The following passage offers some interesting insight into how the Times (UK) handles corrections. Of note is that the paper makes an effort to place its corrections on the "appropriate page," rather in the same space each day. This is different than nearly every newspaper in North America. From the "Feedback" column:
Alan Price-Talbot of Glamorgan asks disconcertingly: "When The Times is required to print a correction, what punishment is meted out to the erring reporter or stringer?" (I’m trying to decide whether Mr Price-Talbot is a teacher, policeman or magistrate.) A retired and much missed senior executive of The Times used to tell complainants that the miscreant would be hanged and the body buried in an unmarked grave, but that wasn’t actually true. All newspapers make mistakes, generally a result of reporters labouring to meet tight deadlines under great pressure. When a correction is requested, we conduct a careful review of the legitimacy of the request. The most important thing is to correct significant errors as soon as possible, and on an appropriate page rather than lumped together in one column, as this tends to trivialise the more serious errors.
A note is sent to all staff highlighting the error, and guilty parties are made vividly aware of their shortcomings, but to err at The Times is human, to forgive divine (and therefore in the gift of the Editor). One of our most experienced, hardworking and admired writers once cost us several thousand pounds after he inexplicably misidentified the object of a critical review, but as far as I know we didn’t take it out of his expenses.
