The Tab

Babe, also known as Babe.net, was a spinoff aimed at young women.[14] It was established in May 2016 by then Tab editor Roisin Lanigan and focuses on what Slate contributor Ruth Graham called "vulgar tomfoolery" – provocative, light stories unlikely to appeal to older women.[15]

In January 2018, a woman using the pseudonym 'Grace' wrote an article on Babe accusing comedian Aziz Ansari of sexual misconduct.[16] The article was met with a polarized and mixed response among commentators and the public with disagreement as to whether the incident described in the Babe article constitutes sexual misconduct, and to whether the accuser's narrative trivialized or damaged the Me Too movement.[15] The journalist who edited the story at Babe.net, Katie Way, was criticized by HLN anchor Ashleigh Banfield. Banfield had previously criticized Ansari's anonymous accuser, drawing Way's ire in an email response. Banfield read part of it on-air, characterizing it as hypocritical.[17] Responding to criticism of the site's choice to publish the account, Tab editor-in-chief Joshi Herrmann said it was "patently ridiculous" to ignore stories solely because they did not involve illegal behavior.[18]

It was reported in early 2019 that Babe CEO Jack Rivlin was looking to sell the site.[19]

Babe closed in February 2019.[20]

Then-editor-in-chief Jack Rivlin was noted as one of 30 People Under 30 to watch by The Guardian and was named one of the London Evening Standard's 'Power 1000' in 2013.

Notable scoops for The Tab include Malia Obama's decision to go to Harvard University,[1] the publication of the memes that got 12 incoming freshmen kicked out of Harvard,[21] and the story of married Louisiana politician Mike Yenni seducing a 17-year-old boy, who went on to study at Brown University.

In December 2012, the Bristol title revealed a ban on female speakers at the university's Christian Union.[22][23]

Starting in September 2013, The Tab pioneered a campaign that got student unions across the UK to ban Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines, after Edinburgh University Students' Association boycotted it.[24][25][26][27]

Later in the year, the site published an exclusive story after DJ Tim Westwood was caught unleashing a torrent of sexist jibes at Leicester's Student Union.[28] In February 2016 The Tab's Reading edition interviewed Amber-May Ellis, a student at the University of Reading and a reality TV star, who got a tattoo of homeless Ian Beale on her thigh.[29] In under 24 hours the story had gone viral, it was picked up by all of the U.K's tabloid newspapers[30] and by ITV's This Morning.

A week in 2014 The Tab dubbed "The week The Tab dominated Fleet Street".[31]

In February 2017, The Tab Cambridge broke a story about a student member of the Cambridge University Conservative Association burning a £20 note in front of a homeless person.[32] The story was covered by The Guardian,[32] and The Daily Telegraph.[33]

In October 2016, a group of University of Nottingham students dressed as a rollercoaster were reported by The Tab to be impersonating The Smiler rollercoaster crash of June 2015. This article was picked up by the national press including the BBC, ITV and Metro. The Tab reporter, Joseph Archer, admitted to the Daily Mail that he had 'not spoken to the group to ask what their costume was about' as the bar they were in was 'very busy', a statement that the group of students said was wrong.[36] The Tab later issued an apology for their story and admitted that they had 'messed up'.[37]

Student writers, including local student editors, are unpaid which has led to heavy criticism from other journalists as well as accusations The Tab is exploiting its writers.[38][39]

When The Tab's women's vertical babe was first launched in May 2016 the majority of its writers were unpaid work experience students taking part in The Tab's summer 2016 Fellowship Scheme.[40] In 2017 babe recruited more unpaid contributors in both the US and UK, as part of their 'Summer Correspondents' program.[41] Applicants were told that despite being unpaid they would receive many benefits, including: "Getting your stories read by thousands of readers across the world".[42][41] babe established a small team of staff writers and editors at its Brooklyn office before ending in 2019.