being investigated.

The use of artificial intelligence (AI), including large-language models like ChatGPT, is not permitted in generating the content of news articles. Hullabaloo staff members suspected of extensively using AI will be given a warning, followed by suspension and then termination.

Corrections

The Hullabaloo’s goal is to inform the Tulane community and provide accurate information. Errors do make their way into the process, but correcting these errors quickly and with transparency helps The Hullabaloo maintain the trust of its readers. The decision to run a correction rests with the Editor-in-Chief.

The Hullabaloo must work to make it easy for readers to report errors. If an error is reported via social media or website comments, the staff should let the poster know it has been corrected as well. Readers reporting errors via email or other communication should be informed when a correction is made as well.

Errors are corrected in the media in which they occurred. Print errors (including misattribution, misidentification, captions, etc.) should be printed in the same location in each issue. For errors in social media material, delete the incorrect post or information, then repost it correctly with an explanation. Errors in the email newsletter should be corrected in both the online story and in the subsequent newsletter.

Online corrections should always be on the article in question. Correct the erroneous text or image, then append a correction note at the bottom stating when the correction was made and what the error was. If the correction requires more explanation or context, use an asterisk or another method to draw readers to the more complete explanation of what happened and what changed.

Retraction

The Hullabaloo often receives requests (or demands) to remove names from online material or remove stories entirely. With very few exceptions, The Hullabaloo’s policy is not to remove anything, but to consider appending notes to the piece with additional explanations if required. In cases involving social media posts, removal in instances of falsity or error may be required since editing pre-existing posts is difficult/impossible.

A good number of these requests stem from coverage of crime. The Hullabaloo should make an effort to update crime coverage, especially arrests and charges against individuals, with the final disposition of a case. Names, however, should not be removed. In cases of where a criminal record has been expunged, The Hullabaloo Managing Board and Editor-in-Chief should discuss whether to remove the story, but expungement does not necessarily mean the item should be removed, especially in cases of prominent individuals or if there’s oddity about the expungement.

The decision to append an explanation or remove a name from an article or entirely unpublish an article is made by the Editor- in-Chief. Any Hullabaloo member who edits an item in the archives without permission may be dismissed.

Cases where The Hullabaloo may consider removing a name from an article or unpublishing the entire article:

• Falsity or faulty/unethical reporting
• Expungement
• Personal safety/threat of physical harm

Cases where The Hullabaloo shouldn’t consider removing a name from an article or unpublishing the entire article:

• Maturation or embarrassment (“I wrote a column, but I don’t feel that way anymore”)
• Job hunting (“The story about my arrest in freshman year is showing up when prospective employers google me”)
• Minor reporting errors that do not change the gist of the story (although corrections should be made)

AP style

The Hullabaloo operates according to AP Style. AP stands for Associated Press, and AP Style itself is a body of rules and regulations for consistent and correct grammar used by many major news publications and other collegiate newspapers. 

The Hullabaloo will sometimes cover events that inspire strong, oftentimes contesting, opinions and viewpoints. In an effort to remain consistent and appropriate, The Hullabaloo uses specific terminology, almost always in accordance with AP Style.

The Hullabaloo uses the term “Israel-Hamas war” when referring to the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Other Hullabaloo policies to take note of include using nondiscriminatory language. For example, The Hullabaloo uses “incarcerated person,” “person with autism” and LGBTQ+.

While The Managing Board of The Hullabaloo reserves the right to change and/or update terminology as we see fit, often corresponding to a change in AP Style, these are Hullabaloo policies and are nonnegotiable with writers.

Other common AP Style guidelines to adhere to are:

• No Oxford comma.
• Spell out everything on first mention. For example, Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life, not LBC.
• No passive voice. 

Diversity and non-discriminatory language

The Hullabaloo owes it to its readers to fully represent the depth and breadth of its community. As part of its mission as an anti-racist organization, The Tulane Hullabaloo must provide coverage that reflects the interests and needs of the Tulane University community.

Reporters must strive to have a rich variety of sources in their articles and must talk to a broad range of individuals affected by the events they cover, not just obvious stakeholders.

Photographers should capture moments beyond the LBC and A quads.

Section editors must make their expectations clear to writers.

Editors should work to have a staff that reflects a range of backgrounds and life experiences.

The Hullabaloo seeks to be more accepting as an organization as well as more inclusive with its coverage so as to be more responsible to the community it serves. The language used by The Hullabaloo plays a part in reaching these goals.

Hullabaloo reporters must ask interview subjects their preferred pronouns and refer to them as such in their writing. Do not assume a person’s gender identity or pronoun preferences. To clarify for readers that might have questions, an explanation can be appended either at the end of an article or in text about using the subject’s preferred pronouns.

Use racial or other identifiers only when that identity is important to the overall story. In those cases, ask the source what they prefer.

• Black is capitalized, white is not. Use African-American only if it is part of a specific title, in a quote or if that is how a person refers to themself. If more specific identifiers are available, use them. If Brown must be used, it should be capitalized.
• Latinx, Latino/a, Hispanic: Generally use Latinx, unless another term is part of a specific title, used in a quote or if that is how a person refers to themself.
• If possible, state tribal association when describing North American or South American indigenous people.
• Use first letter then appropriate number of dashes for obvious slurs in quotes or omitted brackets such as [anti-gay slur] for terms the reader may not immediately know. If possible, avoid using the quote entirely.
• For members of the LGBTQ+ community, ask the source their preference of identifiers or how they refer to themselves. For general use, The Hullabaloo prefers LGBTQ+.
• Asian-American is preferred for The Hullabaloo’s use.