Corrections Policy

Getting it right, and fixing it when we get it wrong

WEAR YELLOW FOR SETH covers breaking and developing news, which means we publish while the facts are still moving. We work hard to be accurate the first time, but on a fast story the first version is rarely the last version, and sometimes we get something wrong. When that happens we fix it in the open, on the record, and we tell you what changed. This page explains how.

We treat three things as different, and we say which one we are doing rather than blurring them together.

• Correction. We got a fact wrong. A wrong name, a wrong number, a wrong date, a quote attributed to the wrong person, a claim that turned out to be untrue. A correction fixes the fact and says plainly that the earlier version was wrong.
• Clarification. The facts were right but the wording let a reasonable reader walk away with the wrong idea, usually because a qualifier was missing or a headline ran ahead of the story. A clarification sharpens the language without pretending there was nothing to sharpen.
• Update. The story was accurate when it published and now there is more to say. New figures, an official response, an arrest, a reversal. On a developing story this can happen many times in a day, and each time the article moves forward rather than being quietly swapped out.

How a developing story is handled

Breaking news is provisional by nature. When we publish early we say so, and as the picture firms up we revise the article at the same address instead of posting a fresh version and leaving the old one to rot. A substantive update carries a dated note so you can see the story has moved and roughly when. We do not backdate, and we do not rewrite history to make an early call look better than it was.

The label matters here. Adding new developments to an accurate story is an update. Fixing something we stated as fact and got wrong is a correction, and we will not dress one up as the other. Calling a correction an update is an old trick, and it is not one we use.

Where the note goes

Corrections are made on the original article at its original web address. The story does not move and the link you shared does not break. The note is dated and says what was wrong and what the correct fact is. Where the error was material, the note sits near the top where nobody can miss it. Where it was minor, it sits at the foot of the piece. Either way it is visible, because a correction nobody can find is not really a correction.

Two small things get fixed without a note: a plain typing slip that changes no meaning, and a technical fix such as a broken link or a formatting glitch. Everything above that line carries a note. When the error was in the headline, the note says so, because the headline is usually the part that travelled furthest.

What jumps the queue

Not every error is equally urgent, and we triage.

• Anything that harms a person. A wrong name attached to an accusation, a wrong claim about a named individual or a company, a wrong account of what someone said. These are fixed the same day we confirm the right version, and where we can we tell the person the correction is up rather than leaving them to find it.
• Material facts in a breaking story. A wrong figure in a casualty count, a wrong outcome in a vote or a ruling, a wrong attribution on a major claim. People act on these, so they go ahead of everything else on the desk.
• Ordinary errors. Spelling, dates, arithmetic and the like are corrected in the normal run of the day.

Telling us we got something wrong

You do not need a reason or an introduction. If you think we published an error, write to support@wearyellowforseth.com with CORRECTION at the front of the subject line. The most useful message is the flattest one, and it contains four things:

• The link to the story.
• The exact sentence you are disputing.
• What you believe the correct fact is.
• Where that comes from, if you have it: the official statement, the filing, the data release, the transcript.

You will hear back 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 honest reason is that the dispute is about framing rather than fact, which is a matter for our editors rather than a correction. Errors that harm a person or sit in a live breaking story are handled fastest. For the rest we aim to close the matter the same working day and, at the outside, within two.

Chasing an error past our own page

A wrong fact does not stay on the page where it was born. Once it has been shared it takes on a life of its own, and a correction only half works if it never catches up. So when we correct something that already travelled, a social post carrying the old version is corrected or taken down with an explanation rather than left standing, a newsletter that carried the error runs the fix in its next edition, and where a story was syndicated we send the corrected copy and ask for the update. We cannot force anyone else to act, so we say what we asked for and what is out of our hands. The forwarded screenshot is beyond anyone’s reach, which is exactly why we would rather be right the first time than fast for its own sake.

We do not quietly delete stories

Accurate coverage stays up. We correct and update articles, we do not make them disappear, because deleting a page is a tidy way to lose the error along with the evidence that we made it. Requests to unpublish true reporting are declined, including from advertisers, whose standing is set out on our advertise page. The narrow exceptions are a binding legal order, a genuine risk to someone’s safety, and material that was published in error such as a draft. When a page comes down for one of those reasons, a short note stays at the same address explaining that it was removed and giving the category of reason.

Who signs off

Corrections are owned by our editors, not by the writer who made the mistake. An editor decides whether a fix is a correction or a clarification, how it is worded, and where it sits. Significant corrections are logged, and when the same kind of error turns up twice we treat it as a process problem to solve rather than a bad afternoon to forget. How we test claims before they reach you is set out in our fact-checking policy, the wider rules of the desk live in our editorial standards, and the story of who we are is on our about page.

If you have spotted an error, please do not wait for someone else to report it. Send the link and the sentence to support@wearyellowforseth.com.

Last updated: August 2026