Advertising Policies for The Record Newspaper, Archdiocese of Louisville
1. GENERAL
The Record reserves the right to reject any advertising deemed by the editor or publisher to be inconsistent with the teaching of the Church and/or the mission of the newspaper.
Advertising for books or other resources on theological topics must have ecclesial approval from the Roman Catholic Church.
All advertising must be positive in nature, and The Record will reject any ads that are libelous, false, or offensive. Advertising attacking persons, programs, or organizations is not accepted.
The Record reserves the right to reject advertising because of customer complaints, false claims, or poor performance by the advertiser. A procedure is in place to address complaints received about advertisers.
The Record will not accept rejected letters to the editor as ads.
Advertorials (advertisements with content designed to look like editorial content) must be prepared by the advertiser and must be clearly marked as an advertisement.
The Record does not accept advertising for fund-raising campaigns for individuals.
The Record does not accept advertising for the direct sales of alcohol or tobacco. Reference may be made to beer gardens or alcohol sales in parish picnic and festival ads, but per the Archdiocese of Louisville’s Financial Policies and Procedures Manual, alcohol availability should never be the main emphasis of any advertisement for any parish, school, or organizational function.
Fund-raising advertising for organizations other than the Archdiocese and its parishes, schools, or agencies must be submitted by the organization and will only be accepted for not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organizations. The Record does not accept fund-raising ads in the month of October, which is the black-out period for the Archdiocese of Louisville’s annual Catholic Services Appeal.
The Record does not accept ads for adoption searches, ads for the resale of gravesites or other services provided by Catholic Cemeteries, ads for the sales of animals, or personal ads.
2. WORSHIP/LITURGIES AND SCHOOLS
The Record only accepts advertising for worship services and related events of the Roman Catholic Church or those offered in cooperation with a Roman Catholic institution.
The Record only accepts advertising for educational (PreK-12) services sponsored and canonically recognized by the Roman Catholic Archbishop (canon 803) and located in the Archdiocese of Louisville. The office of the Superintendent of Catholic Schools conducts the canonical approval process.
On a case-by-case basis, The Record will consider advertising from other denominations or interfaith organizations for programs and events that do not fall in the categories mentioned above.
3. POLITICAL ADVERTISING
Political advertising is any advertising that solicits a vote, directly or indirectly, in favor of a candidate for public office or a political party.
The Record does not accept political advertising from candidates for public office, political parties, lobbying organizations 501(c)(4), or any entity that seeks to implicitly or explicitly endorse, support, or oppose candidates for public office, including in non-partisan races.
The Record has adopted this policy for the following reasons:
- To avoid confusion for readers who may assume that a political ad implies endorsement of that candidate or political party by the newspaper or the Archdiocese of Louisville.
- To focus on The Record’s mission of evangelization, information, and inspiration, which includes presenting the Church’s teaching on faithful citizenship and political responsibility, but which precludes endorsing or supporting candidates or political parties.