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Mission and Vision PEARL World Youth News (PEARL) provides accurate, objective and unbiased news coverage by secondary school student reporters and editors from across the world who strive to adhere to the highest standards of journalistic ethics. We draw inspiration from the life and work of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was killed by terrorists in Pakistan. His skills as a foreign correspondent and his commitment to promoting understanding among diverse cultures guide us in our work. We aim not only to build young people’s journalistic skills but also to broaden cross-cultural understanding. As an international news service managed by secondary school students, we report the news from a youth perspective in a world where almost half the population is under 25. We encourage collaborative work among PEARL reporters and editors. By working together to research, report and edit our news stories, we bring a collective youth voice Review Policyto world affairs.
Values and Principles We strive to follow the Professional Society of Journalists’ Code of Ethics: we seek truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently and are accountable. We make every effort to check the accuracy of our information. We do not take sides on any issue and present facts from all sides. We never include our own opinions and ideas in our news stories. Our audience, our reporters and editors, represent a variety of cultures, religions and socio-economic backgrounds. We take pride in this diversity. We do not tolerate biased, stereotypical or offensive representations of any culture or community. The safety and security of PEARL reporters and editors is of utmost concern to us. We will never intentionally put a PEARL editor or reporter in harm’s way and discourage reporters from taking undue risks. We recognize that our news reaches out to countries with different legal systems. We respect local laws and standards relating to privacy, libel and freedom of expression. We will never intentionally violate the laws of any country. Editorial Standards and Policies Content PEARL publishes news stories written by secondary school students who have been certified as PEARL reporters. Our certification program is aimed to ensure that PEARL reporters are trained to write articles which present accurate and responsible news content. The certification, however, does not guarantee the accuracy of each individual article. PEARL publishes articles based on factual reporting, and it never includes the opinions of our reporters or editors. We do not publish everything received from interested contributors. Our editorial groups are responsible for determining what is published. We guard against stereotypical, biased or offensive material relating to age, gender, race, ethnicity, geography, religion or other socio-economic factors. Our editorial groups reserve the right to reject a news story or ask for further clarifications on any article that is perceived to contain biased, untruthful or potentially offensive writing. We strive to ensure that our news articles and photographs do not misrepresent any person, event or issue. We do not highlight or ignore information to present a distorted news story. We are careful about preventing plagiarism. Copying someone else’s work and presenting it as your own is an unethical practice that we do not tolerate. Our editorial groups have the right to question any PEARL Reporter and/or request verification from sources if it is suspected that plagiarized information has been used in a news story. We publish photographs only after receiving written permission from the concerned people, officials or organizations. It is the responsibility of a PEARL reporter to get a consent form signed for all photographs used in news story. We do not alter or change photographs, expect for reasons of clarity and presentation. Avoiding Conflicts of Interest We are committed to the integrity and independence of PEARL. PEARL reporters and editors do not accept payment, gifts, or any special favors or treatment in exchange for writing, editing or publishing articles. We recognize that writing about activities that we are involved in as students may lead to a conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict. This may include our academic work, our extra-curricular activities, or other community work. We realize that reporting news stories that involve our family members, friends and other people with whom we have close personal relationships may also lead to conflicts of interest. To avoid such conflicts, we avoid writing PEARL articles on people, events or issues that we are associated with in any capacity. We take collaborative decisions when a news story may create a conflict of interest and assign the story to a PEARL reporter without any involvement in the article. The opportunity to discuss the news story with PEARL reporters and editors from around the world helps us to avoid such conflicts or the appearance of a conflict. Sources We gather facts for our news stories from reliable sources. We verify their background as best as we can to make sure that their information is accurate and unbiased. We do not publish facts obtained from anonymous sources. PEARL reporters may use material from anonymous sources for research and background information. However, all facts presented in a PEARL article must be attributed to an identified source. We regard our news sources with the same respect as we do our readers. We are truthful and fair in our interactions with our sources. We always identify ourselves as PEARL reporters while interviewing a source. Under no circumstances do we pretend to be someone else or assume a false identity to gather information from a source. By stating our association with PEARL, we make it clear that we are student journalists and that we will report the information obtained from the source with accuracy. Corrections We report information as accurately as possible. If errors appear in a PEARL article, we correct the mistakes promptly. We make changes in the online versions of our news stories as soon as we become aware of any mistakes. We also publish errors along with the relevant accurate facts in the Corrections. Our Managing Editor school is ultimately responsible for correcting errors in articles and publishing the Corrections. Letters to the Editor We encourage our readers to write Letters to the Editor expressing their views on our news coverage. Letters to the Editor may support, criticize or comment on any PEARL article. We do not publish anonymous letters. All Letters to the Editor must state the PEARL article on which it is based, along with the name and location of the letter writer. The Managing Editor school selects and publishes Letters to the Editor according to their timeliness and relevance. It reserves the right to edit letters for length and grammatical correctness. Review Policy PEARL articles will not be reviewed by any outside parties prior to publication online. We respect school and local policies regarding republication and distribution of our news stories. If a PEARL article is censored or changed by officials according to school or local policies, we will announce this to our readers.
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