Pink News chief executive and founder Benjamin Cohen at the Pink News Awards 2022. Picture: Pink News
Pink News bosses Benjamin Cohen and Anthony James have won an apology and damages from the BBC after it aired allegations involving sexual misconduct relating to them both.
The LGBTQ+ publisher’s chief executive Cohen and chief operating officer James, who are married, said they can “finally begin to move forward” almost two years after the BBC’s “reckless journalism” first aired.
The BBC put out a documentary about Pink News called “Behind Closed Doors” on the iPlayer in December 2024, airing “a series of very serious, false, and defamatory allegations” about Cohen and James “including that they enabled and tolerated sexual misconduct by themselves and each of them towards junior staff at the company” according to an agreed statement read out at the High Court in London.
The allegations were repeated in an online article with the further allegation that the married pair “placed inappropriate pressure on young, female members of staff at PinkNews to act as surrogates for them” – the statement said.
Cohen and James sued the BBC for defamation and the case has now been settled with an apology and “compensation” paid by the BBC.
A lawyer for the BBC said in court: “The BBC retracts and apologises unreservedly for the defamatory allegations made in the programme and the article.”
The pair are donating the compensation to the Multiple Sclerosis Society and Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Charity. James, a former GP, was an associate non-executive director on the board of Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust but felt forced to resign from his role in February 2025 shortly after the documentary aired. Cohen similarly resigned as a trustee of global disability charity Humanity and Inclusion as a result.
The High Court heard that the BBC reporting meant Cohen and James were subject to additional investigations by social workers ahead of a Family Court parental order hearing in relation to their son, who had been born via a surrogate six months earlier.
In a statement, Cohen and James described the BBC reporting as “making extremely serious and false allegations about us” and said the broadcaster “ignored warnings about the veracity of these allegations”.
They said: “By falsely portraying us as engaging in sexual misconduct and pressuring female employees over surrogacy, the BBC reinforced one of the most damaging homophobic tropes: that gay men are sexual predators who pose a threat to others. These were allegations that should never have been broadcast.
“It took minutes for these false allegations to spread around the world, but nearly two years for the BBC to publicly acknowledge that they were false. The BBC now owes licence fee payers an explanation of how such a serious failure could have occurred and what it intends to do to demonstrate that it remains fit for purpose… We brought this case because we wanted the truth to be established and these allegations to be retracted.”
Cohen and James said they had been concerned about what their son might read or hear as he grows up, adding: “Today’s apology cannot erase what happened, but it means that when that day eventually comes, the truth will be there.”
They continued: “Nothing can give us back the time we have lost, nor undo the impact this has had on our family. But the record has now been set straight… Today, we can finally begin to move forward.
“The BBC, though, needs to carefully consider and learn from the impact that its reckless journalism has had on a young family’s lives.”
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