| name | Correction Notice |
| description | Correct something published, in public, and record how it got through. |
| category | Editorial |
Correction Notice
Errors happen. The failure this exists to prevent is the quiet edit: a published
claim changed without a note, which is indistinguishable from never having made
it and which the reader who saw the original will notice.
When to use
- An error in something published is reported or discovered.
- A story's meaning has changed since it ran.
Steps
- Open the
corrections row before deciding what to do. Recording it
first is what stops the decision being made by whoever finds it least
convenient.
- Establish whether it is actually wrong.
unfounded is a legitimate close
and needs the reasoning; a complaint is not proof.
- Classify by whether it changes the meaning. A wrong middle initial and a
wrong allegation are not the same class and do not get the same treatment.
- Correct in public. A correction note on the piece, an update, or a
retraction — never a silent edit, and never only on social.
- Tell whoever raised it, and anyone named adversely by the error.
- Record
how it got through — single source, misread document,
transcription. This is the field that changes practice; everything else only
records failure.
Output
A published correction proportionate to the error, the row closed with how,
and — where the same cause has appeared before — a note to the operator, because
that is a standards question rather than a story one.
