The BBC has apologized and agreed to pay compensation to the couple behind PinkNews, an LGBTQ news website, after conceding that stories accusing them of sexual misconduct were false and defamatory.
In a statement in open court at London’s High Court on October 8, the BBC accepted that its December 2024 iPlayer documentary, PinkNews: Behind Closed Doors, and associated BBC News coverage made “a series of very serious, false, and defamatory allegations” against founder and CEO Benjamin Cohen and his husband, chief operating officer Anthony James.
The allegations centered on claims that Cohen and James had engaged in sexual misconduct toward junior employees at the LGBTQ news outlet and enabled and tolerated each other’s misconduct.
The BBC also accepted that an accompanying news article had made “false and extremely harmful” allegations that the pair had inappropriately pressured young female staff members to act as surrogates for them, according to The Guardian.
“On behalf of the defendant, I accept everything that my learned friend has said. The BBC retracts and apologizes unreservedly for the defamatory allegations made in the program and the article,” the BBC’s barrister said in court.
The widely reported allegations against the couple prompted additional investigations by the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, which safeguards the interests of children involved in family court proceedings. Social workers launched investigations into the couple’s...
The BBC has apologized and agreed to pay compensation to the couple behind PinkNews, an LGBTQ news website, after conceding that stories accusing them of sexual misconduct were false and defamator...