From Texas, Guidroz is in her second semester at OCC studying political science, journalism and business. She is currently the news editor for the Coast Report and hopes to eventually complete a dual M.J./J.D. program.
This is a situation best handled on a case-by-case basis by the editors of the newsroom. They are in the best position to know the importance and relation of a crime story to their community. Crime stories about minors, minor crimes and victimless crimes such as drug possession are cases where it may be appropriate to unpublish or modify the articles to conceal the identity of the defendant. The impact past crimes have on people’s lives, such as difficulty finding jobs and housing, is very real and shouldn’t be underestimated by newsrooms. With the internet today, crime stories can haunt a defendant far longer than in the past. Especially with old crime stories, keeping them online may also drag on issues for some caused by racial disparity in law enforcement. Are we perpetuating the suffering of those who have found themselves victims of discriminatory policing by keeping these articles online? What demographic is this issue impacting the most?
On the other hand, news is a record of the past, and in some cases it may be offensive to victims to erase what happened to them from the pages of history. If someone contacted our editorial board with a request to unpublish or modify an article about a crime a student was a victim of, I likely wouldn’t vote to accommodate that request. It may be a good compromise, when possible, for a news organization to remove an article in question from the Google search engine, like Boston Globe offers, instead of unpublishing the story. When making these decisions, editors should try to balance our duty to report the truth with our duty to act in the public’s best interest. Our words as journalists hold great power. And as Uncle Ben would say, “With great power comes great responsibility.”
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