Holod Hotline: Send News to the Editors

You have just seen something that matters: an accident, an arrest, a hospital shutting down, a strange decision by officials. You want to tell a newsroom right away but do not know where to write. The Holod hotline is a bot where you can report news directly. 🤚

The greeting says: we are listening. The bot is a channel between readers and the newsroom of the outlet Holod, and the outlet's own channel description points to it as the way to get in touch on Telegram.

Why a hotline exists

News does not start in editorial offices. It starts in courtyards, hospitals, courts and factories. A newsroom cannot be everywhere, but readers can.

The bot gives a simple route: open the chat, write what happened, attach what you have. There is no email to hunt down and no website form to fill in. 📲

How to write a tip that gets noticed

A short message without facts is hard to verify. A clear structure helps.

1. What happened. One or two sentences.
2. Where and when. City, address or district, date and approximate time.
3. Who is involved. Job titles, organizations and names, if you know them.
4. How to confirm it. Photos, video, screenshots, documents.
5. How to reach you. If you are ready to talk, say so.

Separate what you saw yourself from what you heard from others. For an editor, that difference matters a lot.

Photos, video and documents

Send evidence in its original form. A screenshot is weaker than the file, and a picture forwarded through a messenger loses data about when and where it was taken.

Do not edit the material or add filters and captions. If you filmed on a phone, keep the original, since it helps with verification. 🎥

Your safety comes before the story

When you report something sensitive, think about the risks to yourself and to other people. Bot chats in Telegram do not have end-to-end encryption like secret chats between people, so do not treat the conversation as fully private.

• Account protection. Turn on two-step verification and a passcode on your phone.
• Extra data. Do not send passport details, addresses or phone numbers of people unless the story needs them.
• Other people. If the material shows faces or personal data, think about whether publishing could harm them.
• Originals. Do not delete original files until you are sure they are no longer needed.

There is no guarantee that any message will turn into a story. The newsroom decides what to check and what to publish. 🔒

What the chat looks like

The bot has no commands. Press Start and write your message, then carry on as in any chat. If someone replies, the answer arrives in the same conversation, so keep notifications on.

If it is urgent, keep it short and put what happened and where in the first line. You can add details in the next message.

Rules for a good tipster

Do not pass rumors off as facts or guesses as confirmed information. An honest line like I saw this but cannot prove it is better than a confident claim that turns out wrong.

Fakes are possible: other outlets have similar contact lines, and scammers copy names. Take the bot link from the description of the outlet's official channel.