diff --git a/config.template b/config.template
index dc1e1f80..b8b402f3 100644
--- a/config.template
+++ b/config.template
@@ -390,13 +390,13 @@ js8callWatchedCallsigns =
 [fileMon]
 filemon_enabled = False
 # text file to monitor for changes
-file_path = alert.txt
+file_path = data/alert.txt
 # channel to send the message to can be 2,3 multiple channels comma separated
 broadcastCh = 2
 
 # news  command will return the contents of a text file
 enable_read_news = False
-news_file_path = ../data/news.txt
+news_file_path = data/news.txt
 # only return a single random (head)line from the news file
 news_random_line = False
 # only return random news 'block' (seprated by two newlines) randomly (precidence over news_random_line)
diff --git a/etc/data/alert.txt b/etc/data/alert.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/modules/filemon.py b/modules/filemon.py
index 5ac2a734..3e12ff12 100644
--- a/modules/filemon.py
+++ b/modules/filemon.py
@@ -142,6 +142,7 @@ def write_news(content, append=False):
 async def watch_file():
     # Watch the file for changes and return the new content when it changes
     if not os.path.exists(file_monitor_file_path):
+        logger.warning(f"FileMon: File not found: {file_monitor_file_path}")
         return None
     else:
         last_modified_time = os.path.getmtime(file_monitor_file_path)