PinkNews

History

PinkUnlimited.co.uk

PinkNews was founded by Benjamin Cohen in July 2005. PinkUnlimited.co.uk Ltd was registered at Companies House on 13 December 2005. That month the sitting Prime Minister, Tony Blair, wrote their online article: We are living in a new age of equality. The PinkNews paper version was officially launched in 2006. However, PinkNews became an online-only publication when the print edition was dropped after six months.

PinkNews Media

In April 2015, the company was renamed PinkNews Media Group Ltd. In 2018, PinkNews became the first LGBTQ+ publisher on Snapchat. It had an operating profit of £2million in 2021. The website was redesigned in 2022. New filtering features were also added to its app in an attempt to counter news avoidance due to negative reporting.

In November 2020, the company was renamed PinkNews Media Ltd.

Notable mentions

Premiership footballers

In 2006, two tabloid newspapers, the News of the World and The Sun, published false allegations about two unnamed Premiership footballers having a gay orgy with a DJ, using a pixelated photograph of footballer Ashley Cole to illustrate the story. PinkNews published what it claimed to be the unpixelated original photograph. Cole, along with the DJ, Masterstepz, sued the tabloids' parent company News International and won at least £100,000 plus legal costs.

Stonewall

PinkNews reported heavily on the refusal of Stonewall, an LGBTQ+ rights group, to actively campaign for gay marriage prior to October 2010. A poll commissioned by PinkNews and answered by more than 800 of their readership found 98% in support of marriage equality. Stonewall was also criticised by a former founder, Michael Cashman, MEP in an op-ed for PinkNews entitled "What part of 'equality' can't Stonewall understand?" Stonewall CEO, Ben Summerskill later accused PinkNews of running an "unethical campaign" against Stonewall after asking every LGBT organisation and political group to outline their stance on the issue, with only Stonewall refusing to comment. In October 2010, Stonewall revised its policy and agreed to support same-sex marriage. On 25 April 2012 PinkNews began using a video for the Coalition for Equal Marriage in their advertising space, wrote articles in support of it and gave it their official backing, encouraging readers to respond to the government consultation to show their opinions.

PinkNews regularly reported on the progress of the Out4Marriage campaign, which was started in May 2012 and launched by Mike Buonaiuto and PinkNews founder, Benjamin Cohen. The campaign used YouTube videos of people supporting equal marriage, including celebrities and Members of Parliament, finishing with the line "And that's why I'm out for marriage. Are you?". The Out4Marriage YouTube campaign reached 14 million views in just three weeks from launch. PinkNews was an official supporter of the Coalition for Equal Marriage (C4EM), a counter-organisation to the Coalition for Marriage, and successfully petitioned for the introduction of same-sex marriage rights in England and Wales, while the Coalition for Marriage campaigned against it.

PinkNews began to collaborate closely with Stonewall following the departure of Summerskill in 2014. PinkNews had regularly reported criticism of Stonewall for its refusal to campaign on transgender issues. A year later, under Chief Executive Ruth Hunt, Stonewall decided to begin campaigning on transgender issues. Hunt has written for PinkNews on a number of occasions.

In 2017, Stonewall and PinkNews co-hosted an election hustings.

Peter Tatchell Day

In 2012 PinkNews named 25 January as Peter Tatchell Day to celebrate the British political campaigner's 60th birthday, 45 years of human rights campaigning and 10 years since the launch of the Peter Tatchell Foundation. PinkNews also published a prose poem written by Stephen Fry in honour of Tatchell's birthday on 24 January and frequently carries advertisements for the Peter Tatchell Foundation.

Interview with the Archbishop of Canterbury

PinkNews became one of the few LGBTQ+ publications to have interviewed an incumbent Archbishop of Canterbury in 2014, when Justin Welby discussed the Church of England's approach to homosexuality.

Layla Moran

On 2 January 2020, UK MP Layla Moran said in an interview with PinkNews that she is pansexual; she is believed to be the first UK parliamentarian to come out as pansexual.

Controversies

Hamad Sabouri

In October 2022, PinkNews published a note about the murder of Hamed Sabouri in Afghanistan. Sabouri, a gay man in Kabul, was kidnapped and murdered by alleged Taliban members. That same month, The Guardian published the story with a picture of a man who was not Sabouri, which resulted in a lawsuit before the High Court of Justice. PinkNews did not post the image.

Joanna Cherry

In 2019 PinkNews apologised to Joanna Cherry, who at the time was the MP for Edinburgh South West for falsely stating that she was being investigated for homophobia. In a correction published on their website, they "made a donation to the Lesbian and Gay Immigration Group at Ms Cherry's request in compensation for the damage done and we have paid Ms Cherry's legal costs."

Julie Bindel

In July 2020, the writer and activist Julie Bindel sued PinkNews and its editor Benjamin Cohen for libel in relation to an article concerning gender-critical feminism that she argued defamed her. In October 2021, the case was settled out of court with PinkNews publishing a joint statement with Bindel stating "The [original] article made a number of serious allegations of misconduct and PinkNews accepts that if the allegations were understood to refer to Julie, they would be wholly untrue."

References

References

1. Tobitt, Charlotte. (12 December 2022). "Pink News tackles news avoidance with positive news filter". Press Gazette.
2. Cohen, Benjamin. (30 July 2007). "Comment: How PinkNews.co.uk changed the gay media".
3. [https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/05653301 Companies House Co No 05653301]
4. Blair, Tony. (5 December 2005). "We are living in a new age of equality". PinkNews.
5. Shoffman, Marc. (29 June 2006). "The Pink News launches new gay era". PinkNews.
6. (28 July 2010). "Pink News five years on: 'revenue could rise ten-fold'". Press Gazette.
7. (1 September 2022). "Pink News CEO on how £2m profit LGBTQ+ brand resonates with Gen Z". Press Gazette.
8. (26 June 2006). "England star wins libel payout over sex slur". The Guardian.
9. "Stonewall undermines campaign for gay marriage". Peter Tatchell.
10. Geen, Jessica. (27 October 2010). "Stonewall says it will campaign for gay marriage". PinkNews.co.uk.
11. Gray, Stephen. "Video: Coalition for Equal Marriage releases beautiful viral campaign film". PinkNews.co.uk.
12. "Comment: I hope my Equal Marriage film wakes us all up to support changing the law". PinkNews.co.uk.
13. "Out4Marriage". out4marriage.org.
14. Grice, Andrew. (24 May 2012). "Home Secretary Theresa May records video declaring full support for gay marriage". The Independent.
15. Guardian, The. (24 May 2012). "Theresa May records video in support of gay marriage – video". The Guardian.
16. "C4EM supporters". C4EM.
17. "Celebs split over trans protest at Stonewall Awards". PinkNews.
18. "Stonewall announces it will now campaign for trans rights too". PinkNews.
19. "Ruth Hunt · PinkNews".
20. "General Election 2017: Stonewall LGBT hustings sells out". PinkNews.
21. "Peter Tatchell Day declared". Rainbow Forum LGBT Group.
22. (24 January 2012). "Peter Tatchell Day poem". PinkNews.
23. Brown, Andrew. (14 May 2014). "Archbishop of Canterbury creates a stir with 'great' remark to gay magazine". The Guardian.
24. (3 January 2020). "Layla Moran: Lib Dem MP announces she is pansexual". BBC News.
25. (12 October 2022). "Gay Afghan man brutally murdered by the Taliban in bid to ‘eradicate’ LGBTQ+ people". [[PinkNews]].
26. (14 May 2025). "Guardian forced Afghan man into hiding after using his picture in LGBT-related article - lawsuit". [[The Jerusalem Post]].
27. Rhodes, Mandy. (15 October 2019). "With a cherry on top: Exclusive interview with Joanna Cherry". Holyrood.
28. (7 July 2021). "Judgment handed down in Julie Bindel's libel claim against Pink News". Matrix Chambers.
29. (7 July 2021). "In the High Court of Justics - Julie Bindel and (1) PinkNews Media Group Ltd (2) Benjamin Cohen". Matrix Chambers.
30. (26 October 2021). "Julie Bindel settles libel claim with PinkNews". 5RB.