US News Zone makes mistakes occasionally, as every working newsroom does. What defines a newsroom is what happens next. This page states our corrections policy in full: what counts as an error, how to report one, how quickly we act, and how a correction appears to readers. The policy applies to every story, video description, caption and page we publish.
What we correct
We correct factual errors of every size: names, titles, dates, figures, quotations, locations, scores, prices and attributions. We also correct misleading framing where a technically accurate statement creates a false impression, captions that misdescribe a photograph, and headlines that the story beneath them does not support. Typographical errors that do not change meaning are fixed without a formal note; everything else follows the process below.
How to report an error
Use the form on our Contact page with the headline and date of the story, the exact claim you believe is wrong, and the correct information with a source we can verify where possible. Requests from the people directly involved in a story are prioritized. Anonymous correction requests are reviewed on their evidence, like everything else.
How we handle reports
A reported error goes to the desk that published the story. We check the claim against our original sources and, where needed, new ones. If the report is right, we fix the story and append a clear correction note at the point of the error or at the end of the story, stating what was wrong, what is correct, and the date of the change. Material errors in headlines are corrected in the headline and noted in the story. If a story is wrong in its central claim, we may withdraw it entirely, leaving a public note explaining the withdrawal. If we review a report and find the story accurate, we tell the requester what we found and why.
Timing and transparency
We aim to review correction reports the same business day and to resolve clear factual errors within two business days. Corrections are never made silently for anything beyond spelling and grammar, and earlier versions are not rewritten to pretend the error never happened. Where an error originated in material supplied by a partner or syndication source, we correct our version and notify the source.
Sensitivities
Requests involving personal harm, such as incorrect identification of private individuals, are escalated immediately and handled under our Code of Ethics as well as this policy. Nothing in this page limits any person’s legal rights; it describes the standard we hold ourselves to before any legal question arises.
Corrections, clarifications, updates and withdrawals, the difference
A correction fixes a factual error and is noted as described above. A clarification is added where a published statement was accurate but incomplete or capable of being misunderstood, and it is labelled a clarification with the date it was added. An update adds new, verified information to a developing story; material updates are timestamped and summarized so a returning reader can see what changed. A withdrawal removes a story whose central claim cannot be sustained, leaving a public note that states the story has been withdrawn and, in general terms, why. Each of these is a different tool, and we use the one that matches the problem, because a reader who was misled deserves to know which kind of wrong it was.
Right of reply and fairness complaints
A correction addresses facts. Separately, any person or organization that believes our coverage of them was unfair may contact us through the Contact page describing the coverage, the specific unfairness alleged, and the response they believe fairness requires. We review fairness complaints at desk-editor level. Where coverage omitted a material response we should have sought, we will add the response to the story with a note, whether or not any fact in the original story was wrong. Fairness review does not extend to disagreement with our selection of stories, our headlines’ emphasis, or conclusions a reader dislikes, but it does extend to genuine one-sidedness, and we would rather add a missing voice late than leave a record one-sided.
Record of corrections
Correction notes remain attached to the corrected stories permanently. We do not publish a separate corrections page that buries the note away from the reader who saw the original claim; the note travels with the story, in the places the story is indexed and shared, for as long as the story is live. Readers who cited our earlier, incorrect version deserve the best chance we can give them of meeting the corrected one.
