Local newspapers are now removing old crime stories to help individuals move on from their pasts and protect their privacy
Cleveland: It’s pretty wild how some newspapers are stepping up to help folks with their pasts. You know, civil rights advocates have been pushing for years to help people clear their criminal records. They want to make sure that old arrests don’t mess with job or housing applications.
And get this, over 70 million Americans have some kind of prior conviction. That’s like one in three adults! But the real kicker is that old media coverage can really haunt people long after they’ve moved on.
So, some local papers are actually going through their archives and taking requests to delete names or stories about minor crimes. It’s a big deal! Chris Quinn, the editor at Cleveland.com, started this whole “right-to-be-forgotten” thing back in 2018. He was getting tons of messages from people saying how old stories were ruining their lives.
He shared a story about a kid who did something dumb when he was drunk and ended up with a charge. Years later, he was trying to get his life together but couldn’t because of that old article. Quinn decided to help him out and removed his name from the story. Pretty cool, right?
At first, some people in the newsroom were hesitant, but they eventually set some guidelines. They won’t erase names for serious crimes, but they’re open to helping with minor offenses. They want to balance the public’s right to know with the individual’s chance to move on.
And it’s not just Cleveland. Other papers like the Boston Globe and the Oregonian are getting in on this too. After the racial justice protests in 2020, many newsrooms started thinking about how their past coverage might have hurt people.
Quinn even got some funding from Google to help identify stories that might need to be removed. It’s a lot of work, but it’s making a difference for a lot of folks.
In Oregon, the Oregonian has a whole clean slate program now. They can remove mugshots, delete stories, or even ask Google to make articles harder to find. They’re really careful about it, making sure people have met their legal requirements before they approve anything.
They’ve had some heartwarming success stories too. One guy wrote about how he turned his life around after a tough past and was terrified that a simple Google search would ruin everything he built. His story got removed, and he felt like he could finally breathe again.
Editors are also being more thoughtful about what they publish now. They’re leaving names out when it’s not necessary and thinking about how their stories might affect people’s lives. It’s a big shift in how the media operates.
Saun Hough from Californians for Safety and Justice pointed out that a lot of crime stories don’t tell the whole story. They often focus on the arrest without following up on what really happened later. It can create a lot of anxiety for people who just want to move on.
So, it’s great to see newspapers taking steps to help people get a fresh start. Everyone deserves a chance to move on from their past, right?
