Where Sponsored Money Meets “Serious Journalism”
by Structured Settlement Watchdog
The intersection is simple:
- Journalism is supposed to inform, investigate, and challenge.
- Sponsorship is designed to influence, soften, or redirect.
- When the latter pays the bills, the former often becomes optional.
That’s how you end up with publications—SF Weekly included—publishing pieces that read like they were assembled from:
- a press release,
- a cash‑now company’s landing page,
- and a reporter who skimmed Wikipedia and called it a day.
It’s not corruption in the cinematic sense. It’s the quieter, more banal version: publishers under financial pressure lowering their standards because the alternative is shutting the lights off.
And once that slide begins, the output starts to resemble exactly what you described— more crap than what’s already on the streets of San Francisco .
San Francisco’s weekly rag, the SF Weekly has published one of the dumbest pieces about structured settlements ever.
“All You Need to Know About Structured Settlements and How to Sell Them” is accredited to an unidentified paid sponsor which peddles pennies on the dollar financial smack to consumers. SF Weeklyclaims to be “San Francisco’s smartest publication. That’s because we take journalism seriously”.
Where does taking money from a sponsors, enable publisher intersect with ” serious journalism”?
Lie #1
“It is absolutely legal to sell a structured settlement for instant cash”.
What SF Weekly published on January 16, 2021 in exchange for money from a sponsor, is a total lie because If you sell your structured settlement you will not get instant cash. A small advance perhaps, but not instant cash.
Lie #2
“When somebody plays a part in another person’s injury or financial losses, they’re compelled by a judge or jury to pay a compensation to the wronged party. This compensation is known as a settlement“
What SF Weekly published on January 16, 2021 in exchange for money from a sponsor is wrong because neither a judge nor jury awards a settlement. The “awarded a settlement” vortex is one of the “Ground Hog Day” of financial illiteracy spread by financial illiterates in (or hired by) the structured settlement 
secondary market.
Ignoring the legal concept of negligence, one of the examples used in the lie, and published on January 16, 2021 by SF Weekly in exchange for money from a sponsor is “A quack doctor paying a settlement to a patient for prescribing a wrong medication or administering a wrong treatment.
A quack doctor is “an unqualified person who claims medical knowledge or other skills” [Source: Collins English Dictionary].
Practicing Medicine in California
In order to practice medicine in California, one must be licensed by the Medical Board of California, which states its mission “is to protect health care consumers through the proper licensing and regulation of physicians and surgeons and certain allied health care professionals and through the vigorous, objective enforcement of the Medical Practice Act, and to promote access to quality medical care through the Board’s licensing and regulatory functions”. [Source: Medical Board of California}
Taking the example of the sponsor of the article that SF Weekly took money from, would a “quack doctor” qualify for medical malpractice insurance to have money to pay a settlement? A big part of an application for medical malpractice coverage involves credentialing. Medical schools attended, Internships, Residency, Fellowship, Other Training, details of prior coverage, practice information, hospital staff appointments, board certifications, list of states where licensed and license numbers. List all counties and states where you are currently practicing, and the corresponding percentages of patient hours expended in each [ Sourced from application from the largest medical malpractice insurer in the United States]
What is medical negligence?
“The elements of a cause of action for medical malpractice are: (1) a duty to use such skill, prudence, and diligence as other members of the profession commonly possess and exercise; (2) a breach of the duty; (3) a proximate causal connection between the negligent conduct and the injury; and (4) resulting loss or damage.” (Lattimore v. Dickey (2015) 239 Cal.App.4th 959, 968 [191 Cal.Rptr.3d766].)
Lie #3
In describing how settlements are paid. SF Weekly Publishes Lie #3 on January 16, 2021, in exchange for money from one of its sponsors , that a settlement is paid as a one-time payment, wherein the offender pays the wronged party compensation they’re owed in one go. Alternatively it is described as a structured payment wherein an offender agrees to pay a regulat stream of payments…. The latter is also known as ” structured settlements”
- An offender is someone who commits an illegal act.
- Criminal negligence is the reckless disregard for the safety or life of another human being. An act of negligence that is so serious it could constitute a criminal offense, e.g. the negligence regarding the care of a child is so severe it would make the accused criminally responsible.
- Then there is the case of Mens Rea. Did the doctor have it? To illustrate, we’ll go old school on this one with a classic scene from “See No Evil Hear No Evil”
Generally structured settlements settlements are entered into by Defendants and Insurers (in some cases qualified settlement funds) as consideration for a release of liability from claimants or plaintiffs.
Lie #4 Published by SF Weekly January 16, 2021, in exchange for money from a sponsor
“You’re not breaking any law by selling your structured settlement. What you’re simply doing is borrowing from your future payments. It is still your money, only that you’re getting it before the due date”.
A structured settlement transfer is a sale and irrevocable assignment of structured settlement payment rights for pennies on the dollar. You will ALWAYS lose money.
Lie #5 Published by SF Weekly January 16, 2021, in exchange for money from a sponsor
“This rate usually ranges from 9 to 20 percent, depending on the perceived risk associated with your payment” says the article. Factoring companies charge a discount rate on the sale of structured settlement payments. Sellers get a percentage of the present value. That is literally only pennies on the dollar. But the reality is that rates are available well below 9%. Don’t be a sucker consumers!
Where This Leaves “Serious Journalism”
Somewhere between:
- aspiration,
- branding,
- and whatever the sponsor will tolerate.
When a publication relies on sponsor dollars, “serious journalism” becomes a slogan, not a standard.