The California Aggie is first and foremost a newspaper by and for UC Davis students. As students, we have a unique setting and publication that sets us apart from “professional” newspapers. Nevertheless, as employees, we have an ethical obligation not only to monitor the activities of public and private agencies in the interest of the public (our readership), but also to maintain the transparency of our own news organization. In creating this code, The California Aggie relies heavily on The Society of Professional Journalist (SPJ) Code of Ethics. In many cases where the SPJ does not elaborate specific instances of ethical violations, The Aggie describes specific cases that constitute violations. Additionally, by adopting this policy, The Aggie will create an ethics board to oversee adherence to the policies herein. The board will consist of the editor-in-chief and the managing editor. All cases of conflict of interest will be referred to the ethics board. The editor-in-chief is the final arbiter of all ethics violations.

What follows is The California Aggie Code of Ethics, adopted on 10/28/2004 and last updated on 07/21/2024.

1. The California Aggie’s employees should avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived

In its broadest sense, a conflict of interest occurs when an individual holds a stake in two or more conflicting activities. For the purposes of The Aggie, this is a group affiliation or participation that renders an employee unable to fairly and objectively complete her or his job. Aggie employees have an ethical obligation to inform their supervisor of the potential conflicts of interest that they may have. The scope covered in this section ranges from group affiliations to working for other media. (With some exceptions, this section applies to the full staff of The California Aggie).

Political involvement

     While journalists have the far-reaching rights of the First Amendment’s press protections, they forego a few privileges when covering political campaigns or activities, including rallies and promotional events. However, that does not mean that they give up the right to personally support a candidate by voting for them.

1. Participation in student government (ASUCD Senate) is not permitted while concurrently an Aggie employee. Participation includes working in an elected position or volunteering for election events.
   • Participation in student government includes running for office or aiding a candidate in running for office. Past ASUCD senators cannot work at The Aggie unless a minimum of one quarter has passed since leaving office.
2. Participation in any political campaign (ASUCD, City of Davis, Yolo County, California, National) is not permitted while working for The Aggie. This clause is waived over the summer months to allow Aggie staffers to participate in internships or jobs and gain valuable experience for post-grad job applications. 
   • The Aggie cannot adequately fulfill its role as monitor of student, local, state or national government if its own employees are members of or active participants in any governments.
   • There may be exceptions to this rule on a case-by-case basis depending on the specifics of the position and your coverage area as a reporter at The Aggie. Aggie employees may request a review by the ethics board if they believe their position is not a conflict of interest. 
3. Documents, campaign contribution records or voiced political support have a way of traveling back to where they originated. As an Aggie employee, publicly supporting one candidate or political ideology often betrays a bias. This is specifically crucial for local campaigns, initiatives and candidates that pertain to our coverage. For example, a supervisor asks her employee to deal with a client or a source for a story and they know the employee’s political affiliation. The source might feel that the employee may harbor resentment toward them. All it takes is the feeling that somebody is not getting a fair shake for The Aggie to lose credibility. Remember that when you are covering a story for The Aggie, you are representing the organization — we encourage you to take that responsibility seriously.
   • Contributing money to a local political campaign is strongly discouraged.
   • Wearing campaign paraphernalia (buttons, clothing, stickers) is not allowed while covering events for The Aggie. 
   • Signing political petitions or participating in political rallies is strongly discouraged during the regular academic school year. 
   • Writing political resolutions (for ASUCD, city of Davis, Yolo County, California Federal) is not permitted. 
4. The Aggie Editorial Board collectively and political columnists individually may take stances on political issues.

Working for other publications or media outlets

The Davis Enterprise — as well as Dateline, UC Davis Magazine, Davis Political Review, HerCampus, The Odyssey, The Davis Beat, The Dirt and the Davis Vanguard — are direct competitors with The Aggie. If employees plan to work for any of the listed publications, or any other publication not listed here, while employed by The Aggie either during the summer or during the school year, they must inform the editor-in-chief, managing editor and the supervisor under whom they work. Employees may not work for The Enterprise or any other publication that covers the Davis and greater Sacramento regions during the academic year while employed with The Aggie. For any and all cases, employees should consult the managing editor and editor-in-chief to find out whether an internship or paid position conflicts with their position at The Aggie — these will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

1. The Aggie staff may work for KDVS news and assist with productions so long as disclosed with the editor-in-chief and managing editor.

If Aggie employees are in a management role for another publication they must explain the extent to which there is an overlap with their position at The Aggie. If there is significant overlap, they may not participate in both activities. Management positions include but are not limited to director jobs at KDVS (General Manager, Business Manager, Publicity Director, News Director, Sports Director, Music Director, Underwriting Director or any co-directorship); editor-in-chief, managing editor, advertising manager, business manager, layout director positions for HerCampus or The Davis Beat. 

Members of the Editorial Board may not be editorially affiliated with any other publication during the academic year in which they serve on the Editorial Board. This includes, but is not limited to, reporting, producing original article content, writing columns and contributing to editorials.

Employees may not use The Aggie’s resources for another media outlet for which they are working (this provision excludes employees of The Aggie who are taking UWP 104C). Resources include: computers, photographer, copier, phones, fax machine, Internet, email, printer, client lists for advertising, source lists for reporters or intellectual property of The Aggie. Depending on the severity of the offense, employees may receive a warning or, on the extreme end, their contracts may be terminated.

Promotional materials

With the exception of The Aggie’s arts & culture desk, which depends on promotional materials, no Aggie employees may accept discounted or free goods or services from clients or sources. This sends the message that the press can be bought. For the arts desk, promotional materials include books and theater, concert or movie tickets. However, arts desk writers must avoid free meals from restaurateurs, as it may bias the anonymous review of the restaurant.

Familiarity

When reporters or photographers cover subjects with which they are familiar (family member, roommate, friend, current or former significant other, current professor, etc.) on more than a reporter-source or photographer-source level, their objectivity is in question. Employees have an obligation to inform their editor about a relationship that may be a conflict of interest and ask that the assignment be given to someone else.

Cross roles at The Aggie

Holding multiple roles at The Aggie is, in most cases, uncommon and will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Two cases are specified here as egregious conflicts of interests: columnists may not write for any desk other than the opinion desk. Advertising representatives may not write for any of the desks as they deal with advertising content. Staff may be paid for only one position they hold at The Aggie. 

Letters to the editor, guest opinion

The California Aggie will not publish letters to editor or guest opinions from its employees or recent employees (within 90 days of leaving The Aggie). This is to break the link between previous employees and The Aggie. Staff writers are also forbidden from writing an opinion piece while on a desk other than opinion; only opinion columnists hired for that specific position, or the opinion editor, may write opinion columns. 

Aggie employees have an obligation to seek the truth and report it

Employees are not searching for the Universal Truth, but they are obligated as journalists to seek out multiple sources to put together a representative truth. This includes:

1. Testing the accuracy of all information (i.e. cross-checking information). A lot of times, employees may receive contradictory information from multiple sources. Even when this doesn’t happen, they should check the validity of the information they receive. This includes everything from spelling names correctly to labeling graphics and photos correctly.
2. Ensuring the originality of work. Merriam Webster defines plagiarism as the act of stealing or trying to pass off another’s work as original. For The Aggie’s purposes, this includes all articles, editorials, columns, cartoons, editorial cartoons, photographs, graphics and advertisements. Any staff member who intentionally plagiarizes any work is subject to direct termination.
3. Allowing subjects accused of wrongdoing the opportunity to respond to allegations against them.
4. Identifying sources whenever feasible. Employees must think about the motives of individuals who ask for anonymity. Confidentiality and anonymity are the exceptions, not the rules. Cases of anonymity must be approved by the respective desk editor, and the managing editor and editor-in-chief should also be made aware.
5. Avoiding undercover or secretive reporting except when traditional, open methods do not suffice. Consult the Freedom of Information Act, The Brown Act and The California Public Records Act to find out what records are accessible. 
6. Labeling all photographic illustrations or visual re-enactments as such. Failing to do so is misleading the readership and reflects poorly on The Aggie.
7. Avoiding stereotypes based on gender, gender identity, age, race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, disability or social status in all content that appears in The Aggie.
8. Using both official and unofficial voices in stories, as both are valid and necessary to telling stories.
9. Publishing corrections promptly. We know that employees make mistakes. But they are obligated to tell us if they know of a mistake that appeared in the paper, story or Senate briefs, daily calendars, advertisements, graphics or photo captions.
10. Captioning photos to reflect the action photographed. Turning in work as new when it has been previously published — or was taken for a previous assignment — is unethical. All previously published photos must be labeled “Aggie file.”
11. Ensuring that articles’ titles, layercakes and content do not trivialize serious events or issues, such as sexual assault or race relations.
12. Ensuring that headlines, column titles or Senate briefs titles or any other titles are not changed during copy editing without informing the editor. Additionally, ensuring that copy editors do not make significant changes without first informing the editor.
13. Ensuring that headlines and photo captions reflect the action of the story and correctly attribute all content to ensure that our authors or other contributors receive credit for their work.

Aggie reporters should work to minimize harm

You must take a number of things into consideration when printing a story. Minimizing harm means decreasing the negative effects to The Aggie, the readership and the sources interviewed. In many cases, when publishing potentially harmful material, Aggie employees need to evaluate the overriding public need to know. You can minimize harm by:

1. Showing compassion for those whom the coverage adversely affects. Their story is important to tell, but be sensitive to inexperienced sources.
   • The Aggie staff is not permitted to interview minors. However, if any children are speaking at a public event, like a protest, they may be subject to being quoted.
2. Being sensitive when seeking interviews with those affected by tragedy or grief.
3. Recognizing that gathering news may cause harm or discomfort.
4. Recognizing that private people have greater personal privacy than public officials. Only an overriding public need can justify digging into someone’s private life.
5. Being cautious when identifying juvenile criminal suspects or victims of sexual crimes.
6. Taking caution when identifying criminal subjects before formal filing of charges.
7. Balancing a criminal suspect’s rights to a fair trial with the public’s right to know.
8. Checking to make sure that employees do not commit libel. Different states define libel differently. The AP Style Guide defines it basically as injury to reputation. In California, libel is defined as “a false and unprivileged publication by writing, printing, picture, effigy or other fixed reputation which exposes any person to hatred, contempt, ridicule or obloquy, or which causes him to be shunned or avoided or which injures him in his occupation.” 

California Aggie employees have an obligation not to blur the lines between advertising and editorial coverage

1. Neither the Advertising Manager nor the advertising representatives will promise coverage in exchange for advertising, otherwise known as “complementary copy.” The Aggie editors (managing editor and editor-in-chief) will not enter into any agreement in which a source advocates for space and a business relationship.
2. All advertising in the form of pseudo-news (borrowing newspaper conventions or appearing as if it were an article) will be clearly demarcated as “ADVERTISEMENT” above the advertisement. 
3. Taking care to ensure that advertising customers receive what they pay for.
4. Advertising representatives must be sensitive to advertising content published in The Aggie and follow The Aggie’s advertising guidelines and guidelines for controversial material.