Four journalists face redundancy as Pink News moves away from ‘reporter led’ newsroom
LGBTQ+ publisher Pink News has put the jobs of its four website reporters at risk.
Staff were told last week that the brand planned to continue publishing news, entertainment and pop culture content across text, video and social without this core team of journalists.
Senior reporter Sophie Perry wrote on Bluesky that she had been made redundant, adding: “In my redundancy consultation, I was told the brand is ‘moving away from having a reporter-led newsroom’. How can they make journalism without journalists? I have no clue either.”
Chief operating officer Anthony James told Press Gazette: “Pink News is evolving how we produce and publish content – not what we produce.
“Our focus as a publisher remains the same, and our team of over 25 journalists and producers will continue to deliver the news, pop culture and entertainment content our audiences expect across video, social and written formats.
“The changes underway are structural: improving coordination across teams and reducing duplication in how content is produced and published, so that our total output is better integrated across the business.
“This includes a proposed restructuring of four roles within our website editorial team. Consultation on that proposal is ongoing.”
Jamie Wareham, the founder of the QueerAF newsletter, said the plan “leaves a growing news gap for our community. Something we should all be concerned about.”
Pink News previously reviewed its “editorial team needs” two years ago, saying these had “changed over the last year as we’ve continued to lean into video and integrate how we develop content”. Roles affected at that time included news editor, entertainment editor and weekend editor and several non-editorial jobs.
Since then Pink News has faced complaints about the conduct of James and founder/CEO Benjamin Cohen, which they have rejected as groundless.
In 2024, the latest figures available on Companies House, Pink News made a profit of £1.7m (up from £1.5m in 2023 and down from £3.1m in 2022).
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