William is friends with the owner of PostDesk according to his description - knowing the owner is very different, and I think it's important to hold on to that distinction. You may, of course, be of a different opinion about the relationship - and know better about it than I do - but I think it's relevant that William himself describes the relationship as a friendship.

If there is a conflict of interest that should stop you from writing a story in the first place, you don't write the story.

If you are affiliated in some way with one side in a story, you write a disclaimer, so people don't jump to conclusions when they discover the relationship after reading the piece. Case in point.

Disclaimers/disclosures are as much about journalistic objectivity as PR on the writer's/s' behalf.