Share Tips and Story Ideas

The most important things we look for are a clear and succinct explanation of what the story is all about, why the story has news value and connects with our editorial mission, and whether or not it involves information that we can independently verify.

Please outline the basic details of the story and highlight why you believe the story is important and newsworthy. As well, please share any documentation or links that would help us substantiate the information you are sharing.

If your tip or story idea involves sensitive subjects or complex issues, you can request to have a journalist follow-up with you so you can share information in greater detail and in a way that you feel more comfortable.

Please do not include off-topic or irrelevant information, opinions or rants about politics, or claims that are simply impossible to verify.

Only include as much information as we need to know to independently verify or follow-up on it ourselves. While we take every step possible to protect our sources, for your own safety, do not put sensitive information in writing that could make you uncomfortable if it somehow became public.

If you want to share sensitive information or have concerns about facing possible retribution or others consequences for sharing information with a journalist, please consider taking the following steps:

• Refer to our section on how to send secure tips to The Watchdog
• Only share as much information as we need to know to independently follow-up and verify key details about your tip or story idea
• Be careful about using a work computer, work email, work phone or any other device or network where your employer or other third party has the ability to monitor or access your communications
• For added layers of protection, consider using a VPN or Tor browser and login from a network you don’t normally use, like a public wifi network at a coffee shop or a library you’ve never visited before, to prevent any identifiable data being linked to messages you send us

The Watchdog takes the protection of its sources seriously. The Watchdog is prepared to defend its sources to the greatest extent possible against any demand to disclose their identities.

We urge potential sources to consider the sensitivity of the information they are sharing. Most tips we receive are straight forward and low-risk, that said, there are sometimes situations where those who share information with journalists later face unforeseen or unintended consequences, including retribution, harassment and legal action.

In order to protect you as a source, you must explicitly inform us that you are requesting anonymity as a precondition for sharing information. Alternately, if we can independently follow-up and verify your tip, you can share information with us anonymously without disclosing your name.

As a general policy, The Watchdog does not publish the names of sources who share information with us purely on background without their consent (except in rare cases where we become aware of malicious attempts to share deceptive information). The Watchdog does not collect or store IP addresses or other data of sources who contact us other than the information you voluntarily provide to us, however, we cannot guarantee identifiable data is not collected by other services or providers.