Firstpost

Last updated

Firstpost
Firstpost.com Logo.svg
Parent company Network18 Group
StatusLive
Founded9 May 2011;14 years ago (2011-05-09)
Country of originIndia
Headquarters location Mumbai, India
Key people Palki Sharma
(managing editor)
Official website firstpost.com

Firstpost is an Indian news website owned by Network18 Group, which also runs CNN-News18 and CNBC TV18. [1] [2] It has posted misinformation on multiple occasions. [1] [2] [ undue weight? – discuss ]

Contents

The Network 18 group was originally owned by Raghav Bahl. In January 2012, the group received an investment from Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries through a rights issue of up to ₹ 27,000,000,000. [3]

History

Firstpost began in 2011 as an online news portal of Network18. [4] In May 2013, the news group was merged with the Indian edition of Forbes India whose four top editorial heads, including editor in chief Indrajit Gupta, were dismissed. [5] [6] The event led to a media furor. [7] Thereafter on 31 May 2013, Firstpost took over a satirical website Fakingnews.com for an undisclosed amount. [8] According to Scroll.in, "Network18, with its online outlet FirstPost, famously lost its primetime anchors in 2014 because of a diktat against criticising Modi." [9]

In 2015, The Caravan reported on censorship in Firstpost over criticism of political leaders such as Arun Jaitley. [10] In January 2019, a weekly English-language print edition of Firstpost began, [4] [11] and then ended in June 2019, with publication of Firstpost continuing online. [12] As of April 2020, Jaideep Giridhar is the executive editor of Firstpost in Mumbai, while Sanjay Singh is the deputy executive editor. [13] On 26 January 2023, the prime-time show Vantage was launched, hosted by managing editor Palki Sharma Upadhyay, formerly of WION. [14]

Fact-checkers have found Firstpost to have posted incorrect information on multiple occasions. In 2023, it misreported a photo of a grave with an iron grille as having been taken in Pakistan, even though the grave was actually located in Hyderabad, India. [2] In 2023, it falsely reported that Atiq Ahmed's vote had 'saved' the United Progressive Alliance government in 2008. [15] [1] In 2025, it passed off an unrelated image from a 2021 video as being that of the perpetrator of the 2025 Pahalgam attack. [16]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Chatterjee, Swasti (3 June 2020). "News18, Firstpost Tweet Old Video of Waterspout as Cyclone Nisarga". BOOM. Archived from the original on 11 July 2023. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 "Media misreport: Viral photo of grave with iron grille is from Hyderabad, not Pakistan". Alt News. 30 April 2023. Archived from the original on 18 July 2023. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  3. ↑ "Reliance enters media by opening purse strings for Network18". The Indian Express . 4 January 2012. Archived from the original on 12 January 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
  4. 1 2 Jha, Lata (23 January 2019). "Firstpost newspaper targeted at niche, discerning audiences". Mint . Archived from the original on 8 July 2023. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  5. ↑ Menon, Meena (9 June 2013). "'Forbes India' editors sacked for demanding stock ownership". The Hindu . Archived from the original on 6 January 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
  6. ↑ "Why Forbes' editors in India were sacked". Rediff. Archived from the original on 11 January 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
  7. ↑ Aravind, Indulekha (16 November 2013). "No country for good journalists?". Business Standard . Archived from the original on 26 February 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  8. ↑ "Firstpost buys current affairs satire portal FakingNews.com". Hindustan Times . 31 May 2013. Archived from the original on 7 February 2020. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  9. ↑ Venkataramakrishnan, Rohan (3 June 2016). "Vadra investigation: Congress attacks NDTV as FirstPost gets praise – what's going on?". Scroll.in . Archived from the original on 8 July 2023. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  10. ↑ Dev, Atul (15 August 2015). "Why is Firstpost Being Asked to Refrain from Criticising Three Top Leaders from the BJP?". The Caravan. Archived from the original on 8 July 2023. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  11. ↑ Sirur, Simrin; Bajpai, Shailaja; Choudhary, Ratnadeep (28 January 2019). "Making news — Zee's financial woes, Firstpost launch and BJP's WhatsApp 'fake news'". ThePrint . Archived from the original on 23 October 2023. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  12. ↑ Jha, Lata (6 June 2019). "Network18 suspends publication of Firstpost newspaper". Mint . Archived from the original on 8 July 2023. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  13. ↑ "About Firstpost - Firstpost". Firstpost. Archived from the original on 31 August 2018. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  14. ↑ Srikanth, Swarna. "Palki Sharma's Vantage - Changing geopolitical landscape through the Indian lens". Free Press Journal . Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  15. ↑ Varma, Aishwarya (18 April 2023). "Fact-check: Did Atiq Ahmed's Vote 'Save the Upa Govt' in the 2008 Trust Vote?". TheQuint. Archived from the original on 11 July 2023. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  16. ↑ Majumder, Shinjinee (24 April 2025). "Kashmir Terror Attack: Media outlets use screengrab from 2021 video, claim it shows terrorist from Pahalgam incident". Alt News. Archived from the original on 21 May 2025. Retrieved 12 May 2025.
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