When we get it wrong

The rules

1. Six kinds of change. A correction fixes a material error: a wrong figure, a wrong attribution, a wrong source, a changed rating. An update adds new data without the earlier version having been wrong. A clarification sharpens wording that was open to misreading, without any detail having been wrong. An editorial note adds context without anything having been wrong, for instance after a piece was temporarily archived. A policy change is any material change to one of our rule pages (method, source standard, corrections policy, funding, conflicts of interest, legal notice, privacy policy); it too appears in the corrections log. A minor correction fixes typing, grammar or formatting without changing the sense.
2. Corrections, updates, clarifications, editorial notes and policy changes are public. Every material change creates a correction entry with date and time: what was wrong. What was changed. Why. The entry sits on the piece, above the text, is not collapsed and is not removed, and it appears in the central corrections log. Only minor corrections are made without a visible note; they are recorded in the piece’s change history.
3. The earlier version stays readable. Every version of a piece is stored. Every entry links to the version as it was before the change.
4. If a rating changes, the old rating stays visible beside the new one. With the date of the change and the reason: “Rating changed on [date]: from [OLD] to [NEW].”
5. Deadlines. We examine every report within two working days and correct without delay once the error is confirmed. Whoever reported it gets an answer, even if we stand by our account.
6. The same channels. Wherever we have distributed a piece, we distribute the correction too.
7. Right of reply. Anyone affected by a factual claim in our pieces can demand a reply (§ 20 Medienstaatsvertrag, the German interstate media treaty). It reaches us at info@mbgglobal.com or by post at the address in the legal notice. A reply appears in the same place and in the same form as the piece and stays visible for as long as it does. It is not a correction: it gives the view of the person concerned, and the editorial team may set out its own account beside it.
8. What we do not do. We do not change things quietly. We do not delete a published piece. We do not remove a correction note. A piece that is no longer current is marked as archived and stays reachable.
9. The corrections log. The full corrections log can be read at corrections: all entries in chronological order, each linked to its piece, plus a yearly overview.
10. Reporting an error. info@mbgglobal.com or the “Report an error” button under every piece. Please name the piece, the passage and, if you can, a source.

The six kinds at a glance

A minor correction creates no box on the piece and does not appear in the corrections log. It is stored all the same: in the piece’s change history, with the date and the person.

What a correction looks like

Every box carries the kind as its kicker, the date and the time, and answers the same three questions. If the rating changes, the old and the new level stand side by side. At the end comes the link to the version as it was before the change.

An update and a clarification use the same box, with the fields “What is new” and “What was open to misreading” respectively, then “What was changed” and “Why”.

Read on

• The corrections log
• Report an error
• How we check