| The method | Publish dated corrections and updates that say what changed and why. |
|---|---|
| Why it matters | Evidence-backed brands survive errors; they do not survive quiet rewrites of the proof. |
| On Gnosis | Add a dated note and adjust pins; do not silently relabel a failed exhibit as primary. |
Every investigation will need a correction or an update eventually. The Methods standard is not perfection — it is a visible trail. Readers who checked your sources deserve to see what changed after they bookmarked the piece.
Corrections vs updates
A correction fixes something that was wrong: a wrong figure, a misidentified party, an overclaimed causal link. An update adds new information that does not necessarily mean the old text was false.
Say which one you are doing in the first sentence of the note. “Update” used to hide a correction trains readers to distrust your labels.
What a good correction contains
Date and time, what the article originally said, what is correct, and the basis for the change (which document or on-record statement). Avoid vague “we regret any confusion.”
If the claim sentence itself must change, rewrite it explicitly and say so. Pins that supported the old claim may need re-labeling or removal from the public stack.
Where to place the note
Put substantial corrections near the top or beside the claim — not only in a footer. On Gnosis News Methods and news posts, clarity beats pride. On Gnosis investigations, a dated body note plus board pin changes keeps the case file honest.
Social posts that amplified the error need their own correction when feasible. Ignoring the amplification path is how wrong versions keep circulating.
Process before pride
Keep a private log of alleged errors. Verify before you edit. Not every angry email is a correction — but every verified error is one.
Common failure modes: editing numbers without a note; deleting paragraphs that contained the mistake; blaming “the source” without checking whether you overclaimed.
Do this next on Gnosis
Use the free Investigator Starter Kit to put this method on one page, then open Gnosis and start the investigation. Premium unlocks the full Evidence Board on Pricing.
More Methods: Investigation Methods hub.
Versioning without gaslighting
If you use a CMS that overwrites history, keep an offline copy of the previous version with a timestamp. Disputes often hinge on what the page said last Tuesday. Screenshots help; archival copies help more.
When an update reverses a major thrust of the piece, consider whether a new article with a clear link is fairer than a quiet rewrite. Readers who shared the old URL deserve a path to the new understanding.
Internally, track how the error happened: bad OCR, misread schedule, source error you failed to catch. Process fixes matter as much as the public note.
Keep a short private checklist for this method and revisit it on every story until it is automatic. Indie investigators do not have a newsroom hallway to catch slips, so the checklist is the hallway. When something feels inconvenient — downloading the portal PDF, writing the correction note, killing a tip — that inconvenience is usually the signal that the method is working. Readers will not see your discipline directly; they will feel it as fewer walk-backs and clearer exhibits.
Link back to the Investigation Methods hub when you publish so the next guide in the catalog is one click away. Practice on Gnosis with pins that match what you wrote here, and use the free Investigator Starter Kit when you need the one-page version of claim, sources, and first publish.
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