The Pink Paper allowed “readers from Brighton to Inverness to catch up on events and issues in a format that had a clear identity”
The passing of the physical version of a British GLBT newspaper might not seem like a big deal to most Americans, but, brace yourselves, it can and will happen here in the US. Via my friend Andy Harley at UK Gay News, we learn Rob Sharp at The Independent has noted the significance of the transition to an internet-only version of a vital source of GLBT news:
End of the road for an iconic champion of gay rights
Think free-sheet and you think of multi-coloured commuter-fodder littering public transport, not necessarily about one of the country’s most community-cohesive, progressive publications. But the Pink Paper, the country’s only gay national newspaper, has long championed the threats and triumphs facing Britain’s gay community with a cover price totalling a big round zero.
This week, the Paper became the recession’s latest media victim. Too dependent on recruitment and property advertising, when the two markets collapsed earlier this year the Paper and its publisher, the Millivres Prowler Group (MPG), found they lacked sufficient draw for mainstream recruiters to fill the hole in their revenue. Their sole presence will now be an online-only edition and a weekly email newsletter.
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Gay campaigners are now worried its closure could fragment the gay community. “We have lost a major source of news and information,” says the gay and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell. “It was an invaluable forum for debate and helped us to coordinate campaigns against homophobia.”
Tip: UK Gay News
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