About

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

 

About: The Wave is the student news organization of Marco Island Academy. We operate as a public forum for student expression, produced and edited by students. Through our reporting, reflecting and our stories, we aim to spark meaningful discussions about our greater community. Most importantly, we are committed to integrity as we work to inform and engage our readers.

Reporting on sensitive and challenging topics is a crucial responsibility for journalists. The Wave takes a thoughtful approach to examine our personal biases while covering stories about the school, community, and world. Our goal is to amplify all voices, especially those that are underrepresented and marginalized, with care and respect.

 

Ethics Codes:  The Wave staff studies the NSPA Model Code of Ethics for HS Journalists, the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics, and the ONA Social Newsgathering Ethics Code.  The editors base their story decisions and policies on these standards.

 

Professional Organizations:  themiawave.org is a member of the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA), the Journalism Education Association (JEA), and the Florida Scholastic Press Association (FSPA).   

 

Bylines: Bylines acknowledge the person responsible for conducting interviews, drafting, revising, and fact-checking a story. If an assignment is a team effort, multiple bylines are used. Each byline includes the writer’s role on the staff, presented in a title line beneath the journalist’s name.

 

Opinions: Editorials articulate the collective opinion of The Wave Editorial Board, while mini-editorials, opinion pieces, arts reviews, and columns belong to the writer credited in the byline of the works published in the Opinion section.

The posts and opinions expressed by The Wave are the writer’s own and do not reflect the thoughts of anyone at Marco Island Academy, including members of the Board of Directors, faculty, administration, staff, students, donors, corporate partners, affiliates or any of their respective directors, officers, or employees.

 

Copyright: All content on themiawave.org is protected by copyright laws. If you want to use our photos, you need to get permission by contacting [email protected].

If you think your copyright has been violated by themiawave.org or its users, please let us know with the following details:

1. Describe the copyrighted work that you believe was infringed.
2. Identify the material on themiawave.org that you believe is infringing, with enough detail for us to find it.
3. Provide your name, address, phone number, and email address.
4. Include a statement that you believe, in good faith, that the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, their agent, or the law.
5. Declare that the information in your notice is accurate, made under penalty of perjury, and that you are authorized to act for the copyright owner.
6. Include your physical or electronic signature.

 

Updates/Corrections:  Online stories can be updated as new information surfaces, and verified inaccuracies will be corrected. When this occurs, the line “This article has been revised to reflect the following update:” will be published at the bottom of the story with the date of the most recent revision and details of the change.

 

Takedown Policy: Freedom of the Press is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The Wave makes decisions based on these rights. If a story has factual errors or misses important context, editors can correct or update it, but do not remove entire stories from our website or publications, as removing content is censorship.

For images, journalists follow a code of ethics. Unlike social media, reporters don’t need permission to take or post photos of students for news reporting.

For a photo to be removed, the request must come from the person in the photo, and the photo must not be a group shot. If it is the only photo with the story, editors may replace it if possible. Editors may remove photos if they violate ethics, and consider requests to remove tags if they could harm someone professionally or pose a safety risk. 

We do not remove content from digital archives of print publications.

 

Comments: Comments are welcomed on stories at The Wave. We do not permit or publish comments that include: libelous or defamatory statements, any copyrighted, trademarked or intellectual property of others, the use of profanity, comments that advertise or try to sell to the community. Comments are moderated, but not edited, and are posted after they are approved by a member of the Editorial Board.  

 

Advertising:  At this time, The Wave does not accept advertisements.