The Boston Globe has launched a new initiative allowing individuals concerned about the impact of a published article on their reputation to request updates or anonymization. This program bears a resemblance to the European Union’s “right to be forgotten,” but may encounter less resistance as it applies solely to this single news organization and not to a universal search engine.

The “Fresh Start” program is not intended for addressing negative restaurant reviews or reports on significant criminal activity. Instead, it focuses on typical reporting from the crime beat – for example, a brief report detailing an individual’s arrest for offenses like disorderly conduct and resisting a police officer, potentially including a photograph.

While these types of reports do provide a public service by informing citizens about local crime, as the Globe’s editor, Brian McGrory, observes:

A significant issue exists regarding inherent biases within law enforcement, which can translate into biases within news reporting, a challenge the nation has faced for many years. The permanence of the digital record only intensifies this problem.

A potential employer conducting a background check can easily locate information about an individual, such as a record of an arrest accompanied by a mugshot, with a simple online search. News organizations frequently report on minor arrests, but rarely provide coverage of subsequent acquittals or dropped charges, as these outcomes generally do not attract readership. This can result in the dissemination of incomplete and potentially damaging information.

Previous attempts to address this issue at the search engine level in Europe have faced resistance and practical difficulties. Search engines do not create the information they index and were reluctant to assume the responsibility of determining what content should be removed. Moreover, the task is complicated by the widespread replication of articles across numerous websites and archival services like the Internet Archive, raising the question of how to handle such instances.

However, requesting a search engine to limit the visibility of content is generally considered less of a threat to freedom of speech than asking a publisher to remove or alter its reporting. This debate continues.

The Globe’s approach is far less extensive than attempting to compel Google to erase someone’s history, but it is considerably more straightforward and less likely to provoke opposition. The newspaper has direct editorial control over its own content, and the focus is on re-evaluating the initial newsworthiness of the information, rather than completely deleting it.

“This is about evolving how we approach our coverage,” explained Jason Tuohey, managing editor for digital, in the Globe’s announcement of the new program. “If we modify a story through the Fresh Start committee, it prompts us to question whether we should be covering similar incidents in the future.”

The newspaper has formed a committee of ten individuals to review requests for article updates – it is important to note that complete removal of articles is not an option. Unlike a previous initiative at the Cleveland Plain Dealer, which required applicants to provide a court order demonstrating expungement, no legal prerequisites exist for submitting a request.

The team acknowledges that the process will be challenging. They anticipate receiving automated and fraudulent requests, attempts from public figures, disagreements regarding the necessary evidence to verify events or identities, and other complications. Ultimately, the program may only result in the modification of a single article, or even just a single line, long after it has been widely copied and archived online. Nevertheless, it represents a starting point.

While one newspaper’s initiative may have a limited impact, its success could encourage other news outlets to follow suit. As Tuohey pointed out, the decision to publish information in the first place becomes more questionable when one considers the inherent flaws within the justice system. It may be reasonable to allow individuals to apply this critical perspective to past events.

Individuals who believe they may benefit from Fresh Start can submit an application here.