First News (newspaper)
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 The first issue of First News. |
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| Type | Children's weekly newsmagazine |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Owner | Newsbridge |
| Founded | May 2006 |
| Political alignment | Independent |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters |  United Kingdom Surrey, UK |
| Circulation | 763,800 |
| Official website | firstnews.co.uk |
First News is a weekly newspaper aimed at 7-14 year olds. It is in tabloid format, and aims to present current events in a child-friendly format, alongside news on entertainment, sport and computer games. It is published on Fridays and is sold for £1.10.
Three years since launch, First News is the widest-read publication for children in the UK with just under 800,000 readers a week. It is available on the news-stand, by home subscription and around a quarter of schools nationwide subscribe to it as well.
Smallest newspaper in the world in the Guinness World Records 2009
It was launched by editorial director Piers Morgan at 11 Downing Street, official residence of the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer, where the then Chancellor Gordon Brown said that the paper would make a "great contribution to education" by making children aware of current events. [1]
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[edit] About
First News is a weekly national newspaper aimed at children aged 7-14. It is published every Friday and delivers all the important stories in an easy and digestible format, in a voice aimed at inquisitive children. Since it’s launch in 2006 First News has become the widest read weekly children’s publication in the UK. Recent research shows that one in four schools subscribe to First News and it is read by over 763,000 children every week*.
- YouGov survey, autumn 2007
[edit] Overview
First News was launched by editorial director Piers Morgan and editor Nicky Cox MBE in May 2006 with a VIP party at Downing Street and support from many high profile figures including Prince Harry, Sir Richard Branson, Gordon Brown and David Beckham. The then Chancellor Gordon Brown said that the paper would make a ‘great contribution to education’ by making children aware of current events
First News is published by Newsbridge, a dynamic, independently financed publishing house established in January 2006. Among its aims, it aspires to raise the profile of children's views and opinions in society. The Newsbridge management team comprises newspaper editor Piers Morgan and Nicky Cox, former editorial director of BBC Children's Magazines with a steering role from investors Steve and Sarah Jane Thomson.
[edit] A newspaper aimed at children
First News was launched by Nicky Cox because growing up she found that most newspapers assumed prior knowledge that as a 12-year-old she didn’t have. In a June 2009 article with the National Literacy Trust Nicky was quoted as saying “the difference in the way that we present the news is that we do not assume children know the background to a situation such as the issues in the Middle East. So we always put each news story in context. For instance, during the recent scandal over MPs' expenses, First News had to explain what expenses were in the first place, before going on to explain the liberties some politicians seemed to have been taking with them! We always make sure that we have a mixture of serious and more light-hearted stories, too, and we vary the length of reports from more in-depth features to bite-sized news briefs. We have readers from the age of seven up to 14 so everyone can pitch in at their own level.”
[edit] Awards and campaigns
In September 2006 First News won an award from the charity Save the Children for Outstanding Contribution to Children. This Award is given to those who have made a significant contribution to the work undertaken by Save the Children and have inspired others to make an impact for children. First News was chosen because it is a passionate communicator to children on children's issues around the world.
In May 2008 First News launched their Conflict Children campaign to raise awareness of the issues facing children caught up in wars around the world, particularly child soldiers. This campaign was in partnership with Save The Children and the Government's Department for International Development. Douglas Alexander, Secretary of State for International Development was quoted as saying: “This is a crucial issue for the future of our planet and we will be working closely with First News and Save the Children to make sure the voices of British children are heard around the world.”
The end result was over 230,000 children across the country signing a campaign letter which was presented to the International Development Minister Mike Foster by 12 reader representatives. The young people who presented the letters were winners of an art and journalism competition that was part of the campaign. Mike Foster said: “I’m delighted that schoolchildren around the UK are supporting this campaign. As International Development Minister, I've seen first hand how UK aid is helping children affected by conflict. UK aid protects children from violence, enables them to attend school safely and helps them put their lives back together. It's great that pupils in this country are campaigning on behalf of these conflict children around the world.”
Nicky Cox was quoted as saying: “We launched this because we ran a story about child soldiers being forced to fight on the frontline in wars around the world. Our readers said they wanted to do something to help children “just like them”. So we launched the campaign at Downing Street. More than 230,000 children nationwide signed up to the campaign, calling on the international community to deliver change for children living with violence. Now our readers' views are being fed into a government review on children being affected by armed conflict. We're also hopeful that some of our young reporters will be meeting up with representatives of the United Nations conflict working group.”
In July 2008 First News launched their annual Reading Tour. The tour kicked off with dyslexic Henry Winkler aka Fonzie from Happy Days reading extracts from his own series of Hank Zipzer books which all focus around a boy with dyslexia. On the tour, First News editor, Nicky Cox, talked to school children about newspapers and gave hints and tips about writing newspaper reports. In June 2009, Nicky and Henry took part in the Reading Tour again, visiting schools around the UK.
In June 2009 editor Nicky Cox was awarded an MBE in the Queen's birthday honours list, for services to children. Testimonials for the MBE came from Esther Rantzen, Managing Director at BBC Magazines Peter Phippen, and Save The Children's Chief Executive, Jasmine Whitbread.
[edit] The smallest newspaper in the world
In November 2007 First News was awarded a Guinness World Record for launching a special edition ‘World’s Smallest Newspaper’ in celebration of Guinness World Records Day. The tiny tabloid measured just 32 x 22 mm (1.25 x 0.86 in). In edition number 175 they photographed it being held by the world’s tallest man Sultan Kösen Article text.[2]
[edit] Staff list
- Editorial Director: Piers Morgan
- Editor: Nicky Cox
- Deputy Editor: Gabrielle Utton
- Web Editor: Nicky Williams
- Entertainment Editor: Serena Lacey
- Writer: Ian Eddy
- Editorial Assistant: Kirsty Macdonald
- Communications Assistant: Clare Hutchinson
- Design manager: Richard Robson
- Accounts Assistant: Kelane Henderson
- Advertising: Nina Chaudhry
- Direct Marketing Manager: Emma Robson
- Partnership Marketing Director: Lindsaye Fox
- Publisher for First News Explorer: Susan Downey
- Publisher: Kelly Austin
- CEO: Gavin Canham
[edit] Circulation
^ A You Gov survey has confirmed that First News has a weekly readership of 763,800 making it the widest-read children's publication in the UK. [3]
[edit] References
- ^ Terazono, Eriko (2006-05-05). "Morgan makes paper child's play". Financial Times. http://news.ft.com/cms/s/62a29452-dbd4-11da-98a8-0000779e2340.html. Retrieved 2006-05-05.
- ^ [1], http://firstnews.co.uk.
- ^ Fletcher, Kim (26 June 2006). "Young do still care about newspapers". The Guardian.
