Our corrections policy

How to report an error

If you believe a story on behindtalkies contains a factual error, write to hi@behindtalkies.com with:

• The URL of the story.
• The exact sentence or claim you believe is wrong.
• The source that supports your version — a document, a link, a named witness, or a public record. We accept screenshots, but we will verify against the original wherever possible.
• Your name and a contact number or email so we can come back with questions. Anonymous tips are accepted, but acknowledgement and updates can only flow back if we have a way to reach you.

What happens next

Every email at the corrections address is read by the editor on duty within working hours and routed to the section editor responsible for the story. Our service levels:

• Acknowledgement within 24 hours — we confirm we have the report and tell you who is reviewing it.
• Decision within 5 working days — we either publish a correction, publish a clarification, or write back with the evidence that supports the original wording.
• Same-day handling for errors that affect a named person's reputation, an ongoing investigation, or public safety. These bypass the standard queue.

What we correct

We correct factual errors: wrong names, dates, numbers, attributions, locations, job titles, and counts. We correct misquotes — anything attributed to a person they did not say. We correct translation errors that change the meaning of a Tamil, Hindi, or English source. And we correct misleading framings — when the individual facts are true but the headline or lead gives a wrong impression.

We do not, under the label of a correction, change opinion or analysis we still stand behind, retroactively alter editorial decisions because a subject is unhappy with them, or remove quotes a source later regrets having given on the record. We will note the source's updated position alongside the original — never erase the record itself.

How a correction is shown

Corrections live in two places on the corrected article:

1. A Correction box at the top of the article, above the standfirst, summarising what changed and when. It stays visible for the life of the page — we do not roll it off after a week.
2. A persistent footer note at the bottom of the article that records the original wording, the new wording, the reason for the change, and the date and time of the edit.

The article URL does not change after a correction. Cached copies and archives will show the original; the live page shows the corrected version with both notes intact.

Significant corrections

For corrections that materially change the story — a wrong fatality count, a misattributed quote that travels widely, a person misidentified in a crime story — we also:

• Publish a stand-alone correction notice in the same section as the original story.
• Update the headline if the original headline carried the error.
• Notify the person or organisation named in the error directly, where contactable.
• Where a wire service supplied the original material, notify the wire service so the correction can flow through their systems too.
• Push the correction to the same social channels where the original story was shared.

Retractions

A retraction is reserved for stories whose central premise has collapsed — for example, an investigation whose key source has been discredited, or a report based on a document later shown to be forged. A retracted story is unpublished from the site and replaced at the original URL with a notice that explains what was retracted and why, with the original publish date intact. We do not silently delete stories; doing so would erase the record of our error.

Removals

We will, on review, take down material that is unlawful, that endangers a vulnerable person, or that we agree to remove under a court order or a binding privacy claim. Removals are decided by the editor-in-chief and are noted in a public log linked from this page once the year ends. Personal-data erasure requests under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 are handled separately through our erasure page — erasure removes personal data, never the journalistic record itself.

For our verification process, see the fact-checking page. For independence, conflicts of interest, and what we will not publish, see the ethics page.