Skip to content
The BBC has issued an unreserved apology to PinkNews founder Benjamin Cohen and his husband Anthony James, retracting allegations contained in a 2024 documentary and accompanying news coverage after settling defamation proceedings brought personally by the couple.
At the High Court in London on 8 October, the BBC accepted that allegations concerning sexual misconduct and pressure placed on female employees over surrogacy were false and defamatory.
The broadcaster has agreed to pay compensation and legal costs, and has removed the documentary, related online articles and associated social media posts.
For an LGBTQ+ media industry that often spends its time reporting on everybody else, this is a rather unusual moment where the story is very much about one of its biggest publications.
What did the BBC apologise for?
In December 2024, the BBC broadcast a documentary titled PinkNews: Behind Closed Doors alongside related online reporting.
Among the allegations were claims that Cohen and James had engaged in, tolerated or enabled sexual misconduct involving junior PinkNews employees, as well as allegations that young female staff had faced inappropriate pressure concerning surrogacy.
The BBC has now retracted those allegations.
In court, counsel for the broadcaster said the BBC “retracts and apologises unreservedly” for the defamatory claims.
That wording is significant.
This was not simply a clarification or correction of one detail.
The allegations at the centre of the settlement were withdrawn.
The couple say the impact reached their family
Cohen and James were new parents when the original reporting appeared.
In their statement following the settlement, the couple said the reporting caused serious disruption to their personal and professional lives and led to additional social-work scrutiny during proceedings connected with the parental order for their baby son.
They also argued that the accusations were particularly damaging in the context of their sexuality because, in their view, they reinforced harmful stereotypes portraying gay men as predatory.
Cohen resigned as a trustee of disability charity Humanity & Inclusion, while James resigned from an associate non-executive director role at Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust following the reporting. PinkNews
The couple said their greatest concern was the possibility that their son might one day encounter the allegations online.
For two people running a media company, that anxiety carries an obvious irony.
The internet remembers everything, even when the original reporting later disappears.
The compensation will go to charity
The amount of compensation has not been publicly disclosed.
Cohen and James say they will donate it to the Multiple Sclerosis Society and Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Charity.
The settlement concludes the defamation proceedings brought by Cohen and James against the BBC.
An important distinction for anyone covering this story is that the legal action was brought by the two men personally, not by PinkNews itself.
That may seem technical, but when the subject is defamation, technical accuracy is rather important.
What this settlement does, and does not, establish
The BBC apology concerns the specific allegations included in the documentary and related reporting that were the subject of the defamation case.
It should not automatically be interpreted as a legal ruling on every historical claim, criticism or workplace issue ever raised about PinkNews.
That distinction is essential.
The responsible headline is therefore not “BBC admits everything ever said about PinkNews was false”.
It is that the BBC has retracted specific serious allegations concerning Cohen and James, apologised unreservedly and agreed compensation.
That is already a major development without needing to inflate it.
The BBC has removed the programme
The corporation’s corrections and clarifications page confirms that PinkNews: Behind Closed Doors, related online articles and associated social media posts have been removed following settlement of the legal complaint.
Cohen and James are now calling for a wider examination of how the BBC’s reporting reached publication despite, they say, warnings about the accuracy of the allegations.
That moves the story beyond a dispute between two executives and one broadcaster.
It becomes a question about editorial process.
LGBTQ+ media should care about this story
There is an understandable temptation for queer media outlets to treat this story either defensively or competitively.
Neither is particularly useful.
PinkNews is one of the most recognisable LGBTQ+ publications in the world. The BBC is one of the most influential broadcasters in the world.
When serious allegations are published by one about senior figures at the other, accuracy matters enormously.
So does accountability when those allegations cannot be sustained.
The same principle should apply regardless of whether the people involved are politicians, celebrities, media executives or organisations we happen to like.
Journalism asks audiences to trust us.
That trust becomes fragile very quickly when accusations with potentially life-changing consequences go wrong.
