Two female journalists have launched a pop-culture website that caters for women with a mixed interest in politics and celebrity culture, who want ‘more out of women’s journalism”.
TheLipster.com, edited by Guardian columnist Jude Rogers, is a daily news and features website that covers news, music, film, TV, and books – topics which Rogers said were largely missing from the current women’s magazine market.
Despite the fact that women are huge consumers of music, film and books, there is nowhere for them to go to find that kind of information, said Rogers.
‘We’re trying to target women who want something more out of women’s journalism,’she said. ‘We’ve realised that what is very much lacking in women’s journalism is any kind of pop-culture coverage. They’re the first sections to go in women’s magazines – there’ll be two albums reviewed and a couple of books and that’ll be it.”
Funded by Quietus Group, a joint venture between music website Drowned in Sound, music management company Silentway, and BskyB, TheLipster has been live since December in beta version. It has been building up its readership and an archive of articles ahead of the official launch and unveiling of a new look
last week.
Rogers is a music columnist for The Guardian and writes for the New Statesman and The Word where she used to be reviews editor. She works on
TheLipster with Rebecca Nicholson, who has worked for a number of Emap titles including Heat and More, and is a regular contributor to NME. They are the only editorial staff on the website, but there is a pool of contributors, including regular columns
from writers Miranda Sawyer and Sylvia Patterson.
Rogers said: ‘Myself and Rebecca realised there was nothing out there that addresses women in a way that was respectful of their intelligence and that had a bit of lightness and humour about it at the same time.
A lot of women’s journalism is either incredibly serious and dry – covering political issues in a way that doesn’t really push the debate forward – or it’s the complete opposite.
‘It can be very cruel almost, and is all about what size a woman is or the way a woman looks. We wanted to provide an alternative.”
rachaelg@pressgazette.co.uk
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
