Running corrections.

For this exercise, I looked at three New England news sources: the Boston Globe, TNH, and the Portland Press Herald.

In the Globe, corrections are printed on the second page of the paper, under a section titled "For the Record." In this section, it says that the Globe, "welcomes information about errors that call for correction," and lists both a phone number and an email that corrections can be sent to.

TNH also runs a printed corrections section on the second page of their paper, under a large heading that reads "Corrections." Under this, it says that, "if you believe we have made an error, or if you have questions about TNH's journalistic standards and practices," you can contact the Content Editor, listing both his phone number and email. 

On the Portland Press Herald's website, it was surprisingly difficult to find a corrections section, but I did find on one story that a correction was listed in italics at the end of the piece. There was also a link to an accuracy form that you can fill out, which can also be found under the "Reader Services" tab.

I feel like most of these correction sections sound like light-hearted suggestions, and none of them particularly draw too much attention to themselves. The Boston Globe's "For the record" title doesn't even explicitly say what it is. I am a bit surprised how long it took me to locate any sort of corrections service for the Portland Press Herald. While I think it's okay to not draw all the attention to the errors, I think a news source should at least make a corrections section easy to locate. 

If I had a corrections policy, I'd want to keep it kind of light, to remind the readers that we're all human, and that mistakes happen from time to time. I think mine would go something like:

Oops! You caught us. If you've found an error in one of our stories, we are more than willing to look into it. At this news organization, we value accuracy and quality; however we all make mistakes now and then, and we thank you for letting us know about ours. To let us know about any errors, send your corrections to wedonefudged@murraynews.com, or call us at 207-800-8135. Once reviewed, the correction will run the next day in this section, and online within 24 hours. 

I think this works as a policy because it admits that as news organizations, we are capable of making mistakes, but also that we will take the time and care to verify corrected information and not just blindly print it. I think this policy makes us sound human, relatable, and grateful for our readers.