Public trust standard
Conflicts and Funding Disclosure
Think Politically is a political consulting business as well as a publisher of public research and educational content. This policy explains how commercial relationships are separated from public factual claims and how relevant conflicts are disclosed.
Business model and editorial responsibility
Think Politically earns revenue from political consulting, campaign strategy, communications, research, and related services. That commercial role can create real or perceived conflicts when the site discusses parties, candidates, elections, consultants, or campaign methods.
Commercial involvement does not lower the evidence standard for public content. A client request, business-development goal, or partisan preference must not change an official result, source quotation, dataset value, or disclosed methodological limitation.
Client relationships and confidentiality
When a public article or case study is materially connected to a current or recent client, we disclose that relationship when contractual, privacy, legal, and safety obligations permit. If confidentiality prevents naming a client, the page should say that the work is anonymised and should avoid details that could mislead readers into treating it as independently verified public evidence.
Confidentiality is not a licence to invent proof. An anonymised case study must distinguish client-supplied information, internal operational records, public results, and modeled or illustrative elements.
Sponsored, commissioned, and partner content
Content paid for or commissioned by an outside organisation must be labelled clearly near the beginning of the page. The label should identify the sponsor or commissioning relationship and explain whether that party reviewed the material before publication.
Payment, access, or partnership does not guarantee favourable coverage. A sponsor may correct factual information about itself, but it should not remove material evidence, limitations, or opposing facts solely because they are inconvenient.
Research funding
A public research report should identify who funded or commissioned the work, including Think Politically when the work is internally funded. It should also disclose material in-kind support such as proprietary data, field access, software, or paid distribution.
If no outside funding was received, the report may state that it was produced with internal resources. Funding disclosure does not by itself validate or invalidate a finding; it gives readers context to assess the method and incentives.
Author and reviewer conflicts
Authors and reviewers should disclose financial, employment, advisory, campaign, family, or close organisational relationships that a reasonable reader could view as relevant to the subject. The disclosure should appear on the affected page when the connection is material.
A disclosed conflict may require an independent reviewer, narrower assignment, additional sourcing, or recusal. Disclosure alone is not always sufficient when the conflict could compromise the work.
Gifts, affiliate links, and paid placement
Gifts, travel, hospitality, affiliate compensation, or paid placement connected to public content must be disclosed. If affiliate links are used, the commercial relationship will be stated before or close to those links. We do not sell undisclosed favourable rankings, research conclusions, or editorial endorsements.
Questions and updates
Questions about a potential conflict or missing disclosure can be sent to contact@thinkpolitically.com with the relevant page URL. Confirmed omissions will be corrected under our Editorial Standards and Corrections.