Gunnell sues ANM over CharlotteStreet column.

by Ravi Chandiramani., Revolution Online 09-Jun-00

LONDON - Former Olympic gold medallist Sally Gunnell is suing Associated New Media for £40,000 over an alleged breach of her contract as a columnist on the company's beleaguered women's portal CharlotteStreet.com, Revolution can reveal.

Gunnell, the 400 metre hurdler who struck gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, has issued a writ against ANM after it axed her column on health and fitness, which began running on the site in March.

The athlete, who is currently in Sydney as part of the BBC's team covering this month's Olympics, is understood to have had a six-month agreement with ANM to produce a regular column. Gunnell was brought in as part of the site's drive then to recruit successful sportswomen to attract traffic to the site.

ANM dropped the column following a spring-clean of its senior management, which coincided with the departure of editor-in-chief Martin Dunn.

The company also scrapped the column of round-the-world yachtswoman Tracy Edwards MBE, but it has retained Princess Diana's astrologer Debbie Frank to compile the daily horoscopes.

A spokesman at Gunnell's Manchester-based solicitors Kuit Steinart Levy said: "It would be unfair for me to comment without speaking to my client first, but the writ has been issued."

The case is a blow to the already troubled site, which is widely expected to relaunch in the coming weeks under a different name due to poor audience figures.

ANM has said the relaunched version will target a 29 to 45-year-old age group and have closer ties with women-related sections and supplements from the Daily Mail, such as Femail and You magazine.

The Daily Mail is published by sister company Associated News and Media. The current site has suffered an exodus of staff including technical director Ken Jordan and head of design Joann Weeden.

The site replaced its editor two months ago (Revolution, 5 July, p3) and only one of the editorial launch team is believed to be still working there. ANM's executive editor Avril Williams said the company could not comment on the Gunnell case for legal reasons.