This policy sets out the way we carry out our work to ensure Noteworthy is used as intended - to surface and produce stories and investigations that are of public interest - and to avoid attempts to drive individual interests or use our platform for ulterior motives.

Treatment of submissions:

• We accept submissions from any party without fear or favour and treat every contributor as a journalistic source. As such, all sources and submissions are subject to rigorous research and analysis.

• We research and validate the quality of information submitted before creating a proposal for an investigation.

• Due regard is given to the motivation of any source in highlighting an issue and this is weighed against the value to the public in having this issue surfaced for examination.

• We don’t publish ideas submissions in their raw and unchecked form, so no individual or party may present rhetoric or unverified statements to the public via our platform.

Published proposals:

Once a submission from the public has undergone our screening process outlined in the section above, and has been deemed worthy of investigation, it proceeds to proposal stage.

Proposals for investigations are journalistic assignments (based on ideas submitted by the public) that outline what we set out to find out and how we are going to go about it.

In framing these proposals, which are published on our platform and which can then receive funding from the public in order to be produced by our reporting team, we:

• Operate within the Code of Practice of the Press Council of Ireland

• Set out to establish facts

• Do not campaign for a particular agenda

• Treat all parties involved in the investigation fairly in the wording of our proposal

Before publishing a finalised proposal, we carry out an assessment of the impact of this proposal in the total offering on our platform at that given time, and whether it adds diversity to the range of proposals on offer to the public or gives undue prominence to an issue or sector already highlighted in our proposals.

Investigations:

The Noteworthy team embarks on investigations arising from proposals which have been fully funded by the public and/or by completion funding from our general contributions fund. Each proposal has been carefully costed in advance by the editorial and operations team and requires the full quota of funding to be reached in order for our reporters to carry out a fully-realised investigation which cuts no corners, makes no assumptions and delivers the best quality and trustworthy information possible to our audience.

Once full funding has been secured, our journalistic team commits to:

• Using as many primary sources, eg, raw data, original documents, verified witness interviews, to establish a credible, fact-based and fact-checked basis for any content we publish

• Creating work that refrains from the use of language that is partisan or employed to persuade the reader to a viewpoint that is not based solely on fact

• Seek pre-publication comment from and treat with utmost fairness any individual, organisation, company or other entity who is referred to in a Noteworthy investigation

• Employ additional expertise where necessary, if it can contribute to a more rounded understanding of issues being investigated, even if that expertise had not been considered in the costings of the proposed work

• Spend significant time on redrafting our work, through an open and transparent discussion between reporters and editor, until we are satisfied that we are publishing the best, most accurate, fair and impartial version of our findings

It should be noted that Noteworthy understands the importance that our audience is confident that our editorial decisions are not influenced by any external or internal influences or pressures, political, commercial or otherwise.

To that end, our reporters and editors are contractually obliged to declare any business, political or other interests which would conflict with their journalistic output. We do not publish investigative work from authors who are currently active members of political parties, running for or holding political office.

While we cannot prevent Noteworthy employees from participating in civic, charitable, religious, social or residential organisations, we demand that such participation must not influence a reporter or editor's journalistic output, nor make it seem that Noteworthy subsidises or supports this activity.

A most important note: Our published output is not subject to previews or reviews from any individual or entity outside of the Noteworthy team, with the exception of our legal advisors.