Publishing & partners
Sponsored & Partner Content Policy
How we produce, label and separate content that is paid for — so readers always know who is speaking.
Our principle
Readers should never have to guess whether a story is independent journalism. Anything paid for is labeled clearly, consistently and before the reader starts reading.
Labels we use
Each label has a specific meaning:
- Sponsored — paid for by a partner and produced by Consulting Media Studio. Consulting Media journalists are not involved.
- Partner Content — created with a partner and published by Consulting Media Studio.
- Brand Story — written by the brand and published as paid content after review against our publishing standards.
- Paid Publication — a company announcement or product launch paid for by the company and published by Consulting Media editors.
- Press Release — issued by a company and distributed by Consulting Media Wire, published as provided.
- Contributor — written by a vetted practitioner in a personal capacity and edited by Consulting Media. Contributors are not paid by the companies they write about.
Visual separation
Paid formats use a distinct ochre treatment across cards, homepage modules and article pages, with the sponsor named. Press releases use a slate treatment. Editorial content never uses these treatments.
Search engines and links
Outbound links in paid content carry rel="sponsored". Structured data identifies the sponsor. Paid content is published in clearly separated hubs and never positioned to borrow the ranking signals of our journalism.