AP Education Shows How To Do A Correction Right

by Alexander Russo
Education

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Nobody likes to have to do a correction, which is partly why they’re done so rarely and often so obscurely. But if you’ve got to do one, do it right.

That’s what AP seems to have done with a recent school funding story (Correction: Education Dollars story) by putting the correction and the substance of the error up at the top of the story:

“In a story Jan. 21 about state education finance reform, The Associated Press reported erroneously that local school levies were billed per $100,000 in assessed property value. The taxes range from less than a dollar per $1,000 in assessed property values to $5 or more per $1,000 in value, not per $100,000 in value.”

Kudos to the team at AP for making a correction that has a decent chance of working for readers. Tsk, tsk to others for avoiding them at all costs and making them so obscure.

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Alexander Russo

Alexander Russo is a freelance education writer who has created several long-running blogs such as the national news site This Week In Education, District 299 (about Chicago schools), and LA School Report. He can be reached on Twitter at @alexanderrusso, on Facebook, or directly at alexanderrusso@gmail.com.