Corrections Policy

Correction, clarification, update

These are three different things, and we say which one we are doing. A correction fixes something we got factually wrong: a misspelled name, a wrong figure, a quote attributed to the wrong person. A clarification means the facts were right but the writing still let a reader walk away with the wrong impression, usually through a missing qualifier or a headline that outran the story. An update adds new information to an article that was accurate when it published, which on a developing story can happen many times in a day.

The labels are not decoration. Calling a correction an update is one of the oldest moves on a news website, and we do not use it. If the first version was wrong, the note uses that word.

The note goes on the story, and the story stays put

Corrections are made on the original article at its original address. The note is dated, says what was wrong and what the correct fact is, and is easy to find: at the top when the error was material, at the foot when it was minor. We do not quietly edit a sentence and leave the page looking as though it had always read that way.

Two things get fixed without a note: a typing slip that changes no meaning, and formatting or a broken link. Everything above that line carries a note. Where the error was in the headline rather than the body, the note says so, because the headline is the part that travelled furthest.

Developing stories, and what moves fastest

Breaking news is written under pressure with incomplete information, and it changes as the facts firm up. We label a fast moving story as developing, and we update it openly as we learn more, adding dated notes rather than silently swapping the text. An early casualty figure, an initial official account, a first estimate: these are provisional by nature, and we would rather show you the revisions than pretend the first version was the final one.

Errors that could cause real harm jump the queue. A wrong figure people might act on, a wrong name attached to an accusation, a wrong safety instruction: these are corrected the moment we can confirm the right version, ahead of everything else on the desk. Where an error has damaged an identifiable person, we tell them the note is up rather than leaving them to find it.

Telling us we got it wrong, and what you hear back

Write to support@newfoundtimes.com with CORRECTION at the front of the subject line. Give us the link, the sentence you are disputing, what you believe the correct fact is, and where that comes from if you have it. You do not need to be polite or explain who you are. The most useful message is the flattest: this figure is wrong, here is the official source that gives the right one.

You get an answer either way. If we change the story, we tell you what the note says. If we do not, we tell you why, and sometimes the reason is that the dispute is about framing rather than fact. Harmful errors are settled as fast as we can confirm the correct version. Everything else we aim to close the same working day and, at the outside, within two.

Chasing the error past our own page

A wrong fact does not stay on the page where it was born. When we correct something that has already spread, we correct or delete the social post carrying it rather than leaving the old version up, and a newsletter that carried the error runs the correction in its next edition. Where a story has been syndicated, we send the corrected copy and ask for the update, and because we cannot compel anyone we tell you what we asked for and what is beyond our control.

The forwarded screenshot is beyond anyone’s reach entirely. A cropped image of a headline can circulate for years, and no correction ever catches up with it. That is the plain reason this newsroom will not rush an unverified figure into print. The correction is ours to make. The forward is nobody’s to recall.

We do not delete stories, and who signs off

Articles get corrected and updated, not quietly removed. The address stays live, because deleting a page is a tidy way to lose an error along with the evidence of having made it. Requests to unpublish accurate coverage are declined, including from advertisers, whose standing on this is spelled out on our advertise page. The narrow exceptions are a binding legal order, a genuine risk to someone’s safety, or material published in error such as a draft, and where a page comes down for one of those reasons a short note stays at the same address explaining the category of reason.

A senior editor owns corrections and decides whether a note is a correction or a clarification, where it sits, and how it is worded. When the same kind of error appears twice, we treat it as a process problem rather than one careless afternoon. How claims are tested before they reach you is described in our fact-checking policy. If you have found an error, do not wait for someone else to report it. Send the link and the sentence to support@newfoundtimes.com.