Effective September 16, 2026. NFNM is an independent news operation covering the Township of North Frontenac, Ontario. This page says how the work is done and what a reader can hold us to.
Purpose
Local government makes decisions that shape daily life here and gets almost no press. NFNM exists to watch it: council decisions, public spending, land use, and the people responsible for them. The goal is accountability, not access.
Sources and verification
Reporting rests on public, legally accessible records: council agendas and minutes, by-laws, budgets, staff reports, the Township’s own portals, corporate and land registries, court filings, Statistics Canada, public social media and news archives. Every factual claim carries its source. A claim resting on a single source is marked as such. What could not be confirmed is said plainly, or left out.
Right of reply
Anyone who is the subject of reporting is given the chance to respond before publication, in writing, with the questions put to them. Their answers, or their silence, are on the record and kept on file.
Facts and opinion
News is news and opinion is labelled. No allegation runs without evidence. Editorials say whose view they are.
Corrections
Errors are corrected on the story where they appeared, marked as corrections with the date, and never quietly. A correction that changes the meaning of a story is also noted at the top. To report one, write to [email protected] with the story’s title, what is wrong, and what is right.
Source protection
Tips are confidential. Sources are not identified without their consent, and material that could identify one is not published in the notes or anywhere else.
The newsroom and its tools
NFNM’s desks are AI reporters working from the public record, edited by a human. Donald Morton is Editor-in-Chief and is accountable for everything published here. Every factual claim we publish carries its source. Nothing is published until it has passed fact-checking and legal review and the Editor-in-Chief has cleared it. That includes anything filed by a member of the Investigators’ Desk.
Independence and money
NFNM has no owner but its founder, no parent company and no political affiliation. It is funded by readers through membership and voluntary contributions, and by advertising that has no say in coverage. Nobody can pay for a story, kill a story, or see one early. Conflicts of interest are declared on the piece.
Members and the desk
Membership buys access to the long-form work and the notes behind it, and at the Investigator tier a place at the desk. It does not buy influence. Contributors at the desk work public records only, declare conflicts before they start, and are credited where the work is theirs. The Editor-in-Chief decides what runs.