A news story about your company is wrong: how to request a correction

When a newspaper publishes an inaccurate story about your company, the main tool is a correction (rettifica). The same news outlet publishes it, setting out the facts as they are. For daily newspapers, periodicals and news agencies, the Italian Press Law obliges the editor legally responsible for the publication (direttore responsabile) to publish it, within precise limits. For online news outlets the framework should be assessed with a lawyer, but the journalists’ code of ethics requires errors to be corrected in any case. A well-made request is short, addressed to the editor, tied to the disputed sentences and backed by documents. Before you write it, though, ask yourself what is actually wrong. Not everything that is unwelcome is inaccurate.

True, inaccurate or false: what was actually written?

A correction is for inaccurate or false facts, not for criticism. Before you act, read the whole article, not just the headline a colleague forwarded, and separate the statements one by one.

Criticism, even harsh criticism, is legitimate when it concerns true facts. Treating it as an error to be corrected leads to rejected requests and, often, to a second article about how the company reacted.

When does the law require a correction to be published?

The Italian Press Law (Article 8 of Law 47/1948) obliges the editor legally responsible for a daily newspaper, a periodical or a news agency to publish statements or corrections from anyone to whom acts, thoughts or statements have been attributed that they consider damaging or untrue. The condition is that the text must not have content that amounts to a criminal offence. By law, there is no fee for this.

These are the main rules:

• for daily newspapers, the correction must be published within two days of the request, at the top of the page and on the same page as the story
• the text must refer to the disputed article and can run to thirty lines
• if the correction does not appear within the time and in the manner required, you can ask a judge to order its publication through an urgent order (provvedimento d’urgenza).

And for online newspapers?

The picture is more complex. In judgment 31022/2015, the Joint Criminal Divisions (Sezioni unite penali) of the Italian Supreme Court (Corte di Cassazione) brought registered online news outlets closer to the traditional press. Which rules apply to a particular website, whether it is a registered news outlet, a blog or an aggregator, should be assessed with a lawyer.

Then there are the rules of professional ethics, which apply to every journalist whatever the medium. The Code of Ethics for Journalists (Codice deontologico delle giornaliste e dei giornalisti), in force since 1 June 2025, requires journalists to correct promptly, and with due prominence, any information that turns out to be inaccurate, even without a request. It also asks them to make room for replies from anyone who considers themselves harmed. For a serious newsroom, this is a concrete argument, and it carries more weight than a threat.

How do you write a request that gets published?

An effective request:

• is addressed to the responsible editor, by certified email (PEC, Italy’s legally recognised registered email) or in some other traceable form
• states the news outlet, the date, the headline of the article and the disputed sentences, word for word
• proposes a short, factual text, within the thirty lines, with no judgement on the person who wrote the article
• attaches the documents that prove the correct version, such as a company register extract, a court judgment, a notice from an authority or the annual accounts
• names a person at the company whom the newsroom can contact to check the facts.

Here is a sample text. “The article published on 12 September states that the company is under investigation for environmental offences. The story does not concern our company. It concerns a business with a similar name, based in another municipality, as shown by the attached company register extract. We request publication of this correction under Article 8 of Law 47/1948.” A request to an Italian news outlet is sent in Italian.

Words matter. A text that accuses the journalist or widens the dispute to other issues gives the newsroom a reason not to publish it, and gives readers another story to follow.

How do you work with newsrooms?

A phone call to the editor or the news editor, with the documents ready, often puts an error right within a few hours. Newsrooms have an interest in correcting, because the error damages their credibility too. A written request is still useful, because it leaves a record and sets the timetable.

A few rules help the relationship, before and after:

• one person handles contacts with the press, and their details are always up to date on the website
• the company’s essential details, such as its registered name, sites and business activities, are published and easy to find, so identification errors become rarer
• requests for comment get an answer before publication, even if only to say what can be confirmed, because an article written without the company’s side is the one most likely to contain errors
• thank the outlet for the correction, without crowing about it on your own channels.

It is also worth thinking about where people will look for the company’s version. Search engines and artificial intelligence assistants pick up what they find published. A clear, dated page setting out the facts stands alongside the corrected story.

What if a correction is not enough?

Sometimes the content is not on a news outlet but on social media and websites that are not newspapers. Or the error has turned into a campaign. In that case other tools come into play. They include the notices provided for by the Digital Services Act, preserving the evidence and assessing whether to file a criminal complaint (querela) within the deadline set by law. The sequence for the first hours is set out in our guide to online reputation crises. If the story concerns a cyber-attack, the guidance on who decides, who communicates and what to preserve also applies.

For people named in a story, such as a director or an employee, the GDPR provides under certain conditions for erasure and for delisting from search engines. Delisting means the link no longer appears when someone searches the person’s name. The GDPR, however, protects the data of natural persons, not of companies (Recital 14). The company as such cannot invoke it.

A typical scenario. A local news website reports that a company is under investigation for an environmental irregularity, confusing it with a business with a similar name. The company gathers its company register extract and documents, phones the editor, sends the written request for correction and alerts its main customers with a short message. The correction comes out the next day, with due prominence. The company’s page setting out the facts remains as a reference for anyone searching.

And in San Marino? The rules cited here are Italian and European. For businesses and news outlets in San Marino the framework is different and must be assessed case by case.

In brief

• A correction is for inaccurate or false facts. Criticism and true facts call for other tools.
• For daily newspapers, periodicals and news agencies, the Press Law makes publication mandatory, within thirty lines and to a precise timetable.
• For online news outlets the framework is assessed with a lawyer. Professional ethics require errors to be corrected in any case.
• The request goes to the responsible editor, quotes the disputed sentences, proposes a short text and attaches the documents.
• An orderly relationship with newsrooms prevents many errors and speeds up their correction.

Frequently asked questions

Is the newspaper obliged to publish our correction?

For daily newspapers, periodicals and news agencies, the Press Law makes it an obligation, within precise limits. The correction must refer to the disputed article, stay within thirty lines and contain nothing that amounts to a criminal offence. For online news outlets, it is best to assess the case with a lawyer. The code of ethics requires inaccurate information to be corrected in any case.

Can we ask for the article to be deleted?

A story that is true and in the public interest normally stays. You can ask for it to be corrected, updated or supplemented. For the individuals named in it, the GDPR provides, under certain conditions, for erasure and delisting.

Can the correction contain our opinion of the article?

It must refer to the disputed facts. Comments on the journalist or the news outlet make the text longer, can make it unpublishable and shift attention from the error to the dispute.

Is it worth replying in the comments under the article too?

Reply once only, politely and with the facts, if it helps readers. Long arguments in the comments keep the story alive and rarely change anyone’s mind.

Reading what is said about the company in open sources, preparing requests for correction and managing relations with newsrooms at sensitive moments is the work of Strategic’s Communication and intelligence division. Any legal action is decided with your own lawyers.

Sources

Consulted on 16 September 2026.

• Law 47 of 8 February 1948, Provisions on the press (Disposizioni sulla stampa), Article 8, Normattiva (in Italian)
• National Council of the Order of Journalists (Consiglio nazionale dell’Ordine dei giornalisti), Codice deontologico delle giornaliste e dei giornalisti (Code of Ethics for Journalists), Articles 16 and 17 (in Italian)
• Order of Journalists, announcement of the new Code of Ethics for Journalists coming into force on 1 June (in Italian)
• Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR), Recital 14 and Article 17, EUR-Lex
• Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act), EUR-Lex
• Italian Supreme Court (Corte di Cassazione), Joint Criminal Divisions, judgment 31022/2015, on registered online news outlets (text in the Court’s ItalgiureWeb database)