6 Steps to Take When the Media Get It Wrong

[by Bruce Hennes] Recently, George Clooney publicly pointed his finger at The Daily Mail for publishing a story he said was false from start to finish.  By doing so, the famous actor exponentially drove more readers to the original offending article than might otherwise have occurred.  Did he do the right thing?  What if this happens to you or your organization?  What should you do when the media get it wrong?

1. The first step is always to take a deep breath and determine whether you are actually facing an error of fact – or if you just don’t like the reporter’s angle or viewpoint on the subject.  Under the rules of classic journalism, reporters are supposed to be 100% factual and keep opinion out of their stories, while columnists have free rein to express their opinion, no matter how “wrong” you think that opinion is.  Unfortunately, at a growing number of media outlets, the lines between reporting and opining are now blurred to the point of non-existence, much to the confusion of news consumers.  If facts are wrong, you have a pretty good chance at getting the correction you want.  But if your problem is with a reporter or columnist’s opinion, your request for a correction is going to be a tough, though not impossible, sell.
2. If there is a small error of fact (e.g. your company was founded in 2000, not 2002), send a polite, diplomatic email to the reporter asking that the correction be posted to the media outlet’s website.  Because articles on the Internet live forever – and other writers and reporters may rely on this particular article years or decades later – even the smallest errors should be corrected in order to avoid repetition of the original mistake.
3. If the error is more egregious (i.e. there are larger, multiple or substantive errors), the same advice still holds.  However, time is even more of the essence, especially on news websites with high traffic.  At many news websites, tens of thousands of eyeballs can see that incorrect article in minutes – and everyone knows that corrections rarely carry the same weight as the original article.
4. If the media outlet refuses to make the change, or if you know you need to get correct information on the web immediately, don’t hesitate to make the correction yourself in the comment section that often run below the article.  If you do that, transparency is important.  Be sure to identify yourself in the opening lines of the comment post, especially if your screen name is not YOUR name.
5. We’ve also had great success sending short statements of 2-4 paragraphs that the news outlet is willing to place verbatim inside the original story with a “we received this from XYZ…”
6. A letter to the editor is a tried-and-true method of getting your point across.  The key is brevity.  However, recognize that space for letters in print media is limited — and getting smaller all the time. Check the newspaper’s web site to see if they publish longer-form letters online.

Stay tuned for the next post on this topic: 6 MORE Steps to Take When the Media Get It Wrong.  In that article, we’ll reveal the “Nuclear Option” and much more.