About Us
The Baron Banner is an online and printed publication operated entirely by students of Fountain Valley High School. Its purpose is to inform fellow students and the surrounding community about school issues, events and student culture.
Our role as student journalists demands that we report all aspects of school events, including equal and objective coverage of school sporting events, enrichment programs, arts programs, and all other components of student and school life. We seek to investigate and to promote discussion in the school community. The Baron Banner represents the diversity of Fountain Valley High School in both its staff and its published content.
The Baron Banner Online is a public forum for student expression. The opinions expressed are those of the staff writers and editors, and do not necessarily reflect the position of the school board, administration, or teachers. The student journalists of the Baron Banner will publish only legally protected speech, observing laws of libel, obscenity, and invasion of privacy. The adviser to the Baron Banner will offer advice and knowledge to help the staff meet professional standards of English usage and journalism, but will not determine the content of the site.
The Baron Banner staff is made up of Editors-in-Chief, section editors, and staff writers. Any and all students at Fountain Valley High School are welcome to apply for a position in the Baron Banner. Applications are reviewed by the editors-in-chief for the qualifications and experience the applicant possesses. The Baron Banner will also willingly publish guest writers.
The Baron Banner welcomes and encourages feedback (including letters to the editor from students, faculty, administrators, community residents, and the general public.) The Baron Banner will publish any appropriate feedback and public expression provided staff members can verify the authenticity of the writer\’s identity and content. The editorial board will work to maintain the intent of the feedback, but retains the right to edit all submissions for length, grammar, potential libel, invasion of privacy, obscenity, and any other factors potentially excessively damaging to the subjects of the feedback.
The Baron Banner will not alter the content of pictures posted on the internet. Enhancements for clarity are always permissible. If a picture is a recreation to represent a news feature it will be clearly noted as such. The Baron Banner will not engage in plagiarism.
Staff members will strive to publish all articles free of error. Any errors found after publication will be corrected. If the editorial board decides a significant error has been made, a formal correction will be posted to the website.
To submit corrections please contact us by emailing baronbanner@fvhs.com.
History
Before Eric Shieh (’07) founded the Wired Baron in the summer of 2004, the Fountain Valley High School newspaper was published only once a month in newsprint. What started out as little more than a page with a few scattered articles and photos quickly grew into a full-fledged online newspaper with a growing readership. In February 2005, seven months after its inception, the Wired Baron was recognized by the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) as one of the seven best high school online newspapers in the nation.
The 2005-2006 year was led by Editors-in-Chief Jim Collen (’06), Jarrick Goldhamer (‘06), and Shieh.
The 2006-2007 year was led by Editor-in-Chief Shieh.
In the summer of 2007, under Editors-in-Chief John Do (’08), Titus Jahng (’08), and Victoria Yee (’09), the Wired Baron merged with the staff of the Baron Banner and was renamed The Baron Banner Online. In the fall of the same year, Baron Banner Blogs was introduced – a network of staff blogs devoted to student expression and creativity.
The newspaper placed second in the nation from the American Scholastic Press Association in its annual newspaper competition. Staff also placed and won trophies in the Orange County and the Southern California Journalism Education Assocation On-the-Spot Write Off Competitions.
The 2008-2009 year was led by Editor-in-Chief Yee. The Baron Banner purchased its own domain name (www.baronbanner.com).
The 2009-2010 school year was led by Kim Ngai and Sabrina Syed.
