diff --git a/db.go b/db.go
index d27b594..dbdf6b0 100644
--- a/db.go
+++ b/db.go
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@ func getDuplicateIds(db *sql.DB) ([]string, error) {
 
 func getInstance(db *sql.DB, url string) (Instance, error) {
 	var instance Instance
-	err := db.QueryRow("SELECT url, data, created_at, rejected, reject_reason FROM instances WHERE url = ?", url).Scan(&instance.Url, &instance.Data, &instance.CreatedAt, &instance.Rejected, &instance.RejectReason)
+	err := db.QueryRow("SELECT url, data, created_at, rejected, IFNULL(reject_reason, '') FROM instances WHERE url = ?", url).Scan(&instance.Url, &instance.Data, &instance.CreatedAt, &instance.Rejected, &instance.RejectReason)
 	return instance, err
 }