First News (newspaper)

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Type Weekly newsmagazine
Format Tabloid
Owner Steve and Sarah Jane Thomson
Editor Nicky Cox
Founded May 2006
Political allegiance Independent
Headquarters Surrey
Circulation Unknown[1]
Website: www.firstnews.co.uk
For the television news music package, see First News.

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, as of May 2006, is sold for £1.10, with a donation going to children's charities.

It was launched by editorial director (aka "editorial overlord" [1]) 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. [2] The paper was claimed to be "Britain's first national newspaper for children", [3] though this claim is somewhat dubious; other 'newspapers' aimed at young audiences have included The Boy's Newspaper (1880-82), The Children's Newspaper (1919-65), Early Times - launched in the late 1980s by Nicky Cox, now editor of First News - and, more recently, Whatever, launched in Aberdeen in 2002.

Morgan's role at the newspaper includes using his previous experience in journalism to sign up and interview celebrities for his column. As of May 2006 Richard Branson has been writing a monthly column, and the launch issue's cover story was an endorsement of the magazine by footballer David Beckham.

Independent columnist Philip Hensher questioned whether children would actually want to read such a paper, calling it a "sickening... smug-sounding publication", and speculated that children who did read it would be bullied. [4] Piers Morgan, for his part, has denied that the newspaper is a middle-class venture of limited appeal, saying that "I think it is quite patronising to assume that the only people who are going to read it are middle-class kids because they are more intelligent than all the ones who are stuffing bubblegum down their throats and wearing hoodies." [5] Peter Wilby at the Evening Standard opined that children interested in news would simply read an 'adult' tabloid. [6] Trade magazine Marketing Week also quoted an unnamed press buyer as doubting whether the newspaper would achieve its circulation targets, referring to the scrapping of the printed version of the Sunday Times kids' supplement and the demise of monthly magazine Smash Hits. [7] In response, editor Nicky Cox said that First News ' weekly publication would prevent it from losing interest among children "used to getting information quickly", compared to the monthly Smash Hits.[1]. In September 2006, First News won an award from Save the Children for 'Outstanding Contribution to Children' and made the headlines when it scooped the Patricia Hewitt rising taxes on alcohol story.

[edit] Circulation

^  The owners have declined to reveal circulation targets. The print run is 100,000. [8]

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Silver, James. "From Fleet Street to Sesame Street", The Guardian, March 20, 2006. Retrieved on 2005-05-05. 
  2. ^ Terazono, Eriko. "Morgan makes paper child's play", Financial Times, May 5, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-05-05. 
  3. ^ "Britain's first national newspaper for children to launch Friday", Associated Press, May 4, 2006. 
  4. ^ Hensher, Philip. "These are ugly stories of sexual harassment", The Independent, May 3, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-05-05. 
  5. ^ ""I'm not such an awful human being"", The Daily Telegraph, April 10, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-05-05. 
  6. ^ Wilby, Peter. "A new launch for a captive adult market", Evening Standard, March 22, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-05-05. 
  7. ^ "Press Buyers question the market for new nationals", Marketing Week, March 23, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-05-05. 
  8. ^ Fletcher, Kim. "Young do still care about newspapers", The Guardian, 26 June 2006.