Have a question about The Watchdog? This FAQ might have your answer.
What is The Watchdog?
The Watchdog is an independent Canadian journalism publication focused on wealth, power and democracy.
You can read more about us and contact us here.
What kinds of stories does The Watchdog focus on?
Our editorial mission is to protect the public and defend democracy through original watchdog journalism. We produce investigative reporting, critical analysis and explanatory journalism guided by three priorities:
Understanding Wealth, Power and Democracy
The Watchdog helps the public understand how Canada really works by examining the influence of wealth and power on our democracy. Our journalism looks at how our civic institutions operate, how public policy gets made and how our information environment shapes public debate.
Keeping Power in Check
The Watchdog brings matters of public concern to light. Our journalism monitors the individuals, groups and networks seeking to influence politics, investigates wealthy and powerful interests and keeps public officials honest and accountable.
Building a Stronger Democratic Culture
The Watchdog aims to strengthen Canada’s democratic culture through journalism. Our journalism contributes to the exchange of ideas about democracy, surfaces stories that spark public debate and create change, and approaches reporting through a lens that centres the public interest and remains grounded in democratic and egalitarian values.
Why can I trust information from The Watchdog?
Accuracy and responsibility are two core values that guide The Watchdog’s journalistic principles.
The Watchdog follows a set of professional Journalistic Standards that explain our approach to journalism and how we operate. These journalistic policies are open-source and publicly-accessible for everyone to see.
Luke LeBrun, The Watchdog’s founder and editor, is an award-winning journalist whose work has been cited by major media outlets in Canada and around the world. He occasionally appears in the media, discussing his reporting and the issues he covers. He is also a member of the Canadian Association of Journalists and Online News Association.
Are any of your stories or images created using AI?
No. The Watchdog does not use AI to write or create editorial content, including text, images, video or audio.
As a news organization, we must stand behind everything we publish and are concerned that the growing use of AI-generated content is fuelling doubt and suspicion about what is real and what is fake.
While we may at times use software or digital tools that make use of features enabled by AI, under no circumstance are these ever used to generate news content out of thin air. You can read our AI policy here.
Is The Watchdog affiliated with a political party, lobby group or other outside groups?
No, The Watchdog is independently owned and has no memberships or affiliations with any political, commercial or other third party groups, other than professional associations with a journalistic focus (as noted above).
Unlike some Canadian media outlets, The Watchdog does not endorse political parties during elections. Our Journalistic Standards policies explicitly prohibit our journalists from doing any paid or unpaid work on behalf of political parties or candidates for public office.
Our editorial independence policy makes clear all editorial content published by The Watchdog is the original work of its journalists. No one external to The Watchdog is involved in any editorial decisions or the production of editorial content, other than situations where legal advice is sought.
How is The Watchdog funded?
The Watchdog operates on a reader-powered donation model. Our funding comes from readers who support our editorial mission and help us publish through small donations.
Our publication is not driven by profits or commercial interests. We do not run online advertising on our site and do not rely on sponsored content or paywalls for revenue – we believe public-interest journalism must be accessible for everyone in a democracy.
How can I support The Watchdog’s journalism?
If you value The Watchdog’s journalism and support our mission to protect the public and defend democracy, there are two things you can do to help support our work:
- Sign-up: Join our email list
- Donate: Make a one-time donation or, better yet, a monthly donation to help us build a newsroom on solid ground.
Joining our email list helps us build a platform that is not dependent on big tech companies and their social media algorithms.
Donating helps us cover costs for publishing stories and operating expenses while building our capacity for the future.
Will you sell my personal data to third parties?
No, we do not sell or share any names, email addresses, physical addresses or other identifiable information about our readers, subscribers or donors with any third parties.
In addition to that being a potential violation of Canadian privacy law, we also think it’s just plain sketchy.
The Watchdog collects and stores data using Ghost, a non-profit open source digital publishing platform. For more information, here is our privacy policy.
How do I share tips and story ideas with The Watchdog?
We have an dedicated page that explains how you can share tips and story ideas. You can read all about that on our tips page.
The Watchdog takes steps to secure information provided by sources and we are committed to protecting the identities of our sources.
Does The Watchdog accept freelance submissions?
At this time, we do not accept submissions from freelancers or other outside contributors.
Why didn’t this FAQ answer a question I had?
Good question! If you have a question about The Watchdog that wasn’t covered here, you can drop us a line through our contact page.
Does the dog in your logo have a name?
Yes. His name is Scoops.
