World Entertainment News Network (commonly known as WENN) is an

entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousa ...

text, photo and video wire service headquartered in London with offices in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constit ...

. WENN's subscribers include newspapers, magazines, radio stations,

television network A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay television providers. Until the mid-1 ...

s, mobile phone company and websites. It also owns the Cover Images picture agency.

History

WENN was launched as an entertainment news wire service in London in 1989 by UK newspaper journalist and

ABC Radio News ABC News Radio is the news radio service of ABC Audio, a division of ABC News in the United States. Formerly known as ABC Radio News, ABC News Radio feeds, through Skyview Networks, five minute newscasts on the hour and news briefs at half-pas ...

correspondent Jonathan Ashby. It began as the World Rock News Network (WRNN) and the company soon established a niche for itself, including; contributors ABC News correspondents Dave Alpert in New York and Gayl Murphy in Los Angeles, providing breaking music news to subscribers including

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a d ...

, BBC, ABC and Russia's daily youth newspaper, ''

Komsomolskaya Pravda ''Komsomolskaya Pravda'' (russian: link=no, Комсомольская правда; lit. "Komsomol Truth") is a daily Russian tabloid newspaper, founded on 13 March 1925. History and profile During the Soviet era, ''Komsomolskaya Pravda'' w ...

''. In 1991 the company name was changed to the World Entertainment News Network (WENN) to reflect its focus on celebrity news and photos. Its picture desk opened in 1993, and a Los Angeles bureau was added in 1994. A year later, WENN opened a TV operation and spent 18 months interviewing international celebrities for global clients throughout Europe and in Japan and South Africa. Satellite offices followed in Eastern Europe, Japan, Australia and South America. In 2000, WENN sales director Lloyd Beiny became CEO after Ashby retired. Under Beiny's, WENN opened bureaus hubs in New York City and Berlin, Germany. In 2016, WENN founded a second

photo agency Stock photography is the supply of photographs which are often licensed for specific uses. The stock photo industry, which began to gain hold in the 1920s, has established models including traditional macrostock photography, midstock photography, ...

, Cover Images, focusing on news, sport and other areas of photography in complement to WENN's library of entertainment images.

Former employees

Amy Winehouse Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz. A me ...

and

DJ Yoda Duncan Beiny (born 1977 in London, England), better known as DJ Yoda, is a hip hop turntablist who uses samples to create an animated musical style. He is known for several awards and media industry achievements. Early life and career Aft ...

reported on celebrities in the early 2000s. Other former employees include Matthew Wright and James Desborough.

References

{{reflist

External links

WENN.com
(official website) Mass media companies of the United Kingdom Entertainment companies established in 1989 Mass media companies established in 1989