Corrections/content updates: Our policy is to correct content mistakes as quickly as possible. Web editors frequently are asked by reporters to fix errors in online files without first consulting supervisors or appending corrections, but editors must approve any changes after a story has been posted/published.
Corrections are required for all errors other than grammatical mistakes and must be approved by a supervisor and added to the online version of the story. This would include misspellings of proper names.
Publishing new information in live edit: Our policy is to update online articles with facts or developments that we can verify. While it is impossible to follow up every arrest or adjudication, we are obligated to add new information that is provided to the PG and/or reported by the PG, and approved by a supervisor.
When adding new information to an existing story, place the story in Live Edit (found on the Properties tab in Libercus) so an editor can approve the addition and publish it. If a story is more than 24 hours old, consult a web editor on the proper protocol — we may decide there’s enough new info to warrant a new slug.
‘Unpublishing’ stories: The Post-Gazette believes that maintaining the integrity of its published archives is important to its credibility and to the public record. As with our newsprint version, our online published content is a matter of public record and is part of our contract with our readers. To simply remove published content from the archive diminishes transparency and trust with our readers and in effect, erases history. If an article is inaccurate, we will correct it, or if relevant new information emerges, we will update it or do a follow-up story. Removing a story derived from fair, accurate and thorough reporting fails to meet that bar. In the rare cases where unpublishing may be necessary (broken embargo, copyright violation, duplication, legal updates, etc.), contact your editor, who will then contact the Editor and Managing Editors for further guidance on how to properly handle the request to unpublish.
Where does the correction run? The editor’s note?: Editor’s notes, in the relatively rare cases when they are needed, should appear at the top of an online story. Corrections will be posted at the end of the story unless a supervisor, after consulting a masthead editor, deems the error of fact so significant that the correction should sit atop the story. Updates will be noted at the end of a story. (See examples below).
Don’t repeat the error: In writing corrections, we should conform to the language that appears in the PG stylebook: “Generally, errors should not be repeated in the process of trying to correct them unless doing so makes the correction clearer, which it sometimes does. Use your judgment.”
EXAMPLES
-----
Editor’s note: Here are two examples of an editor’s note that were posted on post-gazette.com, noting that content was removed. This is the style (Editor’s note, posted on xxxx) that we will follow:
Editor's note, posted Jan. 14, 2013: A story on nursing home quality produced by PublicSource, an investigative news group, and published by the Post-Gazette on Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013, has been corrected and updated. It is available on the PublicSource website with the most-recent figures relating to the number and rate of problems in Pittsburgh and surrounding areas. The original story has been removed from the Post-Gazette website.
Editor’s note, posted Jan. 27, 2013: A picture of a hallway strewn with shoes that accompanied a previous version of this online article was used in error. It showed the aftermath of a fire in Buenos Aires in 2004, not Saturday night's fire in Santa Maria, Brazil.
-----
Corrections: Here are some samples of corrections, in the style (Correction, posted on date) we will follow:
Correction, posted Jan. 13, 2013: In an earlier version of this obituary, Mary Smith’s birth date was misstated.
Correction, posted Jan. 28, 2013: In an earlier version of this story, the first name of Terre Hamlisch was spelled incorrectly.
Correction, posted Jan. 27, 2013: In an earlier version of this story, two different figures were presented on the number of Americans with schizophrenia. The correct number is 3.1 million.
—------
Updates: Updates should be made within the story and noted at the bottom of the file. Here is an example of a local police blotter item updated to reflect that the case was dismissed.
Updated, Jan. 31, 2013: John Doe, 25, of Carnegie, was charged Feb. 10, 2012 with harassment after a dispute with neighbors, police said. The case was dismissed June 13, 2012, according to court documents.
-----
Corrections: Our policy is to correct content mistakes as quickly as possible for stories that have been published in print editions. Typically, corrections run on Page A2.
Corrections are required for all errors other than grammatical mistakes and must be approved by a supervisor. This would include misspellings of proper names.
Step one:
Create a file in Libercus slugged CORRECTXXXXXX
Step two:
Write a correction that explains what story we’re referring to, when and where it ran and gives the correction information, without repeating the error.
Step three:
Have a supervisor edit the correction and then alert David Garth and Kevin Flowers to the file and slug. Also, put the slug on the Inside A portion of the Google Doc budget for the day that the correction should run.
-----
EXAMPLES
Here are some examples of print corrections, in the style we follow.
Op/Ed: In the March 6 edition of the Post-Gazette, the column “Why the literary elite don’t write about workers” was mistakenly attributed to the wrong New York Times columnist. It was written by Michelle Goldberg.
Business: In a story Sunday on potholes incorrectly described the freeze-thaw process that causes the tire-damaging ruts. During cold weather, water beneath the surface freezes and thaws continually, expanding when it turns to ice and fracturing the pavement.
A1: In a story Tuesday describing why groundhogs hate sunshine, the name of National Weather Service meteorologist Joe Smythe was misspelled.