Set it Right Act

Misinformation and disinformation are words we hear our media outlets constantly say. The problem with this is that THEY are usually the perpetrators of the false stories.

There is a simple fix for this.

Retractions/Corrections are common practice when the media get things wrong. The problem however is they can spend hours promoting the false story in a prime-time or front page slot while the retraction is buried, but technically available.

Media outlets should have to publish/broadcast the retaction or correction in the same manner/time/day of the week and duration as they did the false story so it reaches the same audience.

Example:
If a “news” outlet spends 3 hours on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings from 7pm-10pm telling their viewers something that later is proven to be false, the retraction/correction to that story cannot only be done by posting it on the last page on the outlets website or broadcast for 2 minutes at 3am on a Tuesday.

They must make the correction known to their Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening viewers from 7pm-10pm, spending the same amount of time (3 hours) discussing the correction and the update.