PITTSBURGH, Pa (PTTP) – The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) is holding a contest this April Fools’ Day, inviting all college newspapers to submit their parody pieces. There is a grand prize of 500 dollars for whoever can break every single rule in the SPJ Code of Ethics. Ethical standards include acting independently, minimizing harm, reporting the truth, and being accountable. Inviting student journalists to break these standards will underscore the importance of journalists reporting with integrity.
College newspapers are asked to publish “Spread Immoral News” (SIN) issues on or around April Fools’ Day, with the winner being selected during Ethics Week in mid-April. The submission deadline for these issues is April 10.
The Pitt News published its SIN issue on Wednesday, April 1. The stories covered a wide range of topics, playing into niche references that students at Pitt can pick up on. Senior Staff Writer Sydney Krasniewski wrote about how an infamous closed-down bar will be repurposed into freshmen student housing. The story contains photos generated by artificial intelligence and fabricated quotes from unverified sources.
Similarly, Senior Staff Columnist Danae Poteat wrote an opinion piece titled “Chappell Roan needs to beat more kids”. This story follows what was asked for the SIN issue by not providing context, distorting facts, and having no empathy towards actual victims of abuse. It goes out on a limb to justify abuse as well. Find these stories and several more at pittnews.com