Northfield.org is a public service, community journalism site for Northfield, Minnesota, and the surrounding area since 1994. Northfield Citizens Online is the 501c3 nonprofit that owns the service.1 I’m Griff Wigley, co-founder, editor, and reporter.
I cover local government, infrastructure projects, and civic life in Northfield, filling in some gaps in ways the Northfield News and KYMN Radio currently don’t. I also post shorter Quick Takes featuring photos of community events, news and information alerts, and an occasional humor piece.
Accountability Reporting
Since late 2025, I’ve gradually shifted my reporting toward what’s called accountability reporting, sometimes known as ‘watchdog journalism.’ It’s not opinion writing, and it’s not the anonymous-source, months-underground version of investigative journalism, though I’ll sometimes use some of the same techniques. Accountability reporting means taking a closer look at what institutions (both public and private) and their representatives are saying about their operations or an issue of relevance to the public, seeing whether it matches the facts, and then reporting what I find, whether or not it’s flattering. It can also mean helping readers understand what a dense document or decision actually means for them.
This often involves me examining statements made to media outlets, social media, and the recordings of public meetings. It sometimes involves me requesting public documents that have never been published. It usually involves me posing questions to public officials so they can go on record about the matter. And then it always involves making a decision on what to report, if anything, with a guiding principle of ‘Will this be genuinely helpful for the public to know?’
You can see posts tagged #accountabilityreporting, a mix of accountability reporting and shorter explainers on the same topics.
I also occasionally write commentary under a “My Take” label, kept clearly separate from news coverage. If a piece involves a conflict of interest on my part, I disclose it.
Guardrails: my AI rules of engagement
This is roughly my process, though it varies by piece, and some posts skip steps entirely.
Whenever I start working on a post, I explain to AI what I’ve read about the issue and what direction I think I’m initially heading with it. I ask it to ask me questions that force me to think wider and deeper, and I expect it to challenge my assumptions and point out holes in my thinking. This early back-and-forth is less about editing and more about having a smart colleague think out loud with me.
I sometimes ask two or three AI platforms for a “deep research” report on an issue, then ask my most trusted platform to compare the results. I usually read the source material each one cites to verify the claims.
As elements of a piece start to emerge from the conversation, I’ll often ask AI for an outline based on what we’ve discussed. That usually kicks off another round of pushback, where I flag what’s missing or argue for a different structure.
For some pieces, once I’m satisfied with the depth of that conversation, I’ll ask AI for a draft built from it. That starts a new round of back-and-forth, with me now in the role of editor, challenging its version with mine, arguing with its reasoning, and weighing its counterarguments. Other pieces I write myself from the start, with AI brought in only to critique what I’ve already written. AI text-origin scans measure whose sentences survived, not how hard I pushed back on what the piece says
When I’ve got a near-final draft I’m satisfied with, I’ll sometimes upload it to a different AI platform for a critique, then bring that critique back to my original platform for another round of back-and-forth.
Whenever I use AI to generate or alter an image, I label it.
I draft my own titles and subtitles first, then ask AI for three or more alternatives with its reasoning. I make the final call.
Civil discussion, moderated
Comment threads here follow my Civility Rules that are stricter than most sites, and I actually enforce them. I have years of previous experience hosting online discussions via the NCO Web Cafe, the Northfield Issues Email List, the Northfield Blogosphere Project, the Northfield Community Issue Forums, and the Locally Grown Northfield blog (where over 45,000 comments are still viewable).
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If you’d rather make a one-time gift instead of subscribing, you can do that through Buy Me a Coffee (BMAC). Since these gifts also route through NCO’s non-profit status, they’re tax-deductible as well. Prefer to send a check, or give more than BMAC’s suggested amounts? Contact us, and I’ll send the details.
To find out more about Substack, the company that provides the technical platform for Northfield.org, visit Substack.com.
Northfield Citizens Online (NCO) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Current board members are co-founders Griff Wigley (President) and Tracy Davis Heisler (Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer).
