Maintenance
Follow-up and correction checklist for a daily news desk
Correction checklist for intake, urgency, evidence, labels, notes, version history, headlines, alerts, media, partner feeds, reader replies, and follow-ups.
What to take away
- Triage possible harm before debating wording.
- Preserve the published version and test the claim against evidence.
- Match the correction label to the type and scale of change.
- Repair headlines, alerts, captions, graphics, and partner feeds.
- Assign every unresolved follow-up to a person and time.
Use this checklist for substantive disputes and confirmed errors. A separate copy-edit log can handle spelling, punctuation, and formatting changes that do not alter meaning. The framework it enforces is the followups and corrections guide.
Intake and urgency
- Create a case ID and record the request time.
- Save the article URL, headline, byline, and visible version.
- Quote the disputed passage exactly.
- Identify possible safety, voting, health, legal, financial, or reputational harm.
- Assign an editor and response deadline.
- Acknowledge the request without promising a result before review.
The Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics says journalists should gather, update, and correct information throughout a story's life, respond quickly to accuracy concerns, and correct mistakes promptly and prominently.
Correction intake and urgency
- Create case ID, record request time
- Save URL, headline, byline, version
- Quote disputed passage exactly
- Identify possible harm
- Assign editor and deadline
- Acknowledge without promising result
Speed matters most when readers may act on the error. A fast response still requires documented evidence. Every step lands in the correction and update log as the case record.
Evidence and decision
- Retrieve the primary document, recording, data version, or direct observation.
- Check whether the source itself was later corrected.
- Separate facts known at publication from later developments.
- Record conflicting evidence and its limits.
- Choose no change, copy edit, update, clarification, correction, note, withdrawal, or retraction.
- Name the approving editor and decision time.
Label definitions for that choice are compared in correction clarification update and retraction.
Choose the correction label
Is the published fact inaccurate?
correction or retraction
update, clarification, or note
Public note
- Say what was inaccurate or unclear.
- State the accurate information.
- Include the change date and time when useful.
- Avoid vague phrases such as "editing error."
- Do not repeat a harmful falsehood beyond what readers need to understand the fix.
- Keep the note visible with the affected article.
Version and distribution
- Preserve the earlier substantive version.
- Store the old and new wording in the case log.
- Correct headline, summary, chart, caption, alt text, and metadata.
- Check push alerts, newsletters, social posts, video descriptions, and syndication feeds.
- Notify partners when they received the wrong material.
- Verify the corrected output after publication.
Corrections work outside journalism too. EPA fixed wrong values in a pesticide-tolerance rule by publishing a separate correcting amendment that names the original rule and listing exactly which entries were wrong.
The newsroom equivalent: a durable, connected record showing what changed, not replacing substantive text without explanation. Voting-instruction errors get the strictest version; see the election reporting checklist.
Follow-up queue
- List unanswered questions and promised records.
- Add scheduled meetings, releases, hearings, and deadlines.
- Assign an owner and next check time.
- Update the story when nothing happened but readers were told to expect action.
- Close the case only after every material surface is repaired.
Common questions
What should stop publication immediately?
A possible error that could cause imminent harm or make the central account unreliable needs prompt editor review.
Must every requester receive the same answer?
Use a consistent factual decision, while protecting confidential information and legal privileges.
Is changing the timestamp enough disclosure?
No. A new timestamp does not tell readers what changed or whether an error occurred.
Who verifies the repair?
Someone other than the person making the edit should check the public result when practical.
