“Overheard a webinar about this paper and headed over to the current Middle East conflict section:
https://www.firstnews.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/p8-9-History-of-the-conflict-905-20-10.pdf
The country of Israel now takes up most of the territory that
once belonged to Palestine, which has led to millions of
Palestinians losing their homes and land.
Seriously ?
Millions of Palestinians opened their doors one day, turned around and forgot where they lived, they were suddenly lost, their homes and land...gone !”
Thank you for taking the time to leave us your review. First News has been reporting on the news as it happens since 2006 and remains the only national newspaper for children. We are committed to being completely impartial, with no political, cultural, or religious affiliations. Our mission is to be on the side of children, wherever they are in the world, and to give them a voice. Our job in the newspaper is to provide children with factual and accurate news and information so that they can make sense of the world around them and form their own opinions.
We are covering events as they happen with editorial balance and integrity, avoiding overly distressing details and imagery, given the age of our readers. We are responsible in our coverage, prioritising the welfare of our young readers, ensuring that they are informed, but without causing them unnecessary distress, anxiety or alarm.
There are, of course, strong feelings and emotions on both sides of the Israel-Hamas conflict. Both Israelis and Palestinians believe fervently in their own narrative and telling of history, going back decades, centuries and even thousands of years. With such a complex history, it stands as probably the most difficult issue to report on in our children’s newspaper, and for many adult media organisations. Explaining such a complex background, knowing that we have readers as young as seven years old, is a continual challenge. We could fill the entire newspaper with accounts of the conflict and its history and, no doubt, both sides would still feel we have left out important details and that crucial nuances need addressing. Please know that we are doing the best we can and that we continually check, and double check, the language we use and the way we report both the developing situation and its history.
“I started this newspaper for my daughters for current news and event but it seems to be propaganda news paper for Ukraine and LGBTQ while there is a-lot more that’s going on the world which rarely gets mentioned . This is newspaper or a brainwashing psyop ? Let children be children, please .”
First News is an inclusive newspaper, which aims to feature UK and world news, as well as current events. Ukraine has been featured more significantly in recent weeks due to the two-year anniversary of the war starting. February is also LGBT History Month which is why it’s featured on our FYI page. We always endeavour to produce relevant and important content for our readers. Aside from these topics, we also feature animal news, entertainment, sport and science so that there is something for everyone to delve into.
“My son didnt like it all. Such a complicated process to cancel. I was not provided with any account info, unique ID number, or link to cancellation upon subscribing. No start or end date in writing. Contacted customer service but they had already taken the next payment, and they wouldn’t refund, even though not dispatched. Never again. Children haven’t even looked at it.”
Thank you for taking the time to leave your review. We send a series of welcome emails to all our customers which contains the terms of your subscription, upcoming payments and instructions on how to cancel. Transparency is important to us so we’re sorry if you feel that the terms were not clear. Please can you email us at info@firstnews.co.uk so that we can fully investigate this for you?
“Absolutely biased on the brutal Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. No recognition that Hamas is a terrorist organisation not that Israel has the right to defend itself.”
Thank you for contacting us with your feedback on our recent newspaper coverage which sought to cover the latest developments in the war between Israel and Hamas in an appropriate way for our readers. Since 2006, First News has been committed to providing impartial news for children, free from political, cultural or religious affiliations. We also prioritise the welfare of our readers, taking care not to include details and images that are too distressing, while still giving an accurate account of news events.
As a newspaper, First News always seeks to report on the most recent developments around ongoing news stories such as the conflict in the Middle East. So, while the current focus is very much on the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Gaza, previous editions reported the events leading up to this, including the 7 October invasion of Israel and the attack on its civilians by Hamas, classed as a terrorist organisation by the UK and US governments. With this in mind, we are including all our past and continuing coverage of the war at https://www.firstnews.co.uk/israelgaza, including our written news stories, background special report and TV coverage from our Sky News partner children’s show, FYI. We feel this overview and context is important.
We genuinely welcome your comments which help to inform our future coverage. Please be assured that we always do our best to ensure the newspaper remains balanced and accurate. And, while it is not our intention ever to underplay the scale of violence in the region in our coverage, we are also mindful that with a readership of children, we must be very careful not to cause too much distress.
“I think you’ve handled the hamas terrorist atrocities very badly. You have a unique opportunity to rid the next generation of the antisemitism of their parents and you’ve not taken it. The week junior handled it very well whilst maintaining their integrity. You should learn from your rivals. After many years of subscription we’re cancelling because you’ve added to the hell and fear my family are facing in the uk because terrorists attacked my Israelis brothers and you fail to see the inhumanity in it all.”
Thank you for your feedback which we have shared with our Editorial team.
The news from Israel and Gaza is shocking and upsetting. The Israel-Palestine conflict is something that many people feel very strongly about, and it’s one of the most complex and sensitive issues we report on in our newspaper. It’s a huge challenge to condense a very complex situation in a limited character count for children.
We have no political or religious stance and, like everything else we do, we cover this conflict from an impartial position, with the aim to give children the latest facts and historical information that allows them to make up their own minds. We’ve had praise from teachers and parents for the way we are handling the subject, but we’re sorry if you feel we have let you or your child down and we’re sad you no longer wish to subscribe.
We take the comments on board and, to that end, we are building a platform which includes all our coverage chronologically – both written and video – since the deadly attack by Hamas on Israel on 7 October. This is because we do recognise that, as we update on the latest developments, such as the humanitarian crisis for people living in Gaza, that coverage should be seen in the context of prior events which we reported in earlier editions of First News. Our intention is that this platform provides a comprehensive and balanced picture of the complex and historical background to the issues in the region, alongside developments as they are unfolding right now.
“We took out a trial subscription for my daughter. She did not enjoy it that much. It was £1 for 6 copies. However we did not receive any warning that the trial was over and they were going to take the full amount for the next 3 months until it came out of the bank. They apparently do not offer refunds. So the papers have gone straight in the bin. Avoid .”
Thank you for your feedback Paul and we're so sorry that your daughter did not enjoy First News. We try to be as transparent as possible on our payment terms throughout the checkout process and in our emails which are sent after you take out the trial. A follow-on payment is currently taken after the 4th issue has been delivered due to the additional time in the schedule required to print, wrap and deliver your newspaper but we're sorry that came as a surprise.
If you would like us to suspend any future copies from being sent please email subscriptions@firstnews.co.uk and they can action that for you.
