Errata: The Missing Zero
The idea: a mistake fixed openly, saying what was wrong and where it came from, keeps more trust than a mistake fixed quietly.
Read it
Who is in this book
- Attest Every claim names its source, and a correction names one too from NewsForge
- Danya a child of the Green Asks "how do we know?"
- Deed Go to the original document, not a summary of a summary from NewsForge
- Widen One number means little without something to compare it with from NewsForge
- Tara a child of the Green Listens longest, speaks last
Every recurring character has a short tune, so you can tell who is on stage before a word is said. The tunes play only when you tap, and the Reading Access sound switch turns them off.
The Honest Page
Which parts of this story are true, stretched or made up?
True
- £240,000 is ten times £24,000; £24,000 is about 7.7% of £310,000.
- A newspaper correction is a public notice about a factual mistake in an earlier article; in print it often appears in its own column, and online a note may be added to the top of the corrected article. Source
- A primary source is an original document or record from the time, as opposed to a later account written from it. Source
Stretched
- The case suggests an open correction keeps readers' trust better than a quiet edit. What we simplified: Many newsrooms believe this and make it policy, but how readers react depends on the mistake and on the paper; an open correction is the honest course either way.
Made up
- The Green Gazette, Mill Lane, Mrs Hallam, Mr Pettit, the flyer and every figure in the case are made up.
Tara’s sentence
The case stops where Tara speaks. Write the sentence you would have said. It stays on this device.
Kept.
Your sentence lives on this device. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Ring the hammer for someone
Pick this book for someone younger. The link carries only the book, and it will wait for them on the Green.