For online news outlets that want to cover up reportorial errors, the digital age is a wish granted.
A reporter gets something wrong? Just disappear it.
How bad can it get? Per a 2019 story in the journalism watchdog Press Gazette, my efforts uncovered that the vast majority of UK news outlets can disappear entire stories without recourse.
Moving right along, what you're reading is tied to my January 26, 2022 blog item, My dad's name has been scrubbed from a Delaware solar farm after I informed energy companies of his dark history.At the time, I pitched the story to a bunch of Delaware news outlets including the News Journal, the leading daily in Wilmington, but I didn't get any takers.
A few days ago my Google News alert sent me a March 4, 2022 Journal News story by reporter Ben Mace because it included these words:
Straightforward factual error, right? Per my blog, my dad's name had been dropped from the solar farm.
So on March 6, I emailed a polite request for a published correction to this department and copied Mr. Mace:
And this scrub job:
You may not be surprised to learn that the article, updated the day after I sent my request, includes no note informing readers that the article's been corrected and why.
Correcting errors
When errors occur, the newspaper has an ethical obligation to correct the record and minimize harm.
- Errors should be corrected promptly. But first, a determination must be made that the fact indeed was in error and that the correction itself is fully accurate.
- Errors should be corrected with sufficient prominence that readers who saw the original error are likely to see the correction. This is a matter of the editor’s judgment.
- Although it is wise to avoid repeating the error in the correction, the correction should have sufficient context that readers will understand exactly what is being corrected.
- Errors of nuance, context or tone may require clarifications, editor’s notes, editor’s columns or letters to the editor.
- When the newspaper disagrees with a news subject about whether a story contained an error, editors should consider offering the aggrieved party an opportunity to express his or her view in a letter to the editor.
- Corrections should be reviewed before publication by a senior editor who was not directly involved in the error. The editor should determine if special handling or outside counsel are required.
- Errors should be corrected whether or not they are called to the attention of the newspaper by someone outside the newsroom.
- Factual errors should be corrected in most cases even if the subject of the error does not want it to be corrected. The rationale for this is rooted in the Truth Principle. It is the newspaper’s duty to provide accurate information to readers. An exception may be made – at the behest of the subject – when the correction of a relatively minor mistake would result in public ridicule or greater harm than the original error.
- Newsroom staffers should be receptive to complaints about inaccuracies and follow up on them.
- Newsroom staffers have a responsibility to alert the appropriate editor if they become aware of a possible error in the newspaper.
