Advertising policy

We sell a small number of sponsorships to local businesses and organizations. A sponsor pays to put its name and message in front of Miami Beach readers. It does not pay for coverage, and it never gets a say in ours. This page explains how that works, for readers who want to know.

Where sponsors appear

• The weekly newsletter: a “Presented by” block near the top of the issue.
• The homepage: a card in the sidebar.
• Article pages: a slim “Presented by” line under the byline.
• Social posts: occasional posts presented by a sponsor.
• Sponsored articles: an article written by the sponsor, in its own voice, clearly marked as sponsored content.

We do not have a print edition.

The rules we hold ourselves to

• Always labeled. Every sponsor placement says “Presented by” or “Sponsored.” Nothing is made to look like a news story.
• No say over coverage. Sponsors do not see stories before they run, do not suggest or kill them, and are not endorsed by our reporting.
• Not on sensitive stories. On article pages, the sponsor line is left off stories about lawsuits, crashes, injuries, deaths and arrests, so a business isn't set beside someone's worst day. Editors can also turn it off on any story.
• One sponsor per category. We do not run two competing businesses of the same kind (two dentists, two law firms) in the same placements.
• Sponsored articles are the sponsor's, not ours. They are written and paid for by the sponsor, carry the sponsor's name as the byline, and are labeled as sponsored wherever they appear. They are never featured on the homepage or counted in Most Read.
• Ties are disclosed. When a sponsor is connected to the Journal or its publisher, the label says so.
• We check first. Before agreeing to a sponsorship we look for the sponsor's name in our coverage and in the court records we follow.

Questions

See something labeled as sponsored that looks wrong, or want to know more? Tell us. If you are a business thinking about sponsoring, start on our advertising page.