The Valley Weekly accepts paid sponsorships and partner placements. We follow Federal Trade Commission guidance on endorsements and clearly distinguish between editorial picks (things we chose to cover because we think they matter) and paid placements (things a sponsor paid for). This page explains exactly how that works.

What gets labeled

Any item, link, or section in an issue that exists because money changed hands is marked clearly as such. The labels you will see:

• Sponsor of the Week · a dedicated block, visually distinct from editorial sections, where one paying sponsor gets prominent placement. Always identified as a sponsor and never written to look like editorial coverage.
• Partner· a recurring local-business relationship (a cafe, a venue, a service) that pays a flat rate to appear in a fixed slot. Marked “partner” in any context where the placement could be read as editorial.
• Affiliate link· if we ever include a link where we earn a referral fee on clicks or signups, we disclose it inline (“affiliate link”) near the link.

We do not run native ads disguised as editorial. We do not insert paid promotional copy into a Restaurant Watch, Around Town, or Local Wins item. If you see something in those sections, it is because we chose to write about it.

What sponsors do not get

• No editorial pre-approval. Sponsors do not see the editorial sections of an issue before publish and cannot request changes to non-sponsored coverage.
• No subscriber data. Sponsors receive aggregate metrics (issue impressions, click-through on their placement) and nothing about individual subscribers, email addresses, names, or behavior.
• No editorial veto. A sponsor cannot block editorial coverage of a competitor or a topic they would prefer we not cover.
• No conditional pricing. Sponsorship rates are not tied to favorable editorial mentions; we publish a standard rate card.

What sponsors do get

• A clearly-marked placement in the issue and on the site, with a target subscriber count and an issue-level impression number.
• A short editorial review of their copy for tone fit and clarity. We will push back on language we believe will misfire with our audience. We do not, however, rewrite a sponsor's message to better promote their product beyond their own ask.
• Aggregate performance data on their placement (clicks, approximate impressions).

Editorial conflict policy

When a sponsor is also relevant to a piece of editorial coverage we plan to run anyway, we disclose the existing sponsor relationship in the editorial item (“disclosure: X is a current sponsor of The Valley Weekly”). The editorial item still runs only if we would have run it without the sponsorship.

How to verify

Every sponsored or partner item in an issue is labeled in the issue itself. If something in The Valley Weekly looks like it might be paid placement and is not labeled, email neal@thevalleyweekly.com and we will respond directly. Either it is editorial (and we will explain why we ran it) or it is paid and the label was missed (and we will correct it in the next issue).

Becoming a sponsor

If you are a Valley business interested in sponsoring or partnering, see /sponsor for the current options and rates.

Contact

Questions about a specific placement, our disclosure practices, or anything in this policy: email neal@thevalleyweekly.com.