Confidential news tips open the door to investigative reports, providing vital information to the public and allowing Cascadia Daily News journalists to hold the powerful accountable for their actions.
However, there can be risks to sharing confidential information with journalists. Our CDN team recognizes that and we take extra steps to protect sources.
Submitting a confidential tip
With a growing awareness of information security, we have established several ways to reach our reporters.
For text messages, voice calls and video calls, we recommend contacting reporters through the free app Signal. This is an open-source, encrypted service with servers that don’t store your data and never have access to it. This means outside people can’t see what you’ve been messaging about. One useful feature it provides is disappearing messages, which delete messages for both the sender and receiver after a set amount of time.
For most email correspondence, CDN reporters and editors use work emails. However, some reporters also have email addresses through Proton — which encrypts emails — to use when additional layers of security are necessary.
Be aware that the subject line, sender information, recipient information and date an email is sent can all still be seen without decryption. We recommend that you set up your own Proton email account, which is free, and use a fairly mundane subject line — yes, we’ll check it either way.
In some situations, it’s worth considering using these points of contact on internet services not directly connected to your home or place of work.
Reach our staff via Signal, Proton
Isaac Stone Simonelli (investigative/enterprise reporter)
Signal: @IsaacSimonelli.04
Proton: isimonelli@proton.me
Annie Todd (courts and crime/enterprise)
Signal: @annietodd.73
Proton: annietodd110@proton.me
Charlotte Alden (education/enterprise)
Signal: @charlottealden.28
Ron Judd (executive editor)
Signal: @ron_judd.60
Reach our staff via phone, email
To contact other CDN staff members via phone or email, visit cascadiadaily.com/contact.
What makes a strong confidential tip?
These types of news tips are more than rumors, more than speculation and more than personal grudges. The information must come from first-hand accounts — and have some form of documentation of the situation. Documentation includes emails, text messages, video segments, audio recordings, and other documents in paper or digital form.
Tips should include the following:
- A clearly articulated issue that impacts the community
- An explanation of the consequences of that issue not being addressed
- Documentation and/or other types of evidence
- A secure way for the reporter to reach back out to you
Two examples of good tips:
- Sharing documentation of a nonprofit committing fraud and failing to serve a vulnerable population
- Sharing evidence of government officials breaking the law
We also recognize that not every confidential tip is perfect. Please err on the side of sharing with us.
What level of background are you comfortable with?
It’s worth noting that confidential tips are not anonymous tips. The reporter you are working with and their editors will need to know who you are. That doesn’t mean your name, your position or any identifying information will ever be published.
A source’s level of participation in a story is discussed before actual interviews, ensuring everyone is on the same page. Mutually agreed ways a source can participate in a story include:
Off the record: This is information that a reporter will not attribute to you in any fashion or act on. If you are having a casual conversation with a reporter, that will likely be “off the record.” However, most sources mean “deep background” when they say “off the record.”
Deep background: This is information that reporters can act on and use in their reporting, but cannot be attributed to a source in any way whatsoever. Because of this, information obtained on deep background requires additional levels of corroboration before being used in a story.
Background: This is information that reporters can quote and attribute to a source with a description of why the source should be considered knowledgeable on the topic. The source will not be named.
On the record: This is a situation where a source’s name and other identifiable information can be included in the reporting. This is the strongest type of sourcing because it provides the most transparency to the public.
Granting anonymity: CDN prefers sources to be on the record whenever possible, but grants anonymity on a case-by-case basis when necessary to protect a source from retaliation, personal harm or other reasons, especially for stories of significant public interest that cannot be told other ways.
Remember: You don’t have to share everything immediately. Our reporters are often happy to jump on a call, meet up for a coffee or invite you into the office for a “vibe check” before taking the next steps in our reporting.
General story suggestions
If you have feedback, general story ideas, pitches or press releases, send those to newstips@cascadiadaily.com or call/text 360-922-3092.
Isaac Stone Simonelli is CDN’s enterprise/investigations reporter; reach him at isaacsimonelli@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 127.
