Thread by @JournalismSEEN

Vivek Ramaswamy pulls a twist. At its height Buzzfeed was a highly gender affirmative and activist outlet, exceptionally popular, producing large amounts of drag/TQ content. This 👇was in 2015 by @PatrickStrud.

It also played a part in the silencing of BBC women on the issue 🧵

Three weeks after that piece was published, Buzzfeed took on Stuart Millar as its UK News Editor. He came from the Guardian, and was eventually to move on the BBC.



Note the story origin - My Genderation, supplier of affirmative content to the BBC.buzzfeed.com/patrickstrudwi…

From its global and UK desks Buzzfeed continued to soak its content in pro-trans stories targeted at young people, often framing trans-identified people as victims.

Around this time resistance in the UK began to grow, and some BBC journalists were among those talking about it.

Then in 2018 this happened - just as the consultation over self-identification was launching.



There was a large BBC Women WhatsApp group, and some of the women in it dared to have a conversation about women’s rights and self-ID. And it was leaked.buzzfeed.com/markdistefano/…

This piece of journalism by @MarkDiStef was conducted under the eye of Stuart Millar (A year later he’d be promoted to overall Buzzfeed Editor)

One of the statements leaked was that transwomen wouldn’t need maternity leave. We recommend you read it.

buzzfeed.com/markdistefano/…

@MarkDiStef The result was that the sideshoot WhatsApp group (described in the piece) where the conversation had taken place was disbanded and deleted.

Conversations about self-ID on the main group weren’t banned, but there were now watchers, so they were rare and never progressed.

@MarkDiStef There was nowhere else for women at the BBC to discuss it. Comments on Women at the BBC’s Facebook page were deleted. Comments on Pride’s Facebook page were met with hostility. One contributor (now gone) threatened to report to HR anyone who said they wouldn’t support self-ID.

@MarkDiStef When women can’t talk, they can’t find each other, can’t communicate, can’t coordinate and can’t make joint representations. This all happened. There is still no sex equality network at the BBC: the women’s group is gender affirmative.

@MarkDiStef And two years later, the News Editor in place when Buzzfeed published those private, sensitive, women’s messages - Stuart Millar - was proudly announced as the BBC’s new Digital News Editor, and has since been promoted.



-//bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/la…

@MarkDiStef So why is it a twist from @VivekGRamaswamy ? The conservative activist has been in a fight since the early summer to get Buzzfeed to change its offer after buying up a big stake in it.

cnbc.com/2024/05/22/viv…

It’s secondary to the point of the thread

But here it is

https://twitter.com/behizytweets/status/1850362453814550988