Adopted by the Board of Directors of The Plum Media Foundation on September 30, 2026.
1. Commitment
The Utah Plum corrects errors of fact promptly, openly and without regard to who raised them. We correct in public, where readers saw the original, and we never quietly change a factual claim after publication.
2. What counts
Correction: a factual error (a wrong name, number, date, quote, attribution, title or characterization of a source). Always noted publicly.
Clarification: the facts were right but the wording could mislead, or important context was missing. Noted publicly.
Update: new information after publication (a response came in, an event changed). Noted with the date.
Minor fixes: typos, grammar, broken links that don’t change meaning. Fixed without a note.
3. How to report an error
Anyone can report a possible error by emailing corrections@theplum.org (or replying to any newsletter, or commenting on the post). The address is listed on the About page and at the bottom of every article.
4. Procedure
Log it. Within one business day, the Editor-in-Chief (Nick Huey) or designee logs the report in the corrections log: date received, who reported it, the article, the claimed error.
Acknowledge. Reply to the person within two business days to say we’re looking into it.
Verify. Check against source documents, recordings and notes. The writer is consulted but does not make the final call on their own piece. When the claim is disputed, contact an independent source.
Decide. The Editor-in-Chief decides whether a correction, clarification or update is warranted. Target: within five business days of the report. Serious errors (anything that could harm a named person or organization’s reputation) get same-day attention.
Publish. Fix the article on Substack and the website, and add a note at the bottom of the article (and at the top for significant errors) in this form: “Correction, [date]: An earlier version of this article stated X. In fact, Y.”
Carry it everywhere. If the error appeared in a video, social post, newsletter send or syndicated copy, correct or annotate those too. For videos, pin a comment and update the description. If the error went out in an email, note the correction in the next newsletter.
Close the loop. Tell the person who reported it what we did. Update the log.
5. What we don’t do
We don’t delete published articles to hide errors. Unpublishing is reserved for legal or safety reasons and requires the Editor-in-Chief’s approval and a note explaining why.
We don’t change a correction decision because of a funder, donor, board member or advertiser. Funders have no role in corrections.
We don’t treat a disagreement with our analysis as an error.
6. Review and records
The corrections log is kept in the Corporate Records Book. The Editor-in-Chief reviews it quarterly for patterns (a recurring type of error, a gap in fact-checking) and reports the count to the board at each regular meeting.
7. Fact-checking before publication
Every article is fact-checked before publication by someone other than its writer. Claims about named people or organizations go to the subject for right of reply. This policy covers what happens after publication; it doesn’t replace those steps.