This is how to complain, how a correction is made, and how a body named in an item replies.

A complaint that a fact is wrong is investigated against the record the item was written from, which is the document cited on the item rather than a recollection of it. The rules the item was written under are the editorial standards.

Where the complaint is right, a correction is issued. Where it is not, the reply says so and cites the document, so the person making the complaint can see the same record we did and check it themselves.

A correction is an item in its own right. It travels every channel the original travelled, including a push already sent, an email already delivered, a recap page already shared and a licensee's white-label feed.

Every correction is written into the corrections log, which is public and permanent. The log records what was wrong, what the item now says, what caused it and when it was corrected.

Any body or holder of public office named in an item may reply to it.

• It is free, and it is free whoever is asking.
• The identity of the person replying is verified by an email address at the body's own domain, or by an entry in an official register.
• The reply appears on the item, under the findings, at the same visual weight as the findings.
• It is capped at 300 words.

The right of reply is not an appeal, it is not a route to removal, and it is not a negotiation. A reply sits beside a finding rather than replacing it. Where a reply states that a fact is wrong, that part of it is treated as a complaint of fact and investigated as one, under section 1.

The product is not open, so no item has been published and no correction has been issued. The log exists and is linked before there is anything in it, because a log that appears on the day of the first mistake is a log nobody has reason to believe.