Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 30, 2026

Columbus Times ("we," "us," or "our") respects your privacy. This policy explains what information we collect when you visit columbustimes.com, how we use it, and the choices you have. Columbus Times is free to read and is supported by advertising.

Information We Collect

  • Email address — only if you voluntarily sign up for our newsletter. We use this solely to send you notifications about new stories.
  • Basic visit data — we log the page path and IP address of visits to our site, the name of the website that sent you here (for example, a search engine or news app), and any words you type into our site search, for internal traffic statistics. We do not sell or share this data.
  • Ad totals — we count how many times each ad on our pages is seen and clicked, as daily totals by page type and device type (phone, tablet or computer). These totals don't identify you and are used to report ad results to our advertisers.
  • Embedded posts and videos — some stories include a YouTube video or an Instagram, TikTok or X post. These load from those services, which may set their own cookies and collect information under their own privacy policies.
  • Contact and advertising inquiry forms — if you reach out via our contact page or our advertising page, we collect the details you enter (such as your name, business, email, phone number, and message) to respond to you.
  • Community event submissions — if you post an event flyer, we collect your name, email, the event details and the flyer image. The event details, flyer and the name you give as host appear on the site once approved; your email is used only to confirm your post and contact you about it, and is never shown publicly.
  • Shout-out submissions — if you send a shout-out, we collect your name, email, the message, the name of the person it's for and any photo you add. The message, photo, their name and your name appear on the site once approved; your email is used only to confirm and contact you about it, and is never shown publicly.
  • Cookies — we use essential cookies to keep the site secure and functioning (for example, to protect forms from tampering). Our advertising, analytics, and survey partners also use cookies, as described below.

How We Use Your Information

  • To send newsletter emails about new stories, if you've subscribed
  • To respond to messages and advertising inquiries sent through our forms
  • To understand overall site traffic and improve our content
  • To show advertising that keeps the site free to read

Advertising and Cookies

We show ads from Google (including Google AdSense) and from advertisers who buy space on our site directly, some of which are delivered through Google's ad-serving tools.

  • Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website and other websites.
  • Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visits to this site and/or other sites on the Internet.
  • You may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google's Ads Settings. You can also opt out of some third-party vendors' use of cookies for personalized advertising at www.aboutads.info.
  • To learn more about how Google uses information from sites that use its services, see How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services.

Reader Surveys

From time to time, we may show a short, optional survey powered by Google (Google Reader Revenue Manager) asking about topics you'd like to read and general information such as your age group. Answering is voluntary and you can close the survey at any time. Survey responses are collected by Google and shared with us in anonymous form to help us improve our coverage and understand our audience. Google's handling of this information is described in the Google Privacy Policy.

Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services to operate this site:

  • Google AdSense and Google ad-serving tools — display advertising on our site, using cookies as described above
  • Google Analytics (through Google Tag Manager) — helps us understand how readers use the site, using cookies to measure visits in aggregate
  • Google Reader Revenue Manager — powers optional reader surveys
  • Mailgun — delivers our newsletter and form emails
  • Cloudflare — provides security and performance for our website

Your Choices

Every newsletter email includes an unsubscribe link — clicking it removes your email from our list immediately, no login required. You can manage or block cookies in your browser settings, and opt out of personalized ads using the links above. You can also email us at [email protected] to request that we delete any information we hold about you.

Children's Privacy

Our site is intended for a general audience and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated revision date.

Contact Us

Questions about this policy? Email us at [email protected] or visit our contact page.