A headlines desk publishes all day, and anything published all day will eventually contain an error. We would rather fix ours in daylight than pretend they never happen. This policy states what counts as a correction, how to request one and exactly how the fix appears.
What counts as an error
Any material inaccuracy in a published item: a wrong name, title, date, figure, quotation, place, attribution, or a photograph or clip identified as something it is not. A headline or push summary that misstates the story under it counts too. So do updates that change a story’s meaning — those are handled as corrections, not quiet edits. Developing stories are refreshed as facts firm up, and the story shows its update time.
How to ask
Use the Contact page form and choose the corrections topic. Give us:
- the headline and the exact page link;
- the sentence, figure or claim you dispute, quoted as published;
- the correct version and the evidence for it — an official record, a document, or a statement from someone involved.
The clearer the evidence, the faster the answer. Telling us you dislike an interpretation, a quote selection or a judgement call is legitimate feedback and the desk will consider it — but feedback and factual corrections travel at different speeds, and corrections go first.
Assessment
The request is reviewed by an editor who did not produce the item, against the published text and the underlying sources. Verifiable records settle questions: if the record says we are wrong, we change it. Where facts are honestly contested, the contesting position can be added to the story and marked as contested. Straightforward factual errors are normally resolved within two business days of a well-formed request, and usually much sooner — we are a headlines desk; the queue moves.
How a fix shows
The corrected story carries a note at the change or at the foot: what was wrong, what it now says, and the date it changed. Corrected headlines are noted inside the story. We do not silently rewrite history, and where an early breaking report is overtaken by events, the story’s update line shows it. If a story must be removed for legal or safety reasons, the page says a removal happened and why, unless the law stops us explaining.
Right of reply
Anyone significantly and adversely reported on may send a response through the Contact page with the story identified. Where it adds fact or a genuinely relevant position, it will be published within the story — in full or in fair summary — and marked as a response.
This policy is part of our Code of Ethics, overseen by the 24World Media standards function. Publisher’s office: 1411 N Sterling Ave, Palatine, IL 60067, United States.
Logged, measured, learned from
Each request is logged with its date, the item concerned and the outcome, and those logs are sampled in an annual standards review across the network. The point is pattern-spotting: a desk that keeps misreading the same kind of document, or mistyping the same kind of figure, has a process problem, and process problems get fixed at the process level. Individual corrections change stories; the log is how corrections change the newsroom.