Corrections

A product whose claim is that it tells you what someone actually said has one job, and a correction is what that job looks like on the days we fail at it.

What we correct

We correct, without waiting to be pushed:

• Wrong attribution. Words placed in the mouth of someone who did not say them. This is the most serious error we can make and it is corrected ahead of everything else.
• Wrong transcription. Words misheard by automatic speech recognition, where the error changes the meaning.
• Wrong date, source or context that changes how a statement reads.
• Unmarked transformation. Translated, interpreted, written or shortened material presented as though it were verbatim speech. A shortened quotation presented as a whole one is a misquotation.

Due prominence

A correction is published where the error was seen. If a misattributed quotation appeared on a leader's page, the correction appears on that page, not only in the log below. If it was carried in a partner feed or an API response, we tell the partner.

Corrections are dated and written in plain terms. We name what was wrong rather than describing it as a technical issue.

We append. We do not overwrite.

A correction is added to the record. It is never written over the top of the mistake, and a published entry is never deleted. If a correction is itself wrong, we publish a further entry saying so.

This is not a stylistic preference. If the only evidence of what we once published is the thing we have since edited, then nobody, including us, can audit our own corrections. A record that can be quietly revised is not a record.

Suppression is not deletion

Where we cannot stand behind material, we suppress it: it stops being served, and it stays in the archive, correctly labelled, with a reason code and a ledger entry recording who suppressed it, when, and why. If the position changes, it is reversible the same day.

We prefer this to deletion because deletion destroys the evidence of our own decision. A reader who asks “why is this no longer here” deserves an answer better than silence.

What we mark, so it never needs correcting

Most of what would otherwise become a correction is prevented by declaring it on the page in the first place.

• Speech delivered in another language and rendered into English by an interpreter is marked as interpretation. Those are the interpreter's words, not the speaker's, and the page says so.
• Translations we perform are marked as translations, and the verbatim original is preserved and shown.
• Statements submitted in writing rather than spoken aloud are marked as written, and are counted separately from our spoken line totals.
• Where an excerpt is shortened, the shortening is declared in the same breath as the excerpt.
• Where a speaker cannot be identified with certainty, we publish nothing rather than guess.

Ask us to correct something

Email complaints@otamediagroup.com. You do not have to make a formal complaint to get a correction, and most corrections never become complaints. Our complaints procedure sets out the timescales and the escalation route if you want the formal process.

If you are the person quoted, say so and we will prioritise it.

Corrections log

1. 3 September 2026

   What we published: We published 28 passages of podcast speech attributed to Andy Burnham, from an episode of The Rest Is Politics titled "533. Andy Burnham’s Big Gamble: Can He Beat Reform?". The episode is a discussion about him between the presenters; he does not speak in it. The words we attributed to him include advertising read by the presenters and one passage in which a presenter introduces himself by his own name. The passages were served from 14 May 2026 until the day of this correction.

   What we found: Found by us, not reported by a reader. While verifying the figures in an internal planning document, one line about this show could not be sourced, and checking it surfaced the misattribution. The cause is the same one recorded in the 27 August entries: an episode about a person can pass checks designed for an interview with them. This episode was attributed under an older naming convention that predates the safeguards added since.

   What we did: All 28 passages were removed from every search result and profile page on the day the error was found, recorded internally under a reason code marking the attribution as false. We are now re-checking every existing podcast attribution for UK and devolved politicians against the same fault before any further podcast material concerning them is published.

2. 27 August 2026

   What we published: We published 138 passages of podcast speech attributed to Amy Coney Barrett, across two episodes. One was an episode of rePROs Fight Back titled "SCOTUS with Amy Coney Barrett and the ACA and LGBTQ Rights, Oh My!" (54 passages). The other was an episode of Conversations with Consequences titled "Ep. 77 Senator Thom Tillis & Erika Bachiochi on Supreme Court Nominee" (84 passages). Justice Barrett does not appear in either. Both are discussions about her nomination between hosts and other guests, and the words we attributed to her were spoken by other people.

   What we found: Found by us during an internal audit, not reported by a reader. Our naming step checks whether a person is named aloud and whether one speaker dominates the recording. Both are true of an episode ABOUT someone, so a discussion about a person can be mistaken for an interview with them. The second episode was found only because we checked the first correction before publishing it: her profile still showed 84 lines after the first removal, and 84 is not zero.

   What we did: All 138 passages were removed from every search result and profile page on the day the error was found, and are recorded internally under a reason code marking the attribution as false rather than merely out of scope. We also found that five internal lookups could still return removed passages; that has been fixed and verified on every path. The naming step that produced this is paused until we have a reliable way to tell an episode about someone from an interview with them.

3. 27 August 2026

   What we published: We published 23 passages of podcast speech attributed to Tony Allen, from an episode of Revolutions Per Minute titled "Tribute to Tony Allen". The episode is a tribute broadcast after his death, in which the presenters discuss him and his music. He does not speak in it.

   What we found: Found by us in the same internal audit, on the same day, and by the same cause as the entry above. No reader reported this.

   What we did: All 23 passages were removed from every search result and profile page on the day the error was found, and their removal is verified on every internal lookup. The naming step that produced it is paused.

OTA Media Limited, registered in England and Wales no. 16472914. Editorial responsibility: Edwin Danso, Chief Executive and Editor.