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Acknowledge and explain your mistakes with full transparency

While it might seem convenient to sweep your mistakes under the rug, storm warnings might change your mind. By acknowledging your errors transparently, you strengthen your readers' trust and demonstrate your commitment to ethical practices.

Prevent

This automated Twitter account allows readers of the New York Times to track all changes made to the link, headline, or body text of an article published on the web. While the bot in this case wasn't programmed by the newspaper itself, the idea is replicable for your media outlet—if only by noting modifications directly at the beginning or end of an article.

Explain

Last September, the Arrêt sur images team accidentally published confidential working notes in their daily newsletter. In this article, the outlet provides a detailed account of the technical and human causes that led to the error, offers its apologies, and outlines the implementation of new review processes. Simple.

Engage

Once the damage is done and apologies are made, it's time to rebuild trust. Nothing works better than good old-fashioned chat. Each month, the daily newspaper Le Monde answers questions from its readers, who are often numerous in challenging the outlet's editorial choices and asking for explanations about changes or factual errors.


Editor's note: Médianes, the studio, has been supporting Arrêt sur images in its strategic development since 2022.