When a statement and a record don't agree

Sooner or later, most reporters run into the same small crisis: a person says one thing publicly, and a published record — a filing, a minute, a gazette notice — appears to say something else. The instinct is to treat this as a discovery, something to publish quickly before it disappears. Slowing down is almost always the better move.

The first task is not judgment but description. Write down, in plain terms, exactly what the statement said and exactly what the record says, using their own words rather than a paraphrase that might quietly resolve the tension for them. Ambiguity in either source should be preserved in your notes, not smoothed over.

Checking dates and versions before anything else

A surprising number of apparent contradictions dissolve once dates are checked properly. A statement made in March may accurately describe a record as it stood in March, even if that same record was updated in June. Confirm which version of the record was current when the statement was made, and note the publication or filing date of each source before drawing any comparison between them.

It's worth building this check into a habit rather than treating it as optional. Every reconciliation should begin with a short line establishing: statement date, record version, record date. If that line can't be filled in confidently, the reconciliation isn't ready to proceed.

Ordinary explanations come first

• A clerical error in the original filing, later corrected without fanfare
• Different scopes — the statement may refer to a subset the record doesn't isolate
• A terminology mismatch, where two accurate descriptions simply use different words
• A time lag between when something changed and when the record was updated

Only once these have been checked and set aside does it make sense to consider a less ordinary explanation. This isn't about being unwilling to find something significant — it's about making sure that when you do, it survives the first serious challenge.

Asking the body concerned, and writing proportionately

Before publishing anything, put the discrepancy to whoever made the statement or controls the record, and give them a genuine chance to respond. Their answer, or their silence, becomes part of your reconciliation note either way. When you do write it up, use language sized to what you've actually established — "appears inconsistent with" is very different from "contradicts," and the record deserves the more careful of the two unless the evidence clearly supports the stronger claim.