SINGAPORE — No public statement has emerged from SPH Media or a press conference scheduled since it confessed to having its circulation figures fabricated by staff three days ago.
The shocking revelation sparked by a scoop by Wake Up Singapore (WUSG) on Sunday, resolves around the penalisation of staff involved in the fabrication of circulation numbers of SPH Media’s publications.
The inconsistencies in the reporting of data were discovered in an internal review in March 2022 for the period of September 2020 to March 2022.
The internal review is said to have taken place after the media publications under formerly listed Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) were carved out into a non-profit entity, SPH Media Trust (SMT).
The review uncovered various issues, such as having lapsed contracts being counted into circulation data; copies that were printed, counted for circulation and then destroyed; as well as double-counting of subscriptions across multiple instances.
More disturbingly, a project account was also said to have been injected with additional funding over a period of time to purchase fictitious circulation.
What has happened since the public confirmation by SPH Media on Monday was that Mr Wong Wei Kong, editor-in-chief of SPH Media’s English/Malay/Tamil Media (EMTM) Group, sent out an e-mail to staff on Tuesday morning to address the news of the issues with circulation data.
He wrote: “All this was painful, but necessary to put right what was once unknown, but now known. There is no choice – we cannot possibly continue reporting numbers that would now be questioned. However, with the rebasing and the steps taken, it is important to note that the numbers we are reporting now will bear up to scrutiny.”
Mr Wong also noted that the company will be getting “a lot of stick going forward”.
Another email was blasted out to SPH Media’s advertisers by its chief executive officer Teo Lay Lim in the evening that day, stating that circulation data is not used as a basis for its advertising packages.
No public statement or no press conference is known to be scheduled to address the scandal. So far, information has been trickled out from the media entity via news reports from The Straits Times, a publication under SPH Media.
Responding to media queries over the matter, a Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) spokesperson said the ministry has asked SPH Media to share its full findings and has recently received SPH Media’s internal report on the matter.
“MCI will undertake our own review to determine if these inconsistencies in circulation data affect the decision to fund, and the amount the Government committed to fund SPH Media. MCI expects SPH Media to fully cooperate with our review,” said the spokesperson.
SMT chairman missing in action
Former People’s Action Party (PAP) minister Khaw Boon Wan was appointed chairman of SMT in May 2021.
In a press briefing on 27 January last year, Mr Khaw said SMT has a “justification” in asking the government for funding when it comes to capability building as “quality, credible journalism is a public good”.
He also shared how SMT will set up a fact-checking service to debunk fake news, so that public debate can be informed by reliable information.
On the funding for SMT by the Government, Mr Khaw said then, “The discussion is coming along nicely, and I’m quite sure MCI (Ministry of Communications and Information) would be ready to make an announcement quite soon.”
And true enough, just a month later, Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo confirmed in Parliament that the Government will fund SMT to the tune of up to S$180 million annually over the next five years.
“This will provide SMT with more capital to invest in the future while ensuring that they are able to sustain their current operations,” Ms Teo said.
In response to Associate Professor Jamus Lim’s question of whether the declining subscription is a result of the lack of trust in the publications, Ms Teo said, “We do not have to pay to get news, but we will choose where we spend our time, in order to get trusted news. And that is what is the most important of all and that is why our local mainstream media deserve to be supported.”
Now that SMT is funded by the Government with taxpayers’ monies, one would wonder if SMT owes a greater duty to explain the scandal publicly instead of hiding behind reports written by its own publications.
While it is unknown if Mr Khaw was informed of findings from the internal review in March last year but granted the public outcry in Singapore that is happening now, surely he would have gotten wind of it.
Given the high-profile announcements of the former minister’s involvement in SMT as its chairman and the lavish praises showered upon SPH Media by Mr Khaw of its credibility, it is a wonder why Mr Khaw has not called for a press conference, give a public statement or even a simple comment on the misrepresented circulation figures of when public trust in SMT is in dire straits.
TOC would have loved to seek a response from Mr Khaw via email, but his email is not on SPH Media’s contact list even though he is the chairman of the entity. His Facebook page has not been updated since August 2020, and his profile, even worse, since June 2012.
The lack of response by the “trusted” media entity in Singapore is nothing short of an utter disappointment for many who still hold hope in the integrity and professionalism of the supposed fourth estate and the troubling state of the country where the public is confronted with yet another case of “ownself check ownself”.
One cannot help but recall what Mr Khaw said when he was still a minister, “In Japan, the chairman, the CEO will call a press conference and take a deep bow, and in the good old days, they may even commit hara-kiri.”
