A serious incident of plagiarism was brought to our attention on Friday regarding an Oct. 26 Middletown Press story about the arrest of a man who was field-dressing a deer carcass near Wesleyan University. CLICK HERE for an editor's note explaining the actions we are taking in response to the incident.

In the story titled “Mayors motives doubted,” The Middletown Press reported that Mayor Sebastian Giuliano investigated former police chief J. Edward Brymer in 2006 for his role in a poison-pen letter, and the results of that investigation led to Brymer being fired. According to Brymer, he fought the accusation and ultimately retired in 2008.

An article published Oct. 24 about eight GOP women running for election incorrectly stated that Molly Salafia is an architect. Salafia is an architectural designer.

Last year, we added a simple but hopefully clear and visible statement of accountability to our readers and sources on the Middletown Press's website.
Our "Fact Check" form at the bottom of every story asked readers to tell us if they find an error in our reporting.
Today, we're improving that program with a new form that gives readers the opportunity to expand those reports. It asks for ways that we could have improved the story, or other sources we should contact on the topic. It also gives readers an optional opportunity to provide their own contact information to be a source on the topic in the future.
But we're also adding what has been a key missing piece to - a clear, written corrections policy, corrections collected in one place on the web (this blog), and an outlet (again, this blog) for us to let you know what happens after you submit a "Fact Check" report.
We'll be using this outlet to publicize corrections to stories, to explain, if possible, how we made a particular mistake and to give you a better window into our reporting process.
We will also take some Fact Check reports that we could not confirm or feel were not valid and explain how we came to that conclusion and chose not to make a correction.
If you have any questions about this process, we'd love to talk to you.
You can reach me, Matt DeRienzo, at mderienzo@journalregister.com, or Editor Viktoria Sundqvist at vsundqvist@middletownpress.com.

The Middletown Press strives for accuracy in the news stories and other content that are published on MiddletownPress.Com and in its print edition.

We are committed to correcting all errors that come to our attention, and encourage readers, story sources and the community at-large to point them out to us.

Errors can be brought to our attention in a number of ways, including contacting the reporter who wrote the story in question by email or phone, or contacting Managing Editor Cassandra Day at cday@middletownpress.com or 860-347-3331, ext. 235, Editor John Berry at 860-489-3121, ext. 333, or jberry@21st-centurymedia.com, or Group Editor Matt DeRienzo at mderienzo@21st-centurymedia.com.

We believe that no correction is too small to deserve our attention, and so we urge readers to notify us of everything from clear errors in fact, to misspelling of names, to improper or missing context that leads to a misrepresentation of the issue being discussed.

We strive to correct errors in our reporting as quickly as possible, and in several ways.

If a story has appeared both online and in print, we will print a correction in both places. Our Corrections box in the print edition of the Middletown Press appears on our daily editorial page. Our Corrections page online is at MiddletownPress.Com/news/corrections.

Because we are able to edit stories online after they are initially published, we will do so to fix the information that was wrong. But we will also list a note at the bottom of the story marked "CORRECTION" that points out what was changed from the earlier version of the story. That correction note will also appear at MiddletownPress.Com/news/corrections.

Online and in print, we believe that corrections should repeat the error and then report what the correct information is so that readers get the full picture of how our reporting and/or editing went wrong.

We can't guarantee a mistake-free newspaper and website, but we can pledge to be transparent about how we deal with and correct mistakes. That is the goal of this corrections policy and corrections page. If you feel points are missing from this policy, please contact Group Editor Matt DeRienzo at mderienzo@21st-centurymedia.com with your suggestions.