If you have a story in Greater Manchester that you would like us to investigate, please don't hesitate to get in touch. We will always treat your information confidentially and will never name or identify you in a story without your consent.
Who we are: The Mill is the leading outlet for investigative journalism in the region and our team has developed a reputation for working on sensitive and complex stories that make a major public impact. It was our investigation into Sacha Lord that forced him to resign from his position advising Andy Burnham, and it was our reporting on the University of Greater Manchester that led to the suspension of the vice chancellor and a police investigation.
Our team: Our team of staff reporters – based in our office on St Ann's Square – are experienced in working with whistleblowers and sources whose identity needs to be kept hidden. We never name or identify a source in a piece unless they want to be identified, and we keep our sources in the loop during our reporting process as we build a story. Our experienced editors – who have previously worked for publications like the FT, the Guardian, the Times and the New York Times – know how to publish responsible journalism that avoids legal problems.
You can contact our reporters directly by clicking on their names: Mollie Simpson, Jack Dulhanty, Ophira Gottlieb.
Our process: When we are investigating a story, we first speak to the initial source to hear their account and gather as much information as possible, often on the phone or in person.
- We then usually ask that person for documents that back up key elements of what they are saying if those are available, including emails, screenshots of messages, contracts etc, and we ask if it's possible to speak to friends, colleagues or associates who might be able to provide more information.
- Our process is all based around corroboration: in order to publish accurate and rigorous journalism, we have to confirm all of the key details, which usually means gathering documents or multiple witnesses to an event. This process can sometimes be slow and complex, but it can also move fast if we are able to get hold of the right people quickly.
- We try to find as many sources as possible for a story, because the more sources we have, the less obvious it is where the information came from and the stronger the story is. We will never identify you to other sources unless you've agreed to us doing that.
- We will typically speak to the main sources for a story several times, so be prepared to answer the same questions several times as we double check things.
- Before publication, we always contact the subject of the story – the company or person we are writing about – in order to give them a chance to respond and to provide any information or context we are missing. This is called 'right of reply', and we let our key sources know when we are doing it.
- Throughout the process, we will agree with sources which bits of information we want to use in our story, and if there are details that sources don't want us to use or that might identify the source if they are used in a particular way, we discuss this and make sure the source is comfortable.
- Some of our most impactful journalism involves 'on the record' sources – people who have chosen to allow their names to be used in the story. We are likely to ask you during the process whether you would be prepared to go on the record, because it usually increases the impact of a story, because readers can see the person making the allegations. But this is entirely optional and we can talk through the pros and cons with you.
Taking precautions: If you are worried about someone knowing that you are contacting us, there are some steps you can take to minimise the risks. In rare instances when a story involves national security or extremely sensitive information, you can create an email account using a service that provides end-to-end encryption like ProtonMail. For most stories, however, there are some basic precautions you can take when you contact us.
- Don't email us from a work email account or call or text us from a work phone.
- Avoid using the internet network at your workplace when you get in touch with us.
- If you follow The Mill or any of our reporters on social networks like X, Facebook or LinkedIn, it might be wise to unfollow us temporarily.
- If you want to communicate via a secure messaging system like Signal, just let us know in your initial email.