The Last Reporters Out the Door: PinkNews Eliminates Its Entire Newsroom in Final Act of a Long Decline

PinkNews, the UK-based publisher that once claimed the title of the world's largest LGBTQ+ online news outlet, has told its remaining reporters they are being made redundant. The company said it wants to "move away from having a reporter-led newsroom" to a model where there "isn't a need for the reporter role" [1]. The announcement marks the final chapter of a newsroom that, at its peak in 2023, employed 76 people—41 of them on the content team [2].

The cuts arrive against a backdrop of financial deterioration, a damaging BBC investigation into the conduct of the outlet's founders, and an industry-wide contraction that has hit LGBTQ+-focused media with particular force.

From Seven Figures to Serial Layoffs

PinkNews's financial trajectory tells much of the story. Founded in 2005 by Benjamin Cohen, the outlet grew rapidly in the late 2010s by building an audience on social media platforms—Snapchat in particular. By 2019, its Snapchat Discover channel alone was generating seven-figure revenue, and the publisher had 2.5 million subscribers on the platform [3]. In 2022, the company reported revenue of £10.3 million and an operating profit of £1.5 million before tax [2][4].

The collapse was swift. Around 80% of PinkNews's 2022 revenue came from social media monetized ads, with the majority from Snapchat [4]. When platform economics shifted—Facebook pulled back from news distribution, Snapchat's feed became crowded with influencer content, and neither Instagram nor TikTok offered comparable revenue-sharing—the money dried up. By the first half of 2023, the company was losing money every month [5].

CEO Cohen told staff in mid-2023 that "previously robust revenue lines" had been "significantly impacted" by reduced social media distribution, a weakening US dollar (significant because much of the revenue was denominated in dollars), and rising costs [5]. He predicted the company would break even by year's end [2].

What followed instead was a succession of cuts: seven redundancies in the summer of 2023 [5], then nine more roles put at risk in January 2024, including the news editor, entertainment editor, and weekend editor positions [2]. Cohen framed the 2024 cuts as part of "strategic changes to our growth priorities," with an increased focus on video content and direct brand partnerships [2].

Source: Press Gazette / Companies House filings

Data as of Mar 20, 2026CSV

The Final Cut

The March 2026 announcement goes further than any previous round. Rather than trimming specific roles, PinkNews has declared that the reporter function itself is no longer part of its model [1]. The exact number of remaining reporters affected has not been publicly confirmed, but the trajectory from 76 staff in August 2023 through multiple rounds of cuts suggests the number is small—likely in the single digits.

PinkNews has not issued a detailed public statement about its post-reporter plans. Based on its stated direction toward video content and brand partnerships, the outlet appears to be pivoting from original journalism to a content-marketing and social media operation [4]. Whether it will use freelancers, syndicated material, or AI-generated content to fill what was once a news site remains unclear.

Misconduct Allegations and Their Shadow

The financial pressures did not unfold in isolation. In December 2024, the BBC aired "PinkNews: Behind Closed Doors," a documentary based on testimony from more than 30 current and former employees alleging sexual misconduct and toxic workplace culture under Cohen and his husband Anthony James, who served as chief operating officer [6][7].

Specific allegations included an incident in which James allegedly groped and kissed a junior colleague who was described by witnesses as "too drunk to stand or talk" outside a London pub after a company event [6]. Former employee Stephan Kyriacou told the BBC that Cohen slapped him on the bottom in front of colleagues at a Christmas party [6]. Multiple staffers described a culture of heavy drinking, bullying, and what they called misogynistic behavior directed at young female employees [6][7].

Cohen and James denied the allegations, calling them "false, inconsistent and malicious" [8]. In a statement on the PinkNews website, they said they had filed a criminal complaint with police in August 2024 regarding "alleged offences connected to the BBC's reports" and claimed they were advised by law enforcement not to comment publicly [8]. James was suspended from a part-time NHS board role pending investigation [6].

The extent to which these allegations directly contributed to the restructuring decision is not established. However, the BBC investigation landed in the middle of an already precarious financial situation and generated significant negative coverage. A separate Press Gazette investigation had earlier interviewed 12 current and former employees who described extreme workloads, a hostile environment, and retaliation fears [9]. A Twitter whistleblower account called "Pink News Whistleblowers" had attracted over 6,000 followers before disappearing, and the company's lawyers warned that the account was "the subject of potential litigation" [9].

The Broader LGBTQ+ Media Crisis

PinkNews's collapse is not happening in a vacuum. Across the LGBTQ+ media sector, outlets that once seemed stable are contracting or disappearing.

In February 2026, Equalpride—parent company of The Advocate, Out magazine, and Pride.com—laid off an estimated 40% of its workforce, including Advocate editor-in-chief Alex Cooper and Pride.com editor-in-chief Rachel Shatto [10][11]. Equalpride CEO Mark Berryhill cited "turmoil" in the advertising market, noting that "companies aren't spending as much on marketing due to current economic concerns" [10]. The company then acquired Condé Nast's LGBTQ+ outlet Them, though the combination of fewer staff and more brands raised questions about editorial capacity [11].

In the United States, a September 2025 report from Nieman Lab mapped 105 local LGBTQ+ publications and 69 national outlets, finding that 47% operate on annual budgets under $100,000 [12]. Over half rely on advertising for more than 70% of their revenue, and 19 publications reported 100% advertising dependence [12]. Entire states—including Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, and Oregon—lack any dedicated LGBTQ+ news coverage, leaving more than 1.5 million LGBTQ+ people across 18 states without local outlets [12].

The advertising retreat has been compounded by political pressure. Under the current US administration's anti-DEI executive orders, corporate advertisers have pulled back from LGBTQ+ publications, and outlets that seek foundation grants worry their applications will be classified as DEI-related and rejected [12]. Some contributors have asked for their bylines to be removed, and at least one outlet removed its office address to prevent doxxing [12].

Source: Press Gazette / Hollywood Reporter / LGBTQ Nation

Data as of Mar 20, 2026CSV

In the UK, the remaining LGBTQ+ publications with any staff include Attitude magazine, Diva, and Gay Times, but these are primarily lifestyle and culture magazines rather than news operations with dedicated reporting teams [13]. None operates at the scale PinkNews once did.

What PinkNews Actually Produced

Assessing PinkNews's journalistic impact requires separating its news operation from its much larger social media presence. At its traffic peak, the site reached approximately 1.2 million monthly organic visitors after a domain migration [14]. The bulk of its audience, however, engaged through Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok, where the content skewed toward short-form video and shareable social content rather than investigative reporting.

PinkNews did cover UK parliamentary debates on LGBTQ+ issues, international developments in countries criminalizing homosexuality, and community news that mainstream outlets largely ignored. It served as a wire service of sorts for the LGBTQ+ community, aggregating and contextualizing stories from around the world.

However, the outlet also faced criticism for editorial choices. Reports surfaced that PinkNews had at times avoided covering certain trans issues on the grounds that they were "contentious" and could jeopardize advertising revenue [15]. This tension between commercial pressures and community journalism is not unique to PinkNews, but it complicates the narrative that the outlet was a fearless advocate for the community it served.

What Goes Uncovered

The practical consequences of PinkNews losing its reporters are most acute in several areas:

UK-specific LGBTQ+ coverage. Mainstream British newspapers cover major LGBTQ+ stories, but often through a culture-war framing rather than community-centered reporting. Day-to-day stories about NHS gender services, local council policies, hate crime trends, and community organizations relied on outlets like PinkNews for sustained attention.

International LGBTQ+ news. Coverage of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe was a regular feature of PinkNews's reporting. Few general-interest outlets dedicate consistent resources to these stories.

Accountability journalism. Investigative work on discrimination cases, institutional failures, and policy implementation requires reporters with beats and sources. Without dedicated staff, these stories are unlikely to be picked up by outlets already stretched thin.

Whether any organization can fill these gaps is uncertain. LGBTQ Nation, the Washington Blade, and a handful of other outlets maintain editorial operations, but most are US-focused and lack the UK and international reporting infrastructure that PinkNews once had [12].

The Structural Problem

PinkNews's decline illustrates a broader vulnerability in niche digital media: heavy dependence on platform distribution creates a business model that can unravel with a single algorithm change. When Snapchat's feed dynamics shifted, PinkNews lost its primary revenue engine. The pivot to brand partnerships—Heineken campaigns, Hinge sponsorships—represented a reasonable attempt to diversify, but it also moved the business further from journalism and closer to content marketing [4].

Cohen acknowledged this trajectory as early as 2023, telling Press Gazette that "partnerships revenue is better because it's within your control" and that the company was exploring capital raising for technology platforms and AI capabilities [4]. The elimination of reporters is, in a sense, the logical endpoint of that strategy: if the business model no longer requires original reporting, the reporters become an expense without a corresponding revenue line.

The question is whether something called "PinkNews" that produces no original reporting can still serve the function that made it significant in the first place. For the LGBTQ+ community—and for journalism—the answer matters.