Reader’s guide on stories that have been withdrawn for review

Cosmas Ndeti reads an interesting article on avocados in online Business Daily. A few days later he meets Onesmus Mutuku who also grows avocados in Mua Hills. He recommends the article to him but can’t remember the exact title. “Just google ‘ban on avocado exports’,” he says.

Back home, Mr Mutuku googles as directed and lands on a page with the headline “Producers fault total ban on avocado exports”. But there is no article. It has been removed. An editor’s note says: “This story has been withdrawn for editorial review.”

“It’s frustrating for me, not knowing whether I’ll ever get to read the article,” he complains to me. Mr Mutuku is one of many readers who have faced the problem of articles that are here today but gone tomorrow.

Examples of stories readers have searched but found only blanks include a story about Russia’s hand in conflicts around Africa published in the Daily Nation of May 27, 2021, a story headlined “Families to wait longer for Sh1bn fluorspar land” published in the Business Daily of April 12, 2021 and a story concerning Christina Pratt Kenyatta published in the Daily Nation of February 25, 2021.

Mother of all corrections

Today, as I write this, I’ve counted 16 stories on Nation.Africa, 14 in the online Business Daily and one in the online The East African that have been withdrawn for editorial review. Some have been gone for more than two years.

Withdrawing a story for editorial review is the mother of all corrections. It just falls short of removing a story for good, as if it was never published. Removing a story for good is unpublishing. It’s killing it.

On the other hand, withdrawing a story for editorial review carries the expectation that the story will come back. Sometimes, the editor’s note is explicit about this. Such was the case with a story, “KWS raises park fees by up to 60pc for Kenyans”, published in the Daily Nation of August 31, 2020 .“This story has been withdrawn for a further editorial review,” says the editor’s note. “A corrected version of the story will be published.” The story, however, has not yet seen the light of day since it was withdrawn more than 20 months ago.

When editors withdraw stories, as opposed to unpublishing them, they use expressions such withdrawing “for editorial review”, “for further editing” or “for rewriting.” If they say “for legal reasons,” then you know the story has been unpublished.

Erode reader confidence

I like to compare withdrawn stories to flying termites: they come after the rain, then disappear leaving behind shed wings as their only footprint. Withdrawn stories leave behind a headline, may be even a picture, a byline, or only the date of publication, as the only footprint of their existence.

Editors don’t say when a story was withdrawn, nor the exact reasons why. This is frustrating for readers.

If the story is republished, readers want to know what has been changed, but editors in general are mean with such information. Nation.Africa, however, does a good job. When on January 26, 2022, it republished a story headlined “Murang’a man arrested over death of his 4-month-old baby”, the editor attached the following note to the story: “An earlier version of this story linked the arrest in Murang’a to a viral video doing rounds on social media. We have since learnt that the two are unrelated. We apologise for the mix up.”

All in all, the most important thing is that there should be closure for all stories withdrawn for editorial review. If the stories aren’t promptly republished, or the reader is not told why they couldn’t be republished, that can erode reader confidence.

I’ve told Nation.Africa Managing Editor Churchill Otieno about this problem. He has promised to fix it. “Usually, review should take no more than a few days,” he said. “We will also put in place a stricter process.”

The Public Editor is an independent news ombudsman who handles readers’ complaints on editorial matters including accuracy and journalistic standards. Email: [email protected]. Call or text 0721989264.