How Long Should a Story Live?

Effective social-good storytelling is personal.  
 
Profiles and human-interest stories can put a face on an organization’s mission and deliver poignant examples of impact that are much more powerful than statistics and numbers.
 
But as communicators, we have an ethical responsibility to ensure the people whose stories we’re telling are being treated fairly and with compassion.
 
For some profile subjects, telling their stories involves reliving past traumas or discussing uncomfortable topics.
 
The best stories often feature conflict and struggle — and they have been around as long as people have been telling stories. And for good reason: They can deliver an emotional impact that can change a reader’s perspective or compel them to take action. 
 
As we think about how to best tell these stories — and respect the feelings and dignity of the people behind them — we must ask ourselves some important questions.
 
Today, let’s focus on one of these questions — How long should a story live online or in other formats?
 
For media outlets, we doubt this is a topic getting much consideration. Once a story is told, it becomes part of the publication’s archives for as long as that publication exists – and potentially even after that. 
 
But for a nonprofit or a foundation, the rules can, and should, be different.
 
Should we continue to include profile and human-interest stories on our websites that were published 10 years ago.
 
Does keeping that story in the public realm have the potential to in some way hurt or hamper the person who shared their story?
 
Our circumstances shift over time – sometimes in dramatic ways. Someone who shared their story about drug addiction 15 years ago, might be clean for a decade or more. Is it fair that a potential employer can readily read about that person’s darkest hours through a simple Google search?
 
To that end, is there an obligation for an organization that originally produced that story to check back with the subject at a certain date to affirm that they are comfortable with the story remaining public?
 
We should also revisit how we repurpose content. It’s common practice for an organization to reuse a particularly impactful story or photo — including the same story in annual reports, promotional videos, social media posts and marketing collateral. 
 
If a person agreed to be interviewed for your monthly newsletter, does that mean the story is fair game to be repurposed in other ways for perpetuity?
 
While there are no easy answers to these questions, it’s important to ask them — and to consider developing policies and standards that address them. 
 
As part of our work with NEON, a cohort of community foundations from across the U.S. working together to dismantle structural and systemic racism, we have been delving into these and other questions with the aim of developing a Storytelling Code of Ethics. 
 
As we continue working through this process, we’ll share insights that may be helpful for other organizations seeking to make sure that they are telling stories that make an impact, while also taking steps to assure those stories don’t inflict undue harm in the years ahead.