De Edese Vos receives tips and questions from readers almost every day. How do we deal with that? How do we determine what we pick up for an investigation and what not?
De Edese Vos produces journalism for and with the residents of Ede. By working together we can respond sharply and persistently, bring matters to light and strengthen the local countervailing power.
How can you tip us?
If you have a tip, you can report it via our contact form, an email, app, telephone call or social media channels. We always handle this confidentially and carefully.
When it comes to sensitive matters where you do not want to be quoted under your own name or may have to deal with negative consequences, we offer source protection. The contact page explains how you can tip anonymously and provide documents.
If you contact us, no matter what it is about, you will always get an answer. Usually within a few hours, if it is very busy after a few days.
Collective interest is leading
Because the Edese Vos receives many more tips than we can pick up, we have to prioritize. We can’t tackle everything, and certainly not immediately. If it is very topical and urgent, we will of course jump on it immediately. If it is less current or requires more research, we will take a few weeks or months to do this. After all, we provide in-depth investigative journalism. More general topics often remain on the shelf for a while until there is capacity for them.
Our priority is on matters where a clear collective interest plays and which many Eden residents have to deal with. Think of topics such as felling trees, heat supply and transparent decision-making, but this could be anything.
We are reluctant to take up cases that fall into the category of ‘minor suffering’ or in which someone’s personal interest plays a role. For example, if you have a civil conflict with your neighbor, that is very annoying for you, but not a matter for the Edese Vos.
Contribute to research yourself
We also want to prevent us from becoming an easy reporting point for all kinds of complaints about the municipality. We will then usually suggest that you first report it yourself and keep us informed of the outcome.
Sometimes we will ask you to additional contacts and informationsuch as documents, photos or correspondence. It also happens that residents actively conduct research themselves and we actually create the articles together.
We do save reports that we do not immediately do anything with. If several Eden residents report the same thing, we can still address it at a later stage.
Many tips are very useful. Sometimes we process this in an ongoing investigation file, sometimes it becomes an independent investigation.
No press releases
Then there is the category of press releases. We receive these from the municipality of Ede, from political parties and other organizations and companies that want to draw attention to something.
In principle, Edese Vos does not post press releases. Especially not if those messages are sent to all media. We will always ask critical questions and choose our own angle. We are not a promotional channel for activities.
So do you have something to report that really needs to be investigated? Then don’t send a press release, but one personal emailand only switch with the Edese Vos. If we can do something with it, we will investigate it thoroughly and follow up on it. Other media don’t do that. If we cannot do anything with it, we will let you know immediately and you can always send it to other media.
More tips than capacity
De Edese Vos does have a practical limitation: we are a start-up with a small, efficient editorial team. Over the past year, many useful tips and even entire interviews have been left behind because we do not have the capacity to elaborate on them and current topics often take precedence. To be honest, that really bothers us.
There is still so much ‘on the shelf’ that we could easily employ five journalists full-time, but we do not (yet) have the financing for this.
Fortunately, you can help us with this. By becoming a ‘friend of the Fox’ for €100 per year or €10 per month, you immediately make more research possible. We really need your support to control power, make decision-making transparent and reveal abuses. The more contributions from readers, the more we can pick up.
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