When to Ask for a Correction — and When Not

Howard the CEO was furious — “I want a correction!”  The occasion: a biz journal cover story with side-by-side pix of 2 local business leaders — Howard + a drag queen restaurateur.  “Correct what?” I countered.  “It’s not like they mixed up the photo captions.”

Howard finally managed a tight little smile.  Who says humor is dead in the corner office?

It’s a silly anecdote, but it raises an important issue: When is it appropriate to request a correction?  Often, company executives irate over a misplaced semicolon barge into the PR director’s office demanding, “fix this — get a correction or a retraction!”  Clearly there are times when that’s neither feasible nor reasonable.

The right times to ask:

1. When the reporter gets the facts wrong, misspells a name, uses the wrong exec title or mixes it up with another’s, or people are, in fact, misidentified in photos.  All obvious stuff, and editors are pretty good about accommodating such requests.
2. When the interviewee is misquoted.  A little stickier because now you’re questioning the journalist’s sacrosanct notes, but go ahead and ask — if you have a good case.
3. When artwork is illegible.  A poor print run at Business Week messed up their depiction of a company’s high-speed Internet network.  They actually called us to apologize, then ran the whole story again the following week, this time with a perfect network map.  Incredibly gracious.

But don’t bother –

1. When the offending story, or parts thereof, are your fault.  CEOs often like a “subject matter expert” to be in the room, or standing by on the phone, to help with tough technical questions.  Bad idea.  When the reporter has to take notes on two or three speakers and can’t even see them, mistakes are inevitable.  You can ask for a correction, but don’t expect one.  (And don’t ever allow multiple parties on an interview again.)
2. When the article is a column or opinion piece. I was once asked to request a “correction” in a viewpoint piece, not because of a mistake but because the client disagreed with the author’s commentary.  The response I got: “I’m a columnist.  Think of me like God — I can say whatever I want.”   Phew.  He meant it, too!

As for that cover story in the Secaucus Business Journal, it hangs over my desk to this day, a reminder of the limits of our control in this business — and how even PR can be funny. . .after the CEO cools off.

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