The First Post
Encyclopedia
The First Post is a British daily online news magazine based in London. It was launched in August 2005. It publishes news, current affairs, lifestyle, opinion, arts and sports pages, and it features an online games arcade
and a cinema featuring short films, virals, trailers and eyewitness news footage. There are also quick-read digests of the UK newspapers' news, opinion and sports pages.
. Regular writers include left wing Alexander Cockburn
commenting on US politics and Sir Peregrine Worsthorne
, generally perceived as a right-libertarian, writing on UK and international issues. Contributors are based in a wide range of countries. The First Post was originally devised by Mark Law
who was the editor until September 2009. It is edited by Nigel Horne, former editor of Telegraph magazine.
Robert Fox
is defence correspondent for The First Post. In 2007 15 Royal Navy Personnel were kidnapped
by Iranian Special Forces. On their release the UK Secretary of State for Defence Des Browne
granted permission for the 15 to sell their stories to the newspapers. Senior members of the Royal Navy were very unhappy about this decision and contacted Robert Fox. The article he wrote for The First Post was the first to alert the public to the disquiet within the Navy and formed the basis for coverage by the BBC radio flagship programme Today.
. In a December 2007 press briefing in the state-run daily The New Light of Myanmar, Burmese information minister Kyaw Hsan
singled out The First Post for what he described as its negative reporting of events.
. This coverage forced Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe
to suspend attempts to silence critics of his regime.
, The First Post ran a story in which the head coach of China's badminton
team admitted to match fixing
at the 2004 Summer Olympics
in Athens. Attempting to access this story from within China resulted in the user being redirected to an error page that simply read "The connection was reset". This is the same message that users attempting to access the BBC News website have encountered and is thought to be the result of state censorship by the Chinese via the Golden Shield Project
.
, publisher of The Week
and a range of consumer print magazines, acquired The First Post for an undisclosed sum.
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
and a cinema featuring short films, virals, trailers and eyewitness news footage. There are also quick-read digests of the UK newspapers' news, opinion and sports pages.
Contributors
The First Post has no discernible political biasMedia bias
Media bias refers to the bias of journalists and news producers within the mass media in the selection of events and stories that are reported and how they are covered. The term "media bias" implies a pervasive or widespread bias contravening the standards of journalism, rather than the...
. Regular writers include left wing Alexander Cockburn
Alexander Cockburn
Alexander Claud Cockburn is an American political journalist. Cockburn was brought up in Ireland but has lived and worked in the United States since 1972. Together with Jeffrey St. Clair, he edits the political newsletter CounterPunch...
commenting on US politics and Sir Peregrine Worsthorne
Peregrine Worsthorne
Sir Peregrine Gerard Worsthorne is a British journalist, writer and broadcaster. He was educated at Stowe School, Peterhouse, Cambridge and Magdalen College, Oxford. Worsthorne spent the largest part of his career at the Telegraph newspaper titles, eventually becoming editor of The Sunday Telegraph...
, generally perceived as a right-libertarian, writing on UK and international issues. Contributors are based in a wide range of countries. The First Post was originally devised by Mark Law
Mark Law
Mark Alexander Law is a British journalist and author. He lives in London.Mark Law is a former Fleet Street journalist. He is the author of The Pyjama Game, A Journey Into Judo, published in June 2007 by Aurum Press, for which he was named as Best New Writer in the 2008 British Sports Book awards...
who was the editor until September 2009. It is edited by Nigel Horne, former editor of Telegraph magazine.
Robert Fox
Robert Fox
Robert Fox may refer to:*Robert Fox , 19th-century African-American civil rights activist*Robert Fox , Australian rules footballer*Robert Fox , defence correspondent for the Evening Standard...
is defence correspondent for The First Post. In 2007 15 Royal Navy Personnel were kidnapped
2007 Iranian seizure of Royal Navy personnel
Iranian military personnel seized 15 Royal Navy personnel during 2007 and held them for 13 days. On 23 March 2007, 15 British Royal Navy personnel, from HMS Cornwall, searching a merchant vessel were surrounded by the Navy of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and subsequently detained off the...
by Iranian Special Forces. On their release the UK Secretary of State for Defence Des Browne
Des Browne
Desmond Henry Browne, Baron Browne of Ladyton is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Kilmarnock and Loudoun from 1997 to 2010...
granted permission for the 15 to sell their stories to the newspapers. Senior members of the Royal Navy were very unhappy about this decision and contacted Robert Fox. The article he wrote for The First Post was the first to alert the public to the disquiet within the Navy and formed the basis for coverage by the BBC radio flagship programme Today.
Coverage of 2007 anti-government protests in Burma
The First Post provided extensive coverage of the 2007 Burmese anti-government protests2007 Burmese anti-government protests
The 2007 Burmese anti-government protests were a series of anti-government protests that started in Burma on 15 August 2007...
. In a December 2007 press briefing in the state-run daily The New Light of Myanmar, Burmese information minister Kyaw Hsan
Kyaw Hsan
Kyaw Hsan is the current Minister of Culture and Minister of Information of Myanmar. He graduated from the Defence Services Academy's 11th intake in 1969. He is notorious for lying to the public....
singled out The First Post for what he described as its negative reporting of events.
Moses Moyo
Moses Moyo is the pseudonym of an independent Zimbabwe-born journalist based in Harare, who reports exclusively for The First Post. In October 2007 documents leaked to Moses by an operative in Zimbabwe's Central Intelligence Organisation uncovered a plot to assassinate former Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius NcubePius Ncube
His Grace the Most Reverend Dr. Pius Alick Mvundla Ncube served as the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, until he resigned on September 11, 2007...
. This coverage forced Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe
Robert Mugabe
Robert Gabriel Mugabe is the President of Zimbabwe. As one of the leaders of the liberation movement against white-minority rule, he was elected into power in 1980...
to suspend attempts to silence critics of his regime.
Chinese censorship
In March 2008, shortly before the Olympics were due to be staged in ChinaChina
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, The First Post ran a story in which the head coach of China's badminton
Badminton
Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...
team admitted to match fixing
Match fixing
In organised sports, match fixing, game fixing, race fixing, or sports fixing occurs as a match is played to a completely or partially pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. Where the sporting competition in question is a race then the incident is referred to as...
at the 2004 Summer Olympics
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
in Athens. Attempting to access this story from within China resulted in the user being redirected to an error page that simply read "The connection was reset". This is the same message that users attempting to access the BBC News website have encountered and is thought to be the result of state censorship by the Chinese via the Golden Shield Project
Golden Shield Project
The Golden Shield Project , colloquially referred to as the Great Firewall of China is a censorship and surveillance project operated by the Ministry of Public Security division of the government of the People's Republic of China...
.
Design
The First Post initially had more the appearance of a print publication with a grid layout, and commissioned shorter pieces with the stated intention of avoiding scrolling. However, it has adopted scrolling-based text since its takeover by Dennis Publishing.Publishers
The First Post was initially backed by an investment group, The First Post News Group, which also publishes Zimbabwe Today, which carries personal accounts of life in the country under the Mugabe regime, and Media Circus, a student guide to getting and sustaining a career in the media. In January 2008, Dennis PublishingDennis Publishing
Dennis Publishing Ltd. is an independent publisher. It was founded in 1974.As of April 2010 the company publishes 31 magazine or online titles, predominately in the UK....
, publisher of The Week
The Week
The Week, styled as THE WEEK, is a weekly news magazine.-History:It was founded in the United Kingdom by Jolyon Connell in 1995. In April 2001, the magazine began publishing an American edition; an Australian edition followed in October 2008. Dennis Publishing publishes the U.K. and Australian...
and a range of consumer print magazines, acquired The First Post for an undisclosed sum.