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| Parent company | Network18 Group |
|---|---|
| Status | Live |
| Founded | 9 May 2011 |
| Country of origin | India |
| Headquarters location | Mumbai, India |
| Key people | Palki Sharma (managing editor) |
| Official website | firstpost |
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]
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
- ^ a b c 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.
- ^ a b c "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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Why Forbes' editors in India were sacked". Rediff. Archived from the original on 11 January 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
- ^ Aravind, Indulekha (16 November 2013). "No country for good journalists?". Business Standard. Archived from the original on 26 February 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
- ^ "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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Jha, Lata (6 June 2019). "Network18 suspends publication of Firstpost newspaper". Mint. Archived from the original on 8 July 2023. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
- ^ "About Firstpost - Firstpost". Firstpost. Archived from the original on 31 August 2018. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
- ^ Srikanth, Swarna. "Palki Sharma's Vantage - Changing geopolitical landscape through the Indian lens". Free Press Journal. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
