Right of reply

This page describes the right-of-reply process we operate. It is the public-facing policy. The associated practical correspondence with named parties — the letters we send when an article is approaching publication, the windows we offer for response, the channels by which responses are received — is described in operational detail on the Methodology page.

If you are a party named in an article on this site and you wish to respond to specific claims made about you, please contact us at the address below. We respond to every right-of-reply contact within seven days. Substantive responses are integrated into our coverage promptly and prominently.

Who is entitled to respond

Any individual or institution named in an article on this site is entitled to respond to the specific claims made about them. This includes:

  • Individuals named in primary-source documents (for example, those named in DOJ-released correspondence);
  • Individuals quoted from public statements;
  • Individuals or institutions identified as having professional, financial, or institutional relationships relevant to the subject matter;
  • Individuals whose conduct is the subject of analysis in an article;
  • Estates of deceased individuals named in coverage, where the estate has been identified.

The right of reply extends to representatives acting on behalf of named parties — including but not limited to legal counsel, communications staff, agents, and authorised institutional spokespeople. Responses through such representatives are treated identically to responses from the named party directly.

What we incorporate

We incorporate responses in proportion to their substance. The standards we apply are:

Factual corrections — if a named party identifies a factual error in our coverage and demonstrates the basis for the correction, we correct the error promptly. Significant corrections are also logged on the Corrections page. The article itself is updated and a "Last reviewed" stamp at the foot reflects the date of the update.

Disputed characterisations — if a named party disputes our characterisation of an event, document, or relationship without identifying a factual error in our underlying claims, we incorporate their position into the relevant article. The disputed characterisation is preserved with the named party's response shown alongside it.

Contextual additions — if a named party provides additional context not previously available — for example, an explanation of a documented event that places it in a different light — we incorporate the context into the article body or footer as the substance warrants.

On-the-record statements — if a named party provides a substantive on-the-record statement responding to coverage, we publish the statement in full, with date and attribution. We do not edit substantive content. We may apply standard copyediting and formatting consistent with the rest of the site's typography.

Declined responses — if a named party formally declines to respond, we note the declination in the article footer. We do not characterise the substance of any private exchange that may have preceded the declination.

No response received — if no response is received within the right-of-reply window, we note this in the article footer.

Time windows

For new articles approaching publication, we offer a seven-day window from the date of our right-of-reply contact to receipt of any response the named party wishes to make. The window is intended to balance the named party's reasonable need for time to prepare a response against the public interest in timely publication.

For published articles, the right-of-reply remains open indefinitely. A named party may respond to coverage at any time after publication, and we will incorporate substantive responses with the same standards as a pre-publication response.

For factual corrections specifically, we do not impose a window. Errors are corrected as soon as they are identified, regardless of when they were originally published.

Editing of responses

We do not edit the substance of responses received. We apply standard editorial conventions in three respects only:

  1. Length — substantively long responses (more than approximately 1,500 words) may be summarised in the article body with the full text published as an appendix or on a dedicated response page. The decision to summarise versus quote in full is made on the basis of the response's substance and is documented in the article. The named party is consulted on the format if practical.

  2. Personal contact details — we redact personal phone numbers, home addresses, family member identifying details, and other personal information that is not in the documentary record on which the article is based.

  3. Defamation against third parties — where a response from a named party contains material that may itself be defamatory of a third party, we may decline to publish that material in unedited form. Where this is the case, we notify the responding party and offer the opportunity to provide a revised response.

We do not edit responses for tone, for editorial consistency with the rest of the site, or for any other reason. Responses are published in the named party's own voice, including phrasings and characterisations the editorial team would not itself have chosen.

What we publish alongside the response

We publish each substantive response with:

  • Date of receipt — the date we received the response, distinct from the date the response was written.
  • Method of receipt — whether by email, postal mail, social media reply, or other channel.
  • Identification of the responding party — the named party in question, and any authorised representative through whom the response was received.
  • Verification status — whether the response has been authenticated to our satisfaction. We verify direct correspondence from named parties through standard means; representations made through legal counsel are verified through that counsel's published professional credentials.

Anonymous and unverified responses

We do not publish anonymous responses to coverage. We do not publish responses that we cannot verify as having come from the named party or an authorised representative. We do not publish responses that are submitted by parties not named in the article in question (though we welcome general feedback through the contact address, which is read but not necessarily published).

Interaction with legal correspondence

If a named party submits a response that is also a legal correspondence — a letter before action, a complaint of defamation, a request for retraction — we treat the substantive content of the correspondence as a response under this policy and publish it according to the standards above. We separately respond to the legal aspects of the correspondence through our own counsel.

We do not treat the threat of legal action as a basis for declining to publish a response, nor as a basis for declining to maintain coverage. We do treat substantive legal arguments seriously and respond to them with care.

When we decline to publish a response

We may decline to publish a response in three narrow circumstances:

  1. Demonstrable falsehood — where the response makes specific factual claims that are demonstrably false against the documentary record, we may decline to publish the response in its original form. We will identify the claims at issue to the responding party and offer the opportunity to revise.

  2. Defamation against third parties — as above. Material that may be defamatory of a third party may be declined; the responding party is offered the opportunity to revise.

  3. Pure abuse — responses consisting principally of personal abuse, threats, or commentary unrelated to the substance of our coverage are not published. This circumstance has not, on our experience to date, arisen in respect of any named party.

In each of these cases, our reasoning is documented to the responding party. The decision not to publish is itself recorded for our internal accountability.

Repeating right-of-reply

A named party who has already responded to coverage on a particular subject is welcome to respond again as new articles or new updates arise. There is no limit on the number of substantive responses we accept.

Contact

The right-of-reply contact address is:

contact@oxmanrecord.org

This address is monitored. We acknowledge receipt within 24 hours and provide a substantive response within seven days. Responses to specific articles should reference the article title for routing.

Last updated: 29 April 2026. The wider editorial standards governing this site are described on the Methodology page.