About Pier and Point
Who owns Pier and Point, how it’s funded, what we cover, and how we handle conflicts of interest.
Status
This policy is a first draft and has not yet been reviewed by a California media-law attorney. The text below is the starting position; final language will be settled before our first published story.
Who owns Pier and Point
Pier and Point is owned and operated by Finn Bennett under Overlook Strategy LLC, a California limited liability company headquartered in Ventura, California.
We are not owned by, controlled by, or formally affiliated with any other newsroom, political party, candidate, political action committee, or commercial entity that could reasonably be expected to influence our coverage. If that ever changes, we will say so on this page before any change takes effect.
What we cover
We cover the city of Ventura, California — its government, schools, public safety, environment, businesses, arts, and people. Our priority is original local reporting that no one else is doing.
When a story crosses into Ventura County, the Tri-Counties region, or California state policy, we cover it because it matters to Ventura, and we say what the local angle is.
How we’re funded
Pier and Point is funded by a combination of:
- Reader memberships — voluntary recurring contributions from readers.
- Direct local sponsorships — clearly labeled, with rate cards that we share on request.
- Journalism grants — we will publicly disclose every grant we receive, including the funder, the amount, and the editorial purpose.
We do not run programmatic display advertising. We do not run sponsored editorial that masquerades as reporting. Sponsored content, when it exists, will be visually distinct and labeled "Sponsored" or "Paid post."
Conflicts of interest
When the founder, an author, or a contributor has a personal, financial, or professional relationship that a reasonable reader would want to know about before reading a story, we disclose it inside that story.
Pier and Point operates under Overlook Strategy LLC, which also runs a small branding and web development practice with a handful of clients. We do not cover our own clients on the news site. If a client becomes newsworthy in a way that requires coverage, the conflict will be disclosed in the story and a different reporter will be assigned where possible.
Editorial independence
The author of a story has final say over its words, subject to fact-checking, legal review, and our published editorial standards. Sponsors and donors do not see, edit, or otherwise influence editorial copy before publication.
Contact
General: hello@pierandpoint.com Tips: tips@pierandpoint.com Corrections: corrections@pierandpoint.com