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| Parent company | Network18 Group |
|---|---|
| Status | Live |
| Founded | 9 May 2011; 14 years ago (2011-05-09) |
| Country of origin | India |
| Headquarters location | Mumbai, India |
| Key people | Palki Sharma (managing editor) |
| Official website | firstpost |
Firstpost is an Indian news website owned byNetwork18 Group, which also runsCNN-News18 andCNBC TV18.[1][2] It has posted misinformation on multiple occasions.[1][2]
The Network 18 group was originally owned byRaghav Bahl. In January 2012, the group received an investment fromMukesh Ambani'sReliance Industries through a rights issue of up to₹27,000,000,000.[3]
Firstpost began in 2011 as an online news portal of Network18.[4] In May 2013, the news group was merged with the Indian edition ofForbes 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 websiteFakingnews.com for an undisclosed amount.[8] According toScroll.in, "Network18, with its online outletFirstPost, famously lost its primetime anchors in 2014 because of adiktat against criticisingModi."[9]
In 2015,The Caravan reported on censorship in Firstpost over criticism of political leaders such asArun Jaitley.[10] In January 2019, a weekly English-language print edition ofFirstpost began,[4][11] and then ended in June 2019, with publication ofFirstpost continuing online.[12] As of April 2020, Jaideep Giridhar is the executive editor ofFirstpost inMumbai, while Sanjay Singh is the deputy executive editor.[13] On 26 January 2023, the prime-time showVantage was launched, hosted by managing editor Palki Sharma Upadhyay, formerly ofWION.[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 thatAtiq Ahmed's vote had 'saved' theUnited 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 the2025 Pahalgam attack.[16]