Got a confidential tip for the KING 5 Investigators? Here's how to send it. (2024)

The KING 5 Investigators are dedicated to serving the public interest through watchdog journalism. Our investigations have led to new state laws, changes in public policy, congressional and Department of Justice investigations, federal arrests, leadership changes, and sweeping reforms inside government agencies.

We rely on your tips to do important journalism. Help us shine a light on systemic problems, widespread injustices, corporate malfeasance and government failures across Washington state.

Submit A Confidential Tip

Filling out this formis the easiest, most efficient and preferred way for you to submit a tip to the KING 5 Investigators. All tips are confidential, and we are the only ones who read what you submit.

You may also contact us via e-mail atinvestigators@king5.comor leave a voicemail at 888-557-8679. These options are less efficient, but we will review your tip as soon as we can. Please be sure to leave your name, e-mail address and telephone number so we can follow up with you.

If you would like a more secure way of communicating with us, see below for instructions on using encrypted messaging tools.

What Makes A Good Tip

We are most likely to follow up on tips that identify a clear issue or systematic problem with real-world consequences. Be as specific as you can. What happened? Who was harmed? Why is this something we should investigate?

Evidence is critical to our investigations. Whenever possible, be sure to tell us how your tip can be proven. How can we follow up? Are there other people who can corroborate? E-mails? Text messages? Photographs? Internal or public documents? When you submit a tipusing our tip form, you can easily upload and share documentation with us.

General News Tips

If your news tip or story idea is not intended for the investigative team, the quickest way to get in touch with our newsroom is to e-mail your tip tonewstips@king5.com or call 206-448-3850. If you want to reach out to a specific reporter, try ournewsroom staff list. Visit ourgeneral contact page to send specific questions or feedback to someone in another KING 5 department.

Additional Security For Sensitive Tips

If you are looking for additional security to protect your identity, we suggest using one of the options below. These methods can provide more protection than other forms of communication.

SIGNAL

Signalis a free and open-source messaging app for iPhone and Android that provides end-to-end encryption. The app allows you to make phone calls, send text messages, share photos, videos and documents. It’s one of the most secure ways to communicate with a KING 5 investigative reporter because the contents and the metadata are not available to third-parties. Only your intended recipients will be able to see or hear your conversations.

Instructions:

Download:

Contact an investigative reporter on Signal:

ENCRYPTED E-MAIL

ProtonMailis a free service you can use to send emails with end-to-end encryption, which means no one but the intended recipient can read your message. No personal information is required to create your secure e-mail account, and the company does not keep any IP logs that can be linked to your anonymous account.

Instructions:

POSTAL MAIL

U.S. postal mail without a return address is one of the most secure ways to send us highly sensitive information. For your protection, we recommend that you put the letter or package an unfamiliar public mailbox instead of a visiting a U.S. post office facility. We also recommend that you do not use your company mailroom to send us something.

Our mailing address is:

KING 5 Investigators | 1501 1st Ave S.| Suite 300 | Seattle, WA 98134

Connect With Us Directly

All KING 5 investigative reporters have access to the tips you submitusing our tip form, e-mail address and phone number. You may connect with one of us directly using the contact information below.

We read every tip you send us, but our team is too small to send everyone a personal response. Don’t let that discourage you from sending us information. We are grateful to you for sharing your stories with us.