Last Revision: August 17, 2026

The Black Explosion seeks to inform the Black student body and broader university community about topics relevant to and about Black students. Through quality reporting, we hope to distribute news and tell stories that enable our audience to create conversation, community and change.

The following policies outline the expectations for all members of our staff.

General

Broadly, The Black Explosion adopts the Society of Professional Journalists’s Code of Ethics as a baseline for the ethics of its staff. Following the code’s core principles of ethical journalism, our publication will strive to seek the truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently and maintain accountability and transparency.

The full code can be found here: https://www.spj.org/spj-code-of-ethics/

Conflicts of Interest

Staff will avoid any conflicts of interest that undermines their ability to report fairly.

Unavoidable conflicts or other circumstances that may reasonably affect the credibility of a piece will be clearly disclosed to our audience.

Staff may not use friends or family as sources or subjects.

Involvement

• Staff should disclose community and political involvements, particularly those involving topics they might cover.
• Staff will not cover organizations they are a members of.
• Reporters may not serve in publicity roles for on-campus organizations or organizations they are likely to cover.
• Staff may not be a member of any student government organization unless discussed with the editorial board. The staff member’s membership will be clearly disclosed when relevant.
• Staff are encouraged to produce content for other publications, as long as the content does not overlap with their coverage area at this publication.

Expression

• In all content, the publication will make an effort to clearly distinguish fact from opinion.
• Staff are discouraged from expressing opinions about topics they are likely to cover, but are free to express opinions on other matters.