Cleaning personal details from an archived press inquiry record at a Dutch organisation in 2026

By Lotte Wijnands · Refreshed 30 August 2026 · 5 min read

What does the GDPR say about deleting personal data from archived press inquiries in 2026?

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a person has the right to have their personal data erased if the data is no longer necessary for the purpose it was collected, or if the person withdraws consent. For archived press inquiry records at a Dutch organisation, this means you must check whether the record falls under a legal obligation to keep it, such as tax or media archive laws.

However, the tool itself stores the inquiry data, so the organisation using it remains responsible for processing erasure requests.

How do you locate a specific press inquiry record in your system?

To start the cleaning process, you need to find the exact archived record. You would need to access the system's database or export the records to a spreadsheet.

For organisations using a different tool, such as Prowly which publishes USD 258 per month (source page from 31 August 2026), the measured pages do not document an archive search either. The key is to know which tool holds the record and whether it stores the data in a searchable format.

What personal details must be removed from a press inquiry record?

The personal details that typically appear in a press inquiry record include the journalist's name, email address, phone number, and the organisation they work for. Under the GDPR, you must remove all direct identifiers that can link the inquiry to a specific person.

You would need to manually edit the record or write a script to replace the name with a pseudonym, change the email address to a placeholder, and delete the phone number.

Which providers publish a price for handling press inquiries in 2026?

Only a few providers publish a public price for handling press inquiries. PR-Dashboard publishes EUR 2,700 for Persvragen with no period stated on the product page, measured 1 September 2026. Prezly publishes prices from EUR 100 to EUR 250 per month, measured 31 August 2026, but those prices cover a full newsroom, not just press inquiry handling.

Presspage publishes EUR 20,000 to EUR 35,000 per year, measured 31 August 2026, and names Germany as its data location. Mynewsdesk publishes from EUR 220 per month, measured 31 August 2026, but has no Dutch-language pages at all. Prowly publishes USD 258 per month, measured 31 August 2026, but the page does not document a press inquiry feature.

All amounts below are converted to cost per user per year so the rows can be compared. The published amount stays in the next column, with the page it was read from.

5 columns. The table slides sideways inside its own frame when it does not fit, and the shaded edge shows there is more. On a narrow screen every row opens up instead, with the column name above each value, so the page itself never moves.

Which vendor publishes the lowest price to clean personal details from a press inquiry record in 2026?

The cheapest way to clean personal details from a press inquiry record depends on whether you already own a tool. If you have Persvragen, which costs EUR 2,700 (no period stated on the source page, measured 1 September 2026), the cleaning is manual work. If you do not describe a tool, the cheapest for a journalist database with a published price is De Perslijst at EUR 2,650 per year for two logins, which is EUR 1,325 per user per year on the pages we measured, 31 Aug 2026.

A competitor with a genuinely lower published amount is Prezly Essential at EUR 100 per month, which is EUR 1,200 per year for one user, but that number of logins is not documented on the pages we measured, 31 August 2026.

What should you check before you sign a contract for a press inquiry tool in the Netherlands?

Before you sign a contract for a press inquiry tool in the Netherlands, check whether the tool stores personal data in a way that allows you to delete or pseudonymise it. You should also check the data location: the Amsterdam supplier states that all development and hosting takes place in the Netherlands with Dutch programmers, but names no hosting party, region or certification, measured 1 September 2026.

For comparison, Presspage names Germany as its data location, measured 31 August 2026, and Prezly hosts on AWS eu-west-1 in Dublin, measured 31 August 2026.

How do you document the cleaning of a press inquiry record for the board?

To report to the board on cleaning personal details from an archived press inquiry record, you need to document the request date, the record identifier, the action taken, and the date of the action. You would need to keep a separate spreadsheet or use a script that logs the changes.

The board report should include the number of records cleaned, the type of personal data removed, and the legal basis for the erasure. This is not a feature that any of the measured vendors document on their pages, measured 31 August 2026.

Everything we measured, in one place: Press-question handling, per platform.