Media Policies
About
The Thunderbolt endeavors to inform, explain, encourage and entertain the student body and staff of Mills High School of happenings in the schools, the community and beyond. The Thunderbolt is a limited public forum for student expression as well as a learning instrument for the student journalists of Mills High School.
The student body is the primary audience for The Thunderbolt, including the faculty, staff and parents of Mills High School, the local community and other scholastic programs. Material may not necessarily reflect the views, the opinions or the concerns of the faculty, administration or the school board, but material will reflect the interests of the student body. The Thunderbolt encourages criticism and comments from all members of the community.
The Thunderbolt attempts to provide an analysis for readers in a broad, fair and accurate manner on all subjects. The publication also seeks to provide forums for the expression of students, faculty and community opinions.
Code of Conduct
Our publication seeks to produce top quality, reliable and ethical journalism that serves our community. All members of The Thunderbolt are expected to uphold to high standards of integrity by reporting truthfully, verifying information before publication, correcting errors and treating all individuals with respect. Every member of our staff is responsible for fostering a respectful, inclusive and professional environment while following the principles of student journalism.
Commenting Policy
The Thunderbolt welcomes respectful discussion and encourages readers to engage thoughtfully with our content. Comments should contribute to the conversation and remain relevant to the article. Comments containing personal attacks, harassment, discrimination, profanity, misinformation or content that violates privacy or the law may be removed at the discretion of the editorial staff. By commenting on our site, users agree to follow these guidelines to help maintain a respectful environment for all readers.
Anonymous Policy
Use of anonymous sources is avoided. In special situations, one requires prior approval by editors-in-chief before promising anonymity or publishing a story with an anonymous source. At least one editor-in-chief must be aware of the identity to verify there is no conflict of interest or other problems, and a majority of the editors-in-chief must approve the story. If a source is promised anonymity, be aware California Shield Laws does not completely cover you. You could find yourself in an ethical dilemma: Having a court order to name your source vs. breaking a promise of confidentiality. Never should an anonymous source be revealed in a discussion or to peers, as interviewers have an ethical responsibility to their source.
Artificial Intelligence Use Policy
It is the responsibility of The Thunderbolt to be accountable for the accuracy, fairness, and integrity of the information we share. Journalists are permitted to use AI to search for information, mine public databases or assemble and calculate statistics that would be useful to our audience. However, any output from a generative AI tool should be treated as unvetted source material, and every fact or data analysis must be independently verified using multiple authoritative sources that have been created, edited or curated by human beings. Likewise, we also encourage our journalists to exercise due caution and diligence to ensure material coming from other sources is also free of misleading AI-generated content.
The Thunderbolt may not use AI to generate publishable material. However, AI tools that supplement learning without directly editing or creating content, such as Murrow.ai or Grammarly, are permitted. The use of generative AI to add or subtract any elements or otherwise alter any photos, video or audio is prohibited. The staff will refrain from transmitting any AI-generated images that are suspected or proven to be false depictions of reality. However, if an AI-generated illustration or work of art is the subject of a story, it may be used as long as it is clearly labeled as such in the caption.
Takedown Policy and Requests
The Thunderbolt staff strives for accuracy and fairness in all content. If a significant factual error is published, a correction or retraction will be republished on the website. If there is a dispute regarding whether or not an error was published, the editors-in-chief shall have the final say as to whether a correction or retraction is published. Online retractions are at the discretion of the editors-in-chief.
Letters to the editor
Letters to the editor are accepted and may or may not be published based on the decision of the opinion editors and editors-in-chief as to whether or not the material will be thought-provoking, educational, entertaining or having other content of merit.
Letters should be emailed to [email protected], signed and no longer than 500 words. Unsigned letters will not be published. The Thunderbolt staff reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity, as long as the author’s essential intent or meaning is not changed in any significant way. Letters should be printed without reply or rebuttal.
All requests and inquiries can be made by emailing [email protected]