Understand the LGBTQIA+ news: What are the challenges facing queer journalism?

One thing QueerAF members often say in their sign-up questionnaire - where they get to help set the news agenda at our community interest outlet - is that they want to understand how the journalism sector works.

I love that; it's totally what we set up to create. The broadest movement of people who understand that changing the media - and stopping anti-LGBTQIA+ hate and misinformation at its source - is one of the most powerful ways to change how the country thinks, feels about and understands our community.

So this week, we're delivering on the promise that our readers and members are our most important editors, with an extensive long-read from Amelia Hansford, who, having worked for years on the coalface of queer media outlets, including PinkNews, understands the challenges our industry faces.

We've taken a look at the obsession with metrics, which is a market force that has been preventing LGBTQIA+ and mainstream outlets from covering news that matters to you, in favour of focusing on celebrities, gossip and misinformation-laden rage-bait content.

You can grab a preview of the long read in the explainer slot this week, but if you're looking for our analysis of how the UK LGBTQIA+ media sector is faring, head into the full piece. We've got another look at PinkNews, which is making another round of redundancies after pivoting to a 'reporter-free newsroom' later in the newsletter too.

It's not often you get to peek behind the doors of how the media is run - though, as with our annual Impact and Transparency reports, we think it's fair that you get to.

We are QueerAF, and so are you.

Jamie Wareham
QueerAF Founder

Understand the LGBTQIA+ headlines and keep track of the latest queer content and perspectives. QueerAF is written by Jamie Wareham and a different LGBTQIA+ creative every week.

💬 This week:

• Metric hunting: Why an overreliance on traffic, clicks and likes to make decisions is hurting LGBTQIA+ journalism's credibility and not serving our community's needs.
• Section 28: The government has responded to the petition calling for an inquiry into the impacts of the harmful legislation; we look at its response.
• UN warning: UN experts have again intervened in the growing rollback of Trans+ rights in the UK; we take a look at what they've said.

Skip the doomscrolling and support queer creatives instead. We are QueerAF – and so are you.

Metric anxiety is fueling a dangerous decline in quality queer journalism

TL;DR: The news media’s growing reliance on web analytics, engagement and page views to set the news agenda poses a uniquely significant threat to LGBTQIA+ journalism and its ability to fight for equality. It has already impacted brands such as PinkNews, Them, and more, but a number of new outlets are using community-rooted models to fill the gap.