A heady ride: 1 year of Firstpost

In February 2011, a small group of people sequestered themselves in an office in Bombay and, over several heady weeks of animated and passionate discussions, embarked on an ambitious – and audacious – adventure. Quite simply, we wanted to reinvent journalism for the digital age in India. Specifically, we wanted to make web journalism fresh and engaging for readers who are no longer content to be passive recipients of inert, trickle-down news, but who want to interact with and participate constructively in News-As-It-Happens. [caption id=“attachment_303222” align=“alignright” width=“380” caption=“We wanted a disruption. We’re happy to report that we’ve achieved that. Reuters.”]  [/caption] We were acutely aware of the raw social context in which the Modern News Story would be discovered. We concluded, rightly, that unrelenting, instant, multiple, non-partisan, live views that explored and interpreted the news story as it broke would get readers to talk, share and discuss. And participate actively in the Clash of Ideas. Thus was Firstpost born – exactly a year ago, on 9 May 2011. In this year gone by, we’ve come a long way. We’ve broken big stories. We’ve relentlessly brought you content that always takes the story forward and gives you frames of reference to make sense of the news. We’ve vastly enhanced our production values – and opened up many more ways in which you, our readers, can also participate. We’ve strengthened our news-gathering teams. And we’ve taken on some of you on board as bloggers. The result, as our readers testify on a daily basis, is an obsessive, intelligent web journalism experience that’s guaranteed never to leave you bored. We wanted a massive disruption, and we think we have one. We had set ourselves a goal to reach one million readers in India at the end of the first year, and we are happy to report that we’ve more than met that goal. We wanted you to react to everything we did - and you have. With warmth and on occasion, when we’ve fallen short of the exacting standards we set for ourselves, you have been brutally honest in your criticism. We welcome that too. The next year will be no less ambitious for us. You will see us do more of the things we do – but in a better way. We will continue to take on ‘legacy journalism’ and fight for those same values–authority and trust. And we will continue to break news and shape your views and engage your minds. Not a week later, not even a day later. But now, today, instantly. Thanks for being our fellow-travellers on this heady ride. And stay with us on this enchanting journey.