Petition · Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Require media retractions be made as visible as original headlines or articles

Closed 228 signatures

What the petition asks

We think media companies should not be allowed to get away with printing false, misleading and malicious headlines, only to hide the retractions on interior pages or fine print some days later. Retractions should have to have the same prominence as the original headline or article.
In today's fraught media environment, which many consider to be "post truth", we feel this simple measure could make newspapers, websites, and even broadcasters think twice about sensationalist, misleading, and outright false statements on front pages, websites, or broadcasts. We feel that as a society we should not continue to allow media to peddle propaganda dressed up as news, with lax regulation and meaningless punishments.

Timeline

16 Apr 2025 Petition opened for signatures
16 Oct 2025 Closed to new signatures

Key facts

Signatures 228
Status Closed
Department Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Opened 16 Apr 2025
Closed 16 Oct 2025

Follow this petition

Sign in to get an email when the government responds, a debate is scheduled or held, or the petition closes.

Source: the official petition page. Last checked 7 Aug 2026.