Effective date: July 31, 2026

These Terms of Service govern your use of NewEnglandLedger.com and services provided by New England Ledger (“NEL,” “we,” “us,” or “our”).

By visiting the site, subscribing to a newsletter, creating a membership account, or submitting material, you agree to these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the site.

1. About New England Ledger

New England Ledger is an independent digital publication covering the people, institutions, money, policies, and decisions shaping New England.

Our work may include news, investigations, analysis, commentary, opinion, graphics, photographs, documents, and material submitted by contributors or members of the public.

2. Editorial independence

NEL controls all editorial decisions, including what we investigate, publish, update, correct, remove, or decline to publish.

A subscription, membership, donation, submission, tip, partnership request, or other relationship with NEL does not give anyone the right to influence our reporting.

Publication of a story does not mean that NEL supports every person or opinion quoted in it.

3. Informational purpose

Our reporting is provided for general informational purposes. It is not legal, financial, medical, tax, or other professional advice.

We work to publish accurate information, but news develops quickly. Information may become incomplete, outdated, or incorrect after publication. When we confirm a significant factual error, we address it under our Corrections Policy.

4. Ownership of NEL content

Unless otherwise stated, the articles, graphics, photographs, videos, designs, logos, newsletters, databases, downloadable reports, and other original material published by NEL are owned by or licensed to New England Ledger and are protected by copyright and other applicable laws.

You may:

  • Link to our public pages.
  • Share short quotations with clear credit and a link to the original story.
  • Print or save an article for personal, noncommercial use.
  • Use material when permitted by fair use or another applicable legal exception.

You may not, without written permission:

  • Republish a complete article, report, graphic, photograph, or newsletter.
  • Remove a byline, credit, copyright notice, watermark, or source link.
  • Sell or license NEL content.
  • Present NEL content as your own.
  • Use our name, logo, design, or branding in a way that suggests approval or partnership.
  • Systematically copy, scrape, archive, or redistribute substantial portions of the site.
  • Use NEL content to train, develop, or improve a commercial artificial-intelligence system unless we have provided written permission.

The availability of RSS feeds, sitemaps, Markdown pages, or other machine-readable files does not grant permission to republish or commercially exploit our content.

For reuse or licensing requests, contact newsroom@newenglandledger.com.

5. Memberships and newsletters

NEL may offer free or paid memberships, email newsletters, or account features.

You agree to provide accurate information when creating an account. You are responsible for protecting access to your email account and any sign-in link sent to you.

You may unsubscribe from newsletters at any time by using the unsubscribe link in the email or contacting us. Unsubscribing from editorial newsletters may not stop essential account or security messages.

NEL does not currently offer paid membership benefits or accept donations through this website. If that changes, we will disclose the price, renewal terms, cancellation rules, and benefits before accepting payment.

6. Columns and other submissions

When you submit a column, commentary, photograph, graphic, or other material for possible publication:

  • You confirm that the submission is your original work or that you have permission to provide it.
  • You confirm that it does not knowingly violate another person’s copyright, privacy, or other legal rights.
  • You agree to disclose any significant conflicts of interest.
  • You agree to disclose material use of generative artificial intelligence.
  • You understand that submission does not guarantee publication or payment.

You keep ownership of your work.

If NEL accepts your submission, you give NEL a nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to edit, publish, reproduce, archive, distribute, and promote it in connection with NEL’s journalism. Any separate agreement about payment, exclusivity, or syndication will take priority over this paragraph.

We may edit submissions for accuracy, length, clarity, style, safety, and legal concerns. We may decline or remove a submission at our discretion.

See our Submission Guidelines for additional requirements.

7. Tips, sources, and confidential information

Submitting a tip does not guarantee that NEL will investigate or publish it.

Do not break the law, access a system without authorization, or place yourself or another person in danger to obtain information for us.

Ordinary email is not the best way to send confidential material. Use the options listed on our Secure Tips page when sharing sensitive information.

No communication system can promise complete anonymity or security. Sending us information does not create an attorney-client, employment, agency, or other professional relationship.

NEL will make editorial decisions about how submitted information is reviewed, verified, stored, described, or used. Any specific agreement we make with a source about confidentiality will control over this general section.

8. Acceptable use

You may not use the site to:

  • Break the law or encourage unlawful conduct.
  • Threaten, harass, stalk, impersonate, or defraud another person.
  • Attempt to gain unauthorized access to an account, server, database, or administrative system.
  • Upload malware or interfere with the operation of the site.
  • Collect personal information about other users without permission.
  • Send spam or misleading messages.
  • Falsely claim to represent or speak for NEL.
  • Use automated systems in a way that harms the site, defeats access controls, or creates an unreasonable burden.

We may restrict access, suspend accounts, or take other reasonable action when we believe these Terms have been violated.

The site may link to government records, court filings, news organizations, social-media platforms, fundraising pages, and other third-party services.

A link does not mean that NEL owns, controls, approves, or guarantees the outside service. Third-party sites have their own terms, privacy practices, and security risks.

NEL is not responsible for the content, availability, accuracy, or practices of third-party services.

If you believe material published on the site infringes your copyright, email newsroom@newenglandledger.com with:

  • Your name and contact information.
  • Identification of the copyrighted work.
  • The URL of the material you believe infringes that work.
  • An explanation of why you believe the use is unauthorized.
  • A statement that the information in your notice is accurate.
  • Your physical or electronic signature.

NEL may remove or restrict access to material while reviewing a complaint.

11. Site availability

We may change, suspend, or discontinue any part of the site or its services. We may also correct errors, change features, impose reasonable limits, or perform maintenance without advance notice.

We do not promise that the site will always be available, uninterrupted, secure, or free of errors.

12. Disclaimers

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the site and its content are provided “as is” and “as available.”

NEL disclaims warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, and any warranties arising from a course of dealing or usage.

Nothing in these Terms limits a right or warranty that applicable law does not allow us to exclude.

13. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, NEL will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of—or inability to use—the site.

NEL will not be responsible for losses caused by third-party services, unauthorized access, service interruptions, reliance on outdated information, or conduct outside our reasonable control.

Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot legally be excluded.

14. Responsibility for your conduct

You are responsible for material you submit and for your use of the site.

If your unlawful conduct or submission causes a third party to bring a claim against NEL, you agree to be responsible for the resulting losses and reasonable costs to the extent permitted by law. This does not apply when the claim was caused by NEL’s own unlawful conduct.

15. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, without regard to conflict-of-law rules, except when applicable law requires otherwise.

Any dispute that cannot be resolved informally will be handled by a state or federal court with jurisdiction in Massachusetts, unless applicable law gives you the right to bring the matter elsewhere.

Before filing a claim, you may contact us so we can attempt to resolve the matter.

16. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms when our services, practices, or legal obligations change.

The revised Terms will be posted on this page with a new effective date. Material changes affecting members may also be announced through the site or by email.

Your continued use of the site after revised Terms take effect means you accept the updated Terms.

17. Severability and waiver

If part of these Terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue to apply.

A failure to enforce a provision does not waive our right to enforce it later.

18. Contact

Questions about these Terms may be sent to:

newsroom@newenglandledger.com

New England Ledger
www.newenglandledger.com