Effective as of September 26th, 2026
1. Core Mission Statement
Sicamous Local News is an independent, hyper-local publication dedicated to boosting civic literacy, mapping regional infrastructure transitions, and highlighting municipal policy through a signature lens of sharp, intelligent satire and community humor [sicamouslocalnews.ca]. Our goal is to keep the Shuswap literate, engaged, and smiling [sicamouslocalnews.ca].
2. The Non-Partisan Campaign Hiatus
- The Rule: Our newsroom explicitly enforces a total editorial hiatus on active municipal, provincial, and federal election campaigns.
- The Advertiser Assurance: We do not endorse candidates, we do not run partisan attack campaigns, and we completely sit out election-season political drama. This guarantees that your business advertisement will always exist within a neutral, non-partisan space that respects all members of the local market.
3. Strict Satire & Fact Boundaries
- The Rule: All feature articles are clearly demarcated under our Satirical/Parody Project protocols.
- The Safety Perimeter: Our humor targets public policies, institutional frameworks, municipal agendas, and broad regional trends (such as real estate density, bylaw enforcement text) [sicamouslocalnews.ca]. We strictly prohibit malicious personal defamation, private harassment, or the targeted exposure of non-public individual citizens.
4. The Tragedy & Loss Blackout (The Compassion Perimeter)
- The Rule: Sicamous Local News enforces a strict, unyielding prohibition on reporting, commentating, or satirizing any instances of local tragedy, personal catastrophe, or community loss.
- The Publisher Assurance: We are explicitly the funny pages. We believe that during moments of profound regional grief, our highest civic duty is to offer respect, reverence, and absolute silence rather than pursuing media engagement or exploitative coverage.
5. Ad-to-Content Separation (Brand Safety)
- The Rule: Paid commercial advertisements are hosted strictly inside designated layout parameters (such as our narrow left-lane ad blocks) and are entirely separated from editorial commentary.
- The Advertiser Assurance: An advertisement in Sicamous Local News represents a commercial sponsorship of an independent local media utility and community directory. It does not imply that the advertiser endorses the specific satirical humor of any individual column, ensuring your corporate brand safety remains entirely insulated.
6. Data Grounding & Verification
- The Rule: Every civic critique or infrastructure commentary we run is strictly grounded in verifiable public data—including official District agendas, public committee minutes, historical records, and provincial corporate registries [sicamouslocalnews.ca]. We analyze the real town layout and let the facts drive the humor.
7. The Community Philanthropy Mandate & Local Sourcing
- The Rule: Sicamous Local News operates as a community-first social enterprise. Exactly 50% of all gross local advertising revenue collected through our regular print periodical sheets is donated directly to non profit organizations. [sicamouslocalnews.ca] We have chosen the Sicamous Food Bank (operated by the Eagle Valley Community Support Society) to be the designated community beneficiary for 2027 ad sales.
- The Advertiser Assurance: Commercial ad sponsorships directly fund the local food security network. Because we operate as an independent media entity rendering marketing services, 100% of your advertising purchase is classified as a fully deductible local business expense to lower your corporate tax liabilities, while the year-end charitable tax receipts remain under the publication’s corporate name to offset operational distribution overhead. We do not extract wealth from the Shuswap, we recycle it straight back into local non profit organizations.
