Daily, if not weekly, LevittownNow.com receives messages and or requests for stories to be “pulled down.” The stories are written based upon court and police documents.
There seems to be a general misunderstanding or lack of knowledge about the laws surrounding public records, such as those local police departments submit – for example probable cause affidavits.
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And although we understand and sympathize with the family’s, friends and loved ones of those accused and or arrested for alleged crimes similarly the public has a right to know about arrests, court proceedings and criminal histories. And it’s in that spirit, along with years of case of law, whether at the state or federal level which has established police and court documents as public record.
Moreover the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office has a complete listing of the public information that can be disseminated and used by the press for stories.
This is a responsibility not taken lightly by the Street Lamp Media Group LLC. Recently we instituted policy that is included at the bottom of arrest stories which is an editor’s note that reads as follows:
Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.
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LevittownNow.com is not required to have this note included, however, there are times when cases are adjudicated where those arrested are found not guilty, charges dropped, or plea deal made. We try to update and follow cases as they play out in the district court system and/or the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas in Doylestown.
Unless there is something factually incorrect about a court filing that goes to the heart of the alleged crime, a story will not be pulled down. If there is an error with some demographic info that was published that will be corrected and updated as per official notification and supporting documents.
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This past week alone, those in the public asked for certain stories to be pulled down based upon this or that reason – none of the reasons or requests were affirmed because the public has the right to know. The law of the state and our Constitution have established this so.
For additional information on what documents the public can have, or has access to feel free to visit the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Website or the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania. You can also keyword search on Google “Right to Know,” for example. There is a wealth of information about media access to court and police documents. Additionally, the recently added Right to Know Laws of the commonwealth elaborate on a number of other documents the public and press can gain access to for informational and or publication purposes.
Last May, LevittowNow.com published a story about the Right to Know laws click here for that story.
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The Federal Sunshine Act is also an informative tool and comes from the principles of the First Amendment and its “Free Press”clause in our constitution.
The breadth and depth of the laws supporting the dissemination of information from police and the courts does not come without some qualifiers and or fundamental principles that most media outlets follow such as identifying victims of crime in stories. LevittownNow.com does not identify victims and where ever possible we do all we can to protect identifying information from coming to light.
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There is no perfect system yet as publishers of news in the community we take our responsibility very seriously and adhere to established guidelines and media law. To not do so would alienate the tens of thousands who come to LevittownNow.com for news, information, and partner with us for advertising and promotional efforts.
