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The difference is that the existence of your bug in source code form harms no one. But the existence of an unethically reported story, even with a correction, c

The difference is that the existence of your bug in source code form harms no one. But the existence of an unethically reported story, even with a correction, can cause real harm. Using your analogy, your proposed correction would be to leave the bug in production, but give some "Hey, sorry, we made a mistake" message.

dingo_bat 9y ago
> existence of an unethically reported story, even with a correction, can cause real harm Yes some professions have bigger consequences for mistakes. If you can't deal with it go do something else. Not an excuse for covering up your mistake. This is downright Orwellian.
- scott_s 9y ago
  I find it bizarre that you continue insisting that they are not owning up to their mistakes. They have clearly said the reporting was bad, their editors didn't catch it, and it's their fault. Removing the story is not "covering up." It is mitigating the harm they caused.
- deong 9y ago
  First, "don't make mistakes" is a policy so idiotic in its conception that I don't think there exists a good-faith argument for advocating for it. Second, a "cover-up" is when you hide evidence of your past misconduct. Pleading guilty in public is in every possible way the literal opposite of covering something up. If they'd just deleted the article with no commentary at all, that's covering up the mistake. Leaving the original URL up with a notice that they erred in publishing the original story isn't.
  - Karunamon 9y ago
    Except it eliminates so much context as to make the apology meaningless. Unless you knew about the existence of the pre-delete story, all you know is that the story used to be one thing, now it's "NPR fucked up".
- ryneandal 9y ago
  What? Retraction: the action of drawing something back or back in. If something is entirely incorrect and someone is trying to produce truthful content, admission and removal is entirely acceptable. Besides, it very may well have been demanded by their legal department to avoid any repercussions from the mischaracterized party.
djrogers 9y ago
If they kept the original story with a huge correction/retratction notice and all associated details, anyone who read the original could find it again. As it stands now, anyone who doesn't happen to catch this will have no way of finding out in the future that the story they read may have been partially or wholly false. I don't like the idea of erasing history this way.

dingo_bat 9y ago

> existence of an unethically reported story, even with a correction, can cause real harm Yes some professions have bigger consequences for mistakes. If you can't deal with it go do something else. Not an excuse for covering up your mistake. This is downright Orwellian.

scott_s 9y ago
I find it bizarre that you continue insisting that they are not owning up to their mistakes. They have clearly said the reporting was bad, their editors didn't catch it, and it's their fault. Removing the story is not "covering up." It is mitigating the harm they caused.
deong 9y ago
First, "don't make mistakes" is a policy so idiotic in its conception that I don't think there exists a good-faith argument for advocating for it. Second, a "cover-up" is when you hide evidence of your past misconduct. Pleading guilty in public is in every possible way the literal opposite of covering something up. If they'd just deleted the article with no commentary at all, that's covering up the mistake. Leaving the original URL up with a notice that they erred in publishing the original story isn't.
- Karunamon 9y ago
  Except it eliminates so much context as to make the apology meaningless. Unless you knew about the existence of the pre-delete story, all you know is that the story used to be one thing, now it's "NPR fucked up".
ryneandal 9y ago
What? Retraction: the action of drawing something back or back in. If something is entirely incorrect and someone is trying to produce truthful content, admission and removal is entirely acceptable. Besides, it very may well have been demanded by their legal department to avoid any repercussions from the mischaracterized party.

djrogers 9y ago

If they kept the original story with a huge correction/retratction notice and all associated details, anyone who read the original could find it again. As it stands now, anyone who doesn't happen to catch this will have no way of finding out in the future that the story they read may have been partially or wholly false. I don't like the idea of erasing history this way.