PinkNews

PinkNews

PinkNews April 2012
Web address pinknews.co.uk
Slogan Europe's Largest Gay News Service
Commercial? Yes
Type of site
 Online newspaper
Registration No
Available in English
Created by Benjamin Cohen
Editor Nick Duffy
Joseph Patrick McCormick
Scott Roberts
Stephen Gray
Jessica Geen
Tony Grew
Marc Shoffman
Benjamin Cohen
Launched 21 July 2005 (2005-07-21)
Alexa rank
 24,472 (April 2015)[1]
Current status Active

PinkNews is a UK-based online newspaper marketed to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community (LGBT). It was founded by Benjamin Cohen in 2005[2] and covers politics, religion, entertainment, finance, and community news for the LGBT community in the UK and worldwide.[3] The current UK editor as of March 2015 is Nick Duffy.[4]

It closely follows political progress on LGBT rights around the world, and carries interviews with cultural figures, politicians and British Prime Ministers. The news is split into different sections, with most recent, prominent and trending stories showing on the home page by default. People can filter news by the sections they have most interest in, including transgender, entertainment, world, politics, arts, and opinion.

The paper version, The Pink News was officially launched at the Law Society on 28 June 2006 by Francis Maude, Chairman of the Conservative Party, Meg Munn, Minister for Equality, Simon Hughes, President of the Liberal Democrats and Meg Hillier, MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch.[5] It was suspended without explanation in early 2007 but the website continues to exist and is updated with news daily. Pinknews.co.uk was ranked the 7th most visited website in the UK in the Lifestyle - Gay and Lesbian category by Experian Hitwise in 2012,[6] up from 9th in 2011.[7]

PinkNews pays special attention to the topic of religion and homosexuality, and is often critical of the Vatican for its perceived hostility to the LGBT community.[8] However, it became one of the few LGBT publications to have interviewed a sitting Archbishop of Canterbury in 2014, when Justin Welby discussed the Church of England's approach to homosexuality.[9] In 2015 the PinkNews app was launched at the annual PinkNews Awards held at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in London in front of guests such as former Labour leader Ed Miliband, former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond and BBC presenter Victoria Derbyshire. The app was developed by Manchester based app development agency, Dreamr.[10]


Editorial policy

The editorial stance of PinkNews is not to campaign in a partisan manner, though they do interview politicians and have a pro-LGBT stance. Their site states that they will not endorse political parties in elections, but will endorse politicians regardless of party "based on their stance on gay rights issues."[11] To date PinkNews has published articles by 3 British Prime Ministers: Tony Blair,[12] Gordon Brown,[2] and David Cameron.[13] PinkNews has also interviewed other political figures in the United Kingdom, including Boris Johnson and Nick Clegg.[2]

News International legal threat

In 2006, PinkNews was threatened with legal action by News International, the parent company of the British newspapers The Sun and News of the World. Both newspapers published articles and a pixelated image between 12 and 19 February 2006 of what they claimed were a Premiership footballer and a famous DJ engaging in a sex act with a mobile phone at a "gay orgy" with one using the headline "Gay as You Go". A week later PinkNews published what was claimed to be the unpixelated image from the Choice FM website superimposed on one from the printed articles in the newspapers, allegedly revealing the footballer as Ashley Cole and the DJ as Choice FM's Ian Thompson (DJ Masterstepz). Cole began legal action against both newspapers for libel, harassment and "false privacy" but not against PinkNews, who had never made claims that either were gay. PinkNews claimed they were trying to expose the tactics of the NotW rather than "out" anyone but this backfired as both newspapers threatened to sue under the Civil Liability Act. Cole's solicitors set up an online survey to investigate the impact, questioning respondents as to where they heard the story and if they discussed it in any forums. RWD Magazine allegedly had their forums shut down because of this.

Months later the NotW and The Sun agreed to pay damages of £100,000, which would have closed PinkNews, had they been indicted, and an apology was printed in the NotW stating: "Although the photograph was pixelated some readers have understood Mr Cole to be one of the footballers and Masterstepz to be the DJ concerned. We are happy to make clear that Mr Cole and Masterstepz were not involved in any such activities. We apologise to them for any distress caused and we will be paying them each a sum in the way of damages." News International confirmed afterwards they would not be seeking damages from PinkNews.[14][15][16]

Backlash against Stonewall

PinkNews reported heavily on the refusal of Stonewall, an LGBT rights group, and Ben Summerskill, the Chief Executive, to actively campaign for marriage equality in September 2010.[17] Summerskill argued "it would cost a staggering £5 billion to implement", which was rounded on by many and criticised as he had included heterosexual couples requesting civil partnerships for tax relief. He later changed his argument at a conference to "There are lots of lesbians who actually don't want marriage". This was attended by Lynne Featherstone, the minister for equality; Evan Harris, president of Liberal Democrat LGBT group DELGA; and Steve Gilbert, the Lib Dem MP, all of which said they support same-sex marriage and a poll commissioned by PinkNews and answered by more than 800 of their readership found 98% in support of marriage equality, with many comments calling for Summerskill's resignation.[17] Stonewall was also criticized by a former founder, Michael Cashman, MEP, for the refusal.[17] PinkNews was later accused of an "unethical campaign” against Stonewall after asking every LGBT organization and political group to outline their stance on the issue, with only Stonewall refusing to comment. Stonewall in October 2010 backed down and agreed to back same-sex marriage in the face of the backlash, stating "Stonewall is pleased to be widening its campaigning objectives to include extending the legal form of marriage to gay people".[18][19]

Advertising and support

See also

References

  1. ↑ "alexa ranking". Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 Luft, Oliver (28 July 2010). "Pink News five years on: 'revenue could rise ten-fold'". Press Gazette. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
  3. ↑ "PinkNews". Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  4. ↑ "PinkNews about". Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  5. ↑ Shoffman, Marc (29 June 2006). "The Pink News launches new gay era". Pink News.
  6. ↑ "Experian Hitwise Top 10 Website Awards". hitwise.com. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  7. ↑ "Experian Hitwise UK web rating". Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  8. ↑ "Gay humanists condemn Vatican’s stance on universal decriminalisation". Pink News. 4 December 2008. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
  9. ↑ Cohen, Benjamin (13 May 2014). "Archbishop of Canterbury: It’s ‘great’ that equal marriage is the law of the land". PinkNews. Retrieved 2015-04-28.
  10. ↑ Stephen Chapman. "Dreamr creates PinkNews app". Prolific North.
  11. ↑ "Pink News editorial policy". Pink News. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  12. ↑ Blair, Tony (5 December 2005). "We are living in a new age of equality". PinkNews.
  13. ↑ Cameron, David (23 June 2011). "Why It's vital to kick homophobia out of sport". Pink News.
  14. ↑ Park, James. "How the News of the World threatened PinkNews after Ashley Cole expose". PinkNews.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
  15. ↑ "News of the World could sue website over Cole "gay orgy" story". Press Gazette. 2006-03-17. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
  16. ↑ "Gay news site threatened if Ashley Cole suit succeeds | Media news". Journalism.co.uk. 2006-03-16. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
  17. 1 2 3 Reeves, Andrew (28 September 2010). "What does Stonewall want if it isn’t gay marriage?". LibDemVoice.org. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
  18. ↑ "Stonewall undermines campaign for gay marriage". Peter Tatchell. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
  19. ↑ Geen, Jessica. "Stonewall says it will campaign for gay marriage". PinkNews.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
  20. ↑ "C4EM supporters". C4EM. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  21. ↑ "Peter Tatchell Day declared". Rainbow Forum LGBT Group. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  22. ↑ "Peter Tatchell Day poem". Pink News. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  23. ↑ Gray, Stephen. "Video: Coalition for Equal Marriage releases beautiful viral campaign film". PinkNews.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
  24. ↑ "Comment: I hope my Equal Marriage film wakes us all up to support changing the law". PinkNews.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
  25. ↑ "Out4Marriage". out4marriage.org. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  26. ↑ Walker, Kirsty (25 May 2012). "I'm backing gay marriage campaign: Theresa May records video in support of law change". Daily Mail. Retrieved 2012-05-27.
  27. ↑ Grice, Andrew (24 May 2012). "Home Secretary Theresa May records video declaring full support for gay marriage". The Independent. Retrieved 2012-05-27.
  28. ↑ Guardian, The (24 May 2012). "Theresa May records video in support of gay marriage – video". The Guardian. Retrieved 2012-05-27.
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