Policies

Any request for a correction of either print or online material must be made through either the managing editor or the editor-in-chief. Following a request, either the managing editor or the editor-in-chief will investigate the claim. The editor-in-chief will have the final say in whether a correction is warranted.

If a correction is warranted, the editor-in-chief will publish a notice near the location the material originally ran in the next print edition of the paper. The online edition of material will be updated with the corrected information and a note from the editor stating the date and what was changed.

The Bottom Line seeks to publish as many letters to the editor as possible. Please note that space in the print edition of the newspaper is limited, so letters may not make it into the print edition during high submission times. However, we will publish all letters meeting our guidelines to our website.

Before writing your letter, please review the following guidelines:

1. Please limit letters to a maximum of 300 words.
2. Letters must be submitted by 5 p.m. on the Friday prior to the print publication you would like them printed in. If you would like your letter to be posted online only, there is no deadline for submission.
3. Include your full name, relationship to the community, and class standing or job title with your letter.
4. An e-mail address and or phone number is required for letter submission. This is for verification purposes only and will not be published.

Letters containing any of the following will not be accepted:  profanity, personal attacks, or solicitation.

The Bottom Line wishes to create a respectful online forum for members of the Frostburg State University community to discuss issues; thus, commenting on posts is highly encouraged. We strive to maintain a respectful online environment, and in order to create this environment, we will monitor all comments made to our website to ensure they do not violate our policies.

Comments may be removed based on the following guidelines:

1. Profanity:  Any comment deemed by the editors of The Bottom Line to be profane will be removed.
2. Personal Attack:  Any comment that threatens the safety a staff member or another commenter will be instantly removed and reported to authorities. In addition, any comment that targets a staff member or other commenter on the basis of race, sex, age, sexual orientation, religion, etc… will be instantly removed.
3. Spam:  Any comment deemed as spam will be removed. The Bottom Line defines spam as any material soliciting or linking to another good or service. In addition, material that links to a topic unrelated to the posts or other comments will be defined as spam.
4. Personal Information:  The Bottom Line is concerned with the safety of the members of our online community. As such, any comment containing phone numbers, addresses, or other personally identifiable information may be removed.

The Bottom Line Staff:  The comment section of our website is designed to be a forum for readers and not staff members. Staff members should only make comments which provide known information not included in the article, clarify published information, or link to other content published by The Bottom Line on the topic of discussion.

The Bottom Line will publish all content from the print publication online in addition to other special online only pieces. As The Bottom Line wishes to serve as a record keeper for news affecting the Frostburg State University campus, material will not be removed once published to our website. In the event of an error in a published work, a correction will be issued in accordance to our correction policy, but the content will not be removed.

In extremely rare circumstances, The Bottom Line my remove online content if provided with a compelling legal justification. To request removal of a published work for legal reasons, a written request must be delivered to The Bottom Line with the following information: your name, name of content, author, date of publication, hyperlink to the online version, legal justification, and any supporting documents. The executive board of The Bottom Line will evaluate all requests and respond in a timely manner.