PinkNews refuses to cover trans issues on the basis it jeopardises ad revenue and is "contentious" [cw: transphobia]
PinkNews refuses to cover trans issues on the basis it jeopardises ad revenue and is "contentious" [cw: transphobia]
While Transgender lives in the UK and US are at risk, PinkNews abandons its transgender readers.
tweet, quoting transphobia
PinkNews CEO Benjamin Cohen refusing to campaign on trans issues ahead of the election, dismissing them as "incredibly contentious" and insisting they’re different to the equal marriage fight.
He doesn’t want Pinknews to be seen as "some sort of charity” for the trans community
https://x.com/PinkNewsStaff/status/1825453361086251124 [audio linked]
Then PinkNews has to be regarded as a captured source.
Pethaps a dumb question, but what is a captured source?
A news source that is captured by interests that conflict with the reporting of news. A classic example is General Electric who bought a lot of advertising from the big three US broadcast networks, CBS, NBC and ABC, so news that put GE in bad light (heh) was routinely suppressed.
Pink News is a niche agency that reports on LGBT+ news, but if it's refusing to report on trans-related issues, it means it's getting pressure to not do so, say, from advertisers or activists. Misrepresentation of current events starts with lying by omission. It means I can't rely on PN as a primary news source, though when they report, I may use them to confirm what other, more reliable sources tell me.
This is incredibly disappointing news and also terrifying to think advertisers have so much control now on our press