Sponsorship policy
What sponsorship can and cannot buy. Published before a single sponsor exists, so it is a commitment rather than a response.
Last updated
There are no sponsors today, and nothing on this site is paid for. This page is published now, in advance, because a policy written after the first cheque arrives is a negotiation, not a principle.
What sponsorship can never buy
- A story, or a place in one. Editorial selection is never for sale.
- A favorable edit, or the removal of something unflattering.
- Placement in the weekly email as though it were editorially chosen.
- Contributor contact details, or the subscriber list. Neither is ever shared or sold.
- Silence. Sponsorship creates no obligation to avoid a subject.
What it could buy
A clearly labelled sponsorship of an issue or a public program, with editorial control retained. Labelled means unmissable: on the page, in the card, and in the structured data — not a gray line under a fold.
Why not yet
Selling attention before there is an audience would mean inventing reach figures, and inventing numbers is the one thing this publication will not do. Sponsorship sits deliberately after validation: free reading and participation first, evidence second, commercial conversations third.
If a sponsor becomes a subject
The relationship is disclosed on the story, and the sponsor gets no advance sight of it. If that is uncomfortable for a sponsor, the sponsorship ends rather than the coverage.