Some articles on this site are produced under a commercial arrangement. This page explains exactly what that means and how to tell the difference.
How commercial articles are marked
Every commercially arranged article carries a label at the very top of the page, above the first paragraph, stating the nature of the arrangement. The label appears before any of the article text and is not hidden at the foot of the page.
What money does and does not buy
A commercial arrangement buys editorial attention: reporting time, an interview, research, and publication. It does not buy approval rights over conclusions, favourable characterisation, or the removal of inconvenient facts. Our editorial standards apply identically to commercial and non-commercial pieces.
Links
Outbound links inside commercially arranged articles are marked so that search engines do not treat them as editorial endorsements.
What we refuse
We decline arrangements that require pre-approval of text, that involve claims we cannot verify, or where the subject’s public record contains matters we would be obliged to report and they are unwilling for us to report them.