Tidings Media Will Not Accept Political Advertising

Tidings Media has made a decision: we will not accept political advertising.

We have been offered money for paid political ads, but we are not interested in becoming part of the same political machine we cover. There is already paid political media in Florida. We do not need to become another outlet where candidates, campaigns, officeholders, or political interests can buy influence.

If Tidings Media accepted money to promote candidates, even with a disclaimer, we would be compromising the very thing people expect from us: independence. We frustrate local politicians at times because we ask more questions than we cheerlead. That is intentional. We are not here to be bought, managed, rewarded, or punished by political money.

That policy also applies to individual sponsorships. Tidings Media will not accept money from political candidates, officeholders, campaigns, PACs, or political interests seeking to influence our coverage, tone, or editorial direction.  We've been accused of this before by people who didn't like our coverage, but we've never been bought, and will never be bought.  Going forward, any allegations of that will be met with swift legal response.  It wasn't true then, it's not true now, and will not be true in the future.

It would be hard for us to be critical of politicians taking money from special interests, if we were taking money from special interests.  So, we won't.  

We have recently activated reader supporter sponsorships at https://tidings.town.news/support. Those contributions help cover the maintenance, hosting, and other basic costs of keeping Tidings Media online. We offer several support levels, with many readers choosing the $20-per-month patron level. You can support us at any time, and you can cancel whenever you want.

We are never going to get rich from our patrons. That is not the point. The point is to remain independent.  

Florida, and the counties Tidings Media covers, already have enough backroom deals. We have no intention of becoming one of them.  When Tidings was brand new, we had a local big name politician offer to advertise with us.  We declined back then, but now we're formalizing it as an editorial and managerial policy.  We don't want to owe anyone anything.  

So if you disagree with our opinions, our questions, or our take on issues that matter to you, that is OK. At least you know where it is coming from. It is not bought. It is not paid for by a campaign. It is not influenced by a candidate’s check.

We welcome support from individual readers who believe local media should remain independent.

You can support Tidings Media here: https://tidings.town.news/support

And if we ever run a paid article, advertisement, or sponsored placement for a local business, we will clearly tell you that right in the ad.  That we might do, but not for politicians or political special interest groups, and unlike other media in the markets we operate in, we will tell you when we're taking money from an advertiser to support a cause.

This is going to make the machine even madder.  That's OK.  We're not afraid.  We can't be bought.

If you do decide to become a patron sponsor, click the link.  If you press the support button and it doesn't work, try and refresh the screen.  Sponsorships are made via secure payment directly to STRIPE, who uses military grade encryption and they never share your credit card number with us, but they do pass along the subscription money to us.  So, you're protected and we will never be part of a data breach as we never have your financial information.  Stripe is one of the largest and most secure payment processors in the country, which is why we set it up this way to protect our patrons.