Un-publishing Bad News?



Bob Steele and Bill Mitchell, recently published this article,
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=101&aid=129083 investigating the issue that was later published by Clark Hoyt of The New York Times.

Hoyt, the Public Editor of The New York Times, recently addressed a business strategy of the prominent daily that seems to be causing distress to its readers. The New York Times has its articles pop-up first on search engines, such as Google, in spite of how outdated, inaccurate, and incomplete the article may be.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/26/opinion/26pubed.html?pagewanted=2&n=Top/Opinion/The Public Editor&_r=1

He says that roughly once a day readers are coming forward to complain about the potential affects these inaccurate/outdated/ or misreported articles may have on their reputation, their search for new jobs, or their personal business.

He includes several examples of complaints, including: “A person arrested years ago on charges of fondling a child said the accusation was false and the charges were dropped. The Times reported the arrest but not the disposition of the case. A woman said her wedding announcement 20 years ago gave the incorrect university from which she graduated. She is afraid prospective employers who Google her will suspect résumé inflation.”

This sort of material used to be limited to microfilm of newspaper clippings. Today, the Internet allows immediate retrieval of this information, available to anyone with access. Does this increase the roll of editor’s to minimize harm to their readers? What can be done to protect these citizens that feel victimized by the publication?

Could stories in need of further research be deterred from popping up in search results? Would follow up stories be published at the request of angry readers? Would past articles be deleted from the archive?

What do you think, and how would you feel if this happened to you?

Later in the article, reference is given to Poytner’s "10 Good Questions to Ask to Make Good Ethical Decisions. Use this link as a guide when deciding how to respond to removal requests from your audience.