First News, a newspaper for young people, has achieved a 17.5% increase in its readership figures with more than 2.6 million weekly readers across all its platforms.

This is according to a survey carried out by Opinion Matters, who surveyed 1,000 children (who were all either subscribers or readers) and 350 teachers (all subscribers to First News).

According to First News, “there have been a number of contributing factors; the increase in subscriptions in both home and school which we attribute in part to the lockdown, but also the impact of fake news and children’s continued interest in understanding the world around them, especially in the last 12 months.

“Other factors include environmental issues, the Greta effect, Brexit and of course Covid – coupled with schools viewing First News and its i-Hub classroom resources as vital tools to support with students’ critical thinking, particularly with citizenship. i-Hub & First News is subscribed to by more than 50% of UK primary and secondary schools.”

Sarah Thomson, CEO of First News, said: “At First News we believe in providing a powerful platform for young people to not only learn from but also to speak out from and over the last 12 months First News has continued to provide independent, fact-based journalism to unprecedented numbers of young people throughout the UK and internationally.

“We are delighted that more and more young people are engaging with First News and demonstrating that there is an appetite for trusted, authoritative news on national and international current affairs.”

According to First News, the survey also showed that more than 67% of parents read their child’s copy of First News and that 98% of readers would recommend First News to a friend.

Children rate First News 4.5 out of 5 with 71% of readers saying that First News helps them to understand more about important issues. 89% of teachers think First News helps to improve literacy in young people as well as their approach to critical thinking.

As reported via InPublishing.