Corrections and takedown policy
ZIP CODE 46208 is assembled from public sources and edited by Shane Nichols. This policy governs what we publish about people, how we correct errors, and how we handle requests to remove or change what we have published. Editor of record: Shane Nichols. Corrections: corrections@46208news.com.
1. What we publish about people
We name a person only when a listed official source or established newsroom names them, and only exactly as that source does: the same name, the same charge, the same status (arrested, charged, convicted, sought). No nicknames, no characterizations, no "known to police."
A person is named in a public-safety item only when the source says they have been charged or convicted, or when police have publicly asked for help finding them. An arrest without a charge, a "person of interest," a detained juvenile or a suspect named only on social media is not named. The item still runs, with the location and the agency, without the name.
Victims are not named unless the source names them and the family or the agency released the name. Minors are never named as victims or suspects.
Locations stay at block level. A house number appears only when the source prints it and the place is a business, a school or a public building, never a home.
Self-harm incidents are not covered.
Nothing from Nextdoor, Facebook groups, forums or forwarded messages names anyone, ever; those are tips, verified against a source before anything runs.
2. Follow-up duty
An item that names a person creates a duty to follow the case.
We keep a names log: person, charge, source, date run, case or report number when the source gives one.
When a listed source reports that charges were dropped, dismissed, reduced, acquitted, diverted or expunged, we run a one-line Update in the next edition, in the same section the original ran, linking the new source. The update runs even when the original item was weeks ago.
The editor checks the names log every Friday against MyCase (public.courts.in.gov) for cases older than 30 days with no reported outcome, and runs an update when the record shows one.
A person named in an item may ask for the outcome of their case to be published; we verify it in the court record and run it.
3. Corrections
A factual error is corrected in the next edition under a Corrections line at the top of the edition, stating what was wrong and what is right. We do not correct silently and we do not delete the original.
The archive copy of the edition, when there is one, gets the correction appended at the top, dated.
Errors of omission or taste are not corrections; they are editor's notes.
Anyone can request a correction by replying to the edition or writing corrections@46208news.com. The editor answers within 2 business days; a correction that checks out runs in the next edition.
4. Takedown and de-naming requests
We prefer updating to deleting. The record stays; the name may not.
Who can ask: the person named, their lawyer, a parent or guardian of a minor, or an agency that issued the original release.
We remove the name (and re-run the item without it) when any of these is shown: the person was never charged; charges were dismissed or the person was acquitted; the record was expunged or sealed; the source newsroom or agency has itself removed or corrected the name; the person was a minor at the time.
We add the outcome rather than remove the name when the case ended in a conviction or a guilty plea, or when the person is a public official or candidate acting in that role.
We remove the item only when the source itself retracted it or the item was wrong at the time it ran.
We do not remove items because they are old, embarrassing or inconvenient, or because a lawyer's letter asks nicely. Those get a reply explaining this policy.
Timing: the editor acknowledges a request within 2 business days and decides within 10; the decision is logged with the reason, and a removed name is not re-published from a cached source.
5. Standards note
We name people only as official sources do, we follow every case we name, and we correct in the next edition.
Editor of record: Shane Nichols. Corrections: corrections@46208news.com.
