At the start of the academic year, one of the forms public schools give parents is a media consent one. Photographers trust that the school will screen out the children whose parents did not give permission. The same would be true of other events, such as a Boy or Girl Scout happening, or an event at the women’s club.
Nevertheless, photographers will routinely confirm that everyone has been approved for pictures, said U-T photo editor Alma Cesena.
If a group submits a picture to the U-T, it is assumed the group has cleared permission for children’s images to appear in print and online.
News photographers do not need permission for images — of children or adults — taken in public during the course of news gathering, however.
New reporter added for San Diego coverage
Readers might have noticed a new byline from the Union-Tribune’s news staff.
Andrea Lopez-Villafaña ed the team this month. Her beat is city of San Diego communities.
The U-T has a San Diego City Hall reporter in David Garrick, but it has not had a reporter dedicated to covering the city’s communities, such as Hillcrest or City Heights.
Before coming to the U-T, Lopez-Villafaña was a staff reporter for San Diego CityBeat.
She is originally from Guadalajara but grew up in Riverside. She graduated from SDSU in 2017 with a degree in journalism.
“I became interested in journalism when I was in high school,” Lopez-Villafaña said. “I wrote for the school paper, and I loved holding our school able. I also loved sharing the stories of individuals in our school who were not often celebrated.”
She has covered the fallout from the city’s plan to remove street parking in favor of bike lanes. A story on the issue in North Park appeared on the front page Friday.
“My reporting will focus on gaining a better understanding of the people who make up San Diego and the issues they care about. Every community is unique in its own way, and I look forward to exploring all of them.
“I hope my reporting will allow readers to learn more about their communities.”
Readers can Lopez-Villafaña to discuss stories or ideas at [email protected].
Readers pleased with return to broadsheet
Several readers emailed Thursday to say they were pleased with the return of the broadsheet-size Local section that day instead of the tab-size.
The Local section on Thursdays switched to a tab in January 2017 because rs had expressed they preferred that size. Readers, however, felt differently. They liked the broadsheet. Readers were asked in this column last month which they preferred, and the broadsheet trounced the tab, 151-12.
“Very much prefer the traditional broadsheet format for Thursday’s B section,” Josh Allman of Pacific Beach wrote last week upon its return. “It’s more dense with a better up-front overview of local stories. The tab format seems very ‘lite’ in comparison and I it to usually feeling a bit disappointed when opening up the section.”
