Sponsorship
Support the paper. You do not get to steer it.
Local sponsorship pays for this reporting. Here is exactly what a sponsorship buys and, more importantly, what it does not.
The placements
What a reader actually sees.
Masthead
Under the nameplate, site-wide
SponsoredYour name — one lineFront page
One placement beside the day’s reporting
SponsoredYour nameArticle
In the rail, and again above the sources
SponsoredYour name
Every placement carries that “Sponsored” label. Nothing is styled to be mistaken for a story.
The three rules
- Coverage is never sold. You cannot buy a story, a mention, a favorable framing, or the removal of one. There is no package that includes editorial. If someone offers you one, it is not this paper.
- Every sponsorship is labeled. Sponsor messages carry a visible “Sponsored” label wherever they appear. Nothing is designed to be mistaken for a story.
- Sponsors get no editorial say. No review of drafts, no advance notice of stories, no veto, no input on what we cover. Being a sponsor does not protect you from coverage, and it does not earn you any either.
What a sponsorship is
A short, plain block: your name, a link, and one line about what you do. No trackers, no pop-ups, no autoplay, no third-party ad network watching our readers. We host the message ourselves, which is why the pages here load fast.
Where messages appear
- Masthead — under the nameplate, site-wide.
- Home page — one placement between story blocks.
- Article — one placement inside a story and one at the end, above the sources.
- Section pages — beat and series indexes.
Some stories run with no sponsorship at all. When a piece is about a sponsor, a sponsor’s industry, or anything where the money could be read as a thumb on the scale, we turn the slots off on that story and say so.
Who we will not take money from
Active candidates for local office and their committees, during their campaigns. Anyone who makes their sponsorship conditional on coverage. Anyone who wants their sponsorship kept quiet — if it cannot be labeled, we cannot take it.
Corrections and conflicts
If we cover a sponsor, we disclose the sponsorship in the story itself, in plain language, where you will actually see it. A sponsorship is disclosed for as long as it runs and for a year after it ends.
Getting in touch
Rates and availability by email: editor@sbcivicpress.com. Tell us what you do and which placement you are after. We will send the current rate card and the same copy of these rules you just read.