Privacy Policy

Family Media News ("FMN," "we," "us," or "our") operates FamilyMediaNews.com and related newsletters, calendars, editorial tools, and services. This policy applies to information handled through those services. It does not control independent third-party websites, platforms, advertisers, or services that may be linked from FMN.

Information That We Gather

We may gather information you provide directly, information created when you interact with our services, and limited technical information generated by our hosting, security, and service providers. The specific information depends on which FMN features you use.

General Data Collection Points and Purposes

We may collect information when you:

• Subscribe to the Family Media Brief, event calendar updates, or another email service.
• Contact the newsroom, submit a correction, send a news tip, propose an event, or make a business inquiry.
• Enter information into a form, survey, contest, promotion, or reader research project.
• Submit photographs, documents, comments, reviews, or other material for possible editorial use.
• Visit or interact with FMN pages, links, advertisements, videos, or embedded services.
• Create or use an authorized newsroom account.

Information you provide may include your name, email address, organization, role, message, submitted materials, event details, and consent choices. Technical records may include IP address, browser and device type, approximate location, referring page, requested URL, timestamps, security events, and basic interaction data. We use these records to deliver requested services, secure and maintain the site, respond to readers, document editorial decisions, and comply with law.

User Generated Content, Comments, Reviews

FMN may offer features that allow readers to submit comments, reviews, recommendations, photographs, or other material. Information intentionally submitted for public display may become public and may be read, copied, or used by others. Do not include confidential information or personal information about another person unless you have authority to provide it.

FMN may moderate, edit, decline, remove, archive, or close submissions consistent with our terms and editorial standards. Sending a news tip or source material does not automatically create a confidential, fiduciary, attorney-client, or reporter-source relationship. Contact the editor before sending highly sensitive material.

Contest, Sweepstakes, and Special Offers

If FMN conducts a contest, sweepstakes, giveaway, or special offer, we may request contact information and eligibility details needed to administer it, select and notify recipients, deliver prizes, prevent fraud, and meet legal obligations. Separate official rules or notices may describe additional practices. If a sponsor or partner independently collects information, its own policy will apply and we will identify that arrangement where appropriate.

Reader Surveys

Reader surveys are voluntary. We may use responses to understand our audience, improve coverage, evaluate products, and prepare aggregated readership insights. We will disclose at the point of collection if identifiable survey responses are intended to be shared with a sponsor or another independent party.

Cookies and Automated Technologies

FMN uses essential technologies needed to deliver pages, protect the service, maintain authorized sessions, remember consent choices, and provide features a reader requests. We may also use optional preference, analytics, or advertising technologies when enabled and permitted by the reader’s choice and applicable law.

• Essential: security, authentication, load balancing, consent storage, fraud prevention, and requested functionality.
• Preferences: optional settings such as remembered location or display choices.
• Analytics: aggregated or device-level measurements that help us understand traffic, readership, errors, and performance.
• Advertising: measurement, frequency control, or personalization associated with advertising, if those services are enabled.

You can accept all categories, reject nonessential categories, or make individual selections in Cookie Settings. Browser controls may also delete or block storage, although blocking essential technologies can prevent some features from working. A browser-based Global Privacy Control signal may be treated as an opt-out request where legally required and technically applicable.

Cookie Information Collected by Third Parties

Third-party services used for hosting, security, video, newsletters, analytics, advertising, or embedded content may receive technical information and may set or read their own cookies or similar identifiers. Their practices are controlled by their own policies. FMN does not permit optional third-party analytics or advertising technologies to activate through our consent controls unless the applicable category is allowed, although an external site you choose to visit will apply its own settings.

Current or future providers may include infrastructure, email delivery, media hosting, advertising, and measurement vendors. When Google advertising or measurement services are enabled, Google explains its handling of partner-site information in its partner-sites notice.

Data Collection Chart

How We Use Your Information

We use information to publish and improve FMN journalism; provide pages, newsletters, calendars, and reader-requested services; respond to inquiries and submissions; maintain editorial accountability; personalize optional features; measure performance and aggregate readership; administer promotions; prevent abuse and security incidents; enforce our terms; protect readers and FMN; and meet legal obligations. We may also use information for another purpose disclosed when it is collected or with your consent.

How We Share Your Information

We may disclose limited information to vendors that process it for FMN, such as hosting, security, database, email, storage, analytics, advertising, and professional-service providers. We may also disclose information when you direct us to, when content is intended for publication, to investigate abuse or protect rights and safety, in response to valid legal process, or as part of a proposed or completed financing, reorganization, merger, acquisition, or sale.

We may share aggregated or de-identified information that does not reasonably identify an individual. Vendors are expected to use personal information only for authorized services and to protect it appropriately, subject to their contracts and applicable law.

Email Policies

FMN sends newsletters, event updates, and other editorial or promotional communications to readers who request them. Every marketing email should provide an unsubscribe method. We may retain a limited suppression record after an unsubscribe so we can honor the request. Transactional, security, legal, or service messages may still be sent when necessary.

Email messages can include standard delivery and engagement information, such as whether a message was delivered, opened, or selected, if the applicable measurement category is enabled and permitted. Email is not always secure, so do not send highly sensitive personal information through ordinary email.

COPPA Compliance

FMN is a general-audience news and information service for parents, caregivers, educators, and other adults. It is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information online from children under 13. Children under 13 should not submit personal information, subscribe, create an account, enter a promotion, or send content to FMN.

If a parent or legal guardian believes a child under 13 provided personal information to FMN, contact privacy@familymedianews.com. We will review the request, take reasonable steps to verify the requester’s authority, and delete covered information when required. If FMN later offers a child-directed service, it will provide the notices and parental-consent process required for that service before collecting covered information.

Do We Sell or Share Information?

FMN does not currently sell personal information for money. FMN also does not currently use cross-context behavioral advertising technologies that we understand to constitute a sale or sharing under the California Consumer Privacy Act. If those practices change, we will update this policy, provide required notices, and offer an applicable opt-out mechanism before using information in that manner.

Disclosures to vendors processing information on FMN’s behalf, reader-directed disclosures, and certain business or legal disclosures may not be considered a sale or sharing under applicable law. You may still contact us with an opt-out request or use Cookie Settings to reject optional advertising technologies.

Your Privacy Rights

Depending on your location and applicable law, you may have rights to request access to personal information, learn the categories and sources of information, obtain a portable copy, correct inaccurate information, request deletion, withdraw consent, object to or restrict certain processing, opt out of certain sales, sharing, targeted advertising, or profiling, and receive equal service without unlawful discrimination for exercising a privacy right.

Submit a request to privacy@familymedianews.com with the subject “Privacy Request.” Describe the right you want to exercise and provide the email address or other identifier associated with your interaction. We may request information reasonably necessary to verify identity or authority. An authorized agent may submit a request where permitted by law, but we may verify the agent’s authority and the reader’s identity. If we deny a request, we will provide an explanation and appeal information when required.

Newsletter recipients may unsubscribe through the link in an email. Readers can reopen Cookie Settings from the Legal & Trust section of the site footer.

How Do We Protect, Transfer, and Retain Information?

FMN uses reasonable administrative and technical safeguards designed for the nature of the information we handle. No transmission or storage method is completely secure, and we cannot promise absolute security.

Information may be processed in the United States and in other places where FMN’s providers operate. Where required, we use appropriate safeguards for international transfers. We retain information only as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described here, including active subscriptions, editorial documentation, security, dispute resolution, legal compliance, and enforcement. We may retain limited consent, unsubscribe, or deletion records to honor a reader’s choices.

Changes to This Policy

We may revise this policy as FMN services, vendors, or legal obligations change. We will update the date at the top and provide additional notice when required. Material changes apply prospectively unless law permits otherwise.

Legal review recommended: This policy is designed to describe FMN’s current website practices, but privacy obligations depend on FMN’s legal entity, audience, vendors, advertising configuration, and jurisdictions served. FMN should have qualified privacy counsel review the policy and consent implementation before enabling behavioral advertising, additional analytics, contests, accounts, or child-directed services.