Note to mainstream media

This is how you publish a retraction. From Denis Goddard at Free State Blogs.

I posted here yesterday a pretty vicious "hit piece" on Concord Mayor Jim Bouley, based on information posted here by a disarmament organization, "Mayors Against Illegal Guns"

This morning I got a call from Mr. Bouley himself. He was nice, good-natured, and generally just a pleasant guy to talk to -- certainly nicer than I would have been, had the tables been turned! Mr. Bouley thanked me for pointing out the "Mayors Against Illegal Guns". He said he was unaware of the organization, that he we not a member of that organization, and that he certainly had not given them permission to include him on their list of supporters. He informed me that it was his policy not to be involved in any such organizations, and that he had contacted them and asked that they remove his name from their lists.

Jim, I apologize for the blog post. I am sorry this organization used your name without your knowledge, and that I took the word of an anonymous website for truth. You handled a potentially awkward situation with grace and dignity.

No qualifications or yeah-buts. Just a straight forward admission of error, a statement of the facts, and sincere apology. If more newspapers addressed and corrected their mistakes this way, they might still have some readers.