BBC retracts and apologises in High Court to PinkNews founders over false allegations

The BBC has retracted and apologised unreservedly in the High Court for allegations it broadcast and published about Benjamin Cohen, the founder and chief executive of PinkNews, and his husband Anthony James, the outlet's chief operating officer.

In a Statement in Open Court at the High Court in London on 8 October, the corporation accepted that allegations made in its December 2024 documentary, PinkNews: Behind Closed Doors, and in an accompanying BBC News article were false and extremely harmful to the couple's reputations. Counsel for the BBC told the court the corporation retracted and apologised unreservedly for the defamatory allegations in both the programme and the article. The BBC has agreed to pay damages, which the couple say they will donate to charity.

What was alleged

According to the agreed statement, the BBC's coverage alleged sexual misconduct by the couple towards junior staff, and the article further alleged that they had placed inappropriate pressure on young female employees to act as surrogates for them. The BBC now accepts those allegations were untrue. The court heard that the reporting led to additional investigations by social workers ahead of a routine Family Court parental order hearing for the couple's son, causing considerable anxiety and distress.

The response

In a joint statement, Mr Cohen and Mr James said the BBC had ignored warnings about the veracity of the allegations and chose to broadcast false claims to millions of people. A BBC spokesperson said only that the corporation had reached a settlement and would not comment further. The defamation proceedings were brought by the couple personally, not by PinkNews.

Why it matters

A Statement in Open Court is the most formal correction available under English media law. It is agreed between the parties, read into the court record and leaves no room for qualification. For a public broadcaster to accept, in that setting, that a documentary's central allegations were false is a significant admission.

The case also illustrates how long the distance can be between an error and its correction. The documentary aired in December 2024. The retraction came nearly two years later, through litigation rather than the BBC's complaints process. In the interval, the couple faced investigations in connection with their own child.

The BBC's year has been dominated by questions about its editorial judgment, from the Panorama Trump edit to a series of corrections on migration and politics. This case is different in character: it concerns not framing or emphasis but serious allegations about named private individuals that the corporation now accepts were untrue. That is the category of error that public service broadcasting can least afford, and the one where a two-year path to correction is hardest to defend.