How does one go about getting a news outlet to retract a story?

Strangely enough… It is harder to reverse than it is to do. Unfortunate as well. Formal letters *Yes snail mail registered to the Editor in chief preferably.

@christine215
FYI: Usually the retractions are so small and are stuck in a tiny corner of the paper.

That said, you’d write, email & call the Editor in Chief to get the retraction printed. Better yet, if there’s an update to the story, maybe you could convince the editor to “re-visit” the story.

it breaks my heart, because it’s been re-reported ALL Over the internet and this father had legal custody of his son, when his mother fled to Costa Rica. Her “kidnapping” story is bunk and yet it’s been reported a hundred times over.

Do you think getting copies of the custody agreement from the prothonotary showing that she was in contempt for stealing the child away to Costa Rica would work??

I’ve found through real life experiences, the reporters can pretty much say whatever they want. I do not in anyway “trust” the news I read/see/hear.

It’s worth a try for him to clear his name. An attorney sending a letter claiming defamation goes a long way.

@christine215 You can but try. Contact the original reporters who wrote the story. Or better yet have an attorney contact them with a copy of the court order.

here is the response I received when I wrote to our local Fox affiliate that “broke” the story
“Thanks for your message regarding the story we did about Kattia Liebers and her son.

I was the reporter who did the piece. We set out to do a story about a woman reuniting with her son she found through social media. The focus of the story was not the custody dispute. We knew that Ms. Liebers did not have custody of her son. She also explained reasons why she didn’t.

If there are facts in the story that were wrong please bring them to my attention. As far as I can see from the script all of the facts are correct and we stand by the story.”