NORFOLK, Va. – News 3 is launching a new initiative that will allow people featured in older stories about non-violent misdemeanor crimes, or for embarrassing behavior that is not criminal, to submit a request for those articles to be removed or amended from wtkr.com.
The program is spearheaded by WTKR-TV’s parent company, E.W. Scripps, and was initially launched by our sister station in Utah.
The types of stories News 3 will consider for editing or removing include but are not limited to:
• Nonviolent misdemeanor crimes, particularly those from many years ago.
• Missing person cases that are resolved without criminal charges.
• Incidents such as Amber Alerts and Silver Alerts that were resolved without criminal charges.
• Stories and photos that involve embarrassing, noncriminal behavior.
News 3 will not consider requests involving serious felonies, particularly those involving violent crimes, including sexual assault. Public figures and those in positions of trust are held to a higher standard of scrutiny and therefore, stories involving these individuals will be evaluated accordingly.
What research goes into our decisions?
The station may check court records and other public records to make an informed, compassionate decision. Those looking to appeal an article should completely fill out a provided form or mail the information to the station. The responsibility is on the person submitting the form to collect the pertinent data surrounding each individual case.
The decision to edit or remove an article lies solely with the individual station. The potential outcomes include:
- Deny Request
- Archive original story
- Revise story
- Update story
- New reporting
