Login or Create an account

MediaBugs status explanations -- or, what do those icons mean?

MediaBugs uses a small set of categories and icons to represent the different states of a MediaBugs error report. In some cases the status changes automatically, and in others, either the person who originally reported the error or MediaBugs staff will change the status manually.

Open Open

An open bug has been reported but not yet resolved. If the bug is filed by a registered MediaBugs participant it will immediately be displayed in our public listing of error reports. If it has been filed anonymously it will be reviewed by MediaBugs staff before being made public.

Open: Under Discussion Open: Under Discussion

An open bug's status automatically changes to "under discussion" once someone has posted a comment to it.

Open Open: Responded to

An open bug's status changes to "open: responded to" if the media outlet in question has provided a response to the error report. The change will happen automatically if anyone identifying him- or herself as a representative of that media outlet posts a comment. If you filed the error report you can also change its status to "Responded to" if, for example, you received a response directly from the media outlet by email or through some other channel.

Open Closed: Corrected

An open bug can have its status changed to "Closed: corrected" by the person who originally reported it (or by MediaBugs staff) if the media outlet has corrected the error or problem.

Open Closed: Withdrawn

You can change the status of a bug that you reported to "Closed: withdrawn" if you have concluded that there's no error to be corrected after all.

Open Closed: Unresolved

After two months of inactivity on a bug report, MediaBugs will automatically mark it Closed: unresolved.

OpenOff Topic

MediaBugs staff will change a bug report's status to "off topic" for any of several reasons, most commonly in cases where the report lies outside our San Francisco Bay Area region, is not a correctable error, or is frivolous, inappropriate, or spam. Off Topic error reports will not show up in most of MediaBugs' listings and search results, but will be visible through the Off Topic listing.