![]() Lim Tean, the leader of the opposition party People’s Voice, called for a commission of inquiry with subpoena power to get to the bottom of the scandal, saying an internal review would not suffice.Īlthough the SPH spokesperson didn’t say how long the inflation had been going on, the newspapers have faced falling circulation and income for several years. Given its relationship with the Singapore government, its credibility has been assailed by media watchdogs who have long criticized it for its timidity in reporting on government affairs.Ī prominent independent publication, The Online Citizen, ceased publication in Singapore late last year, and moved to Taiwan after its owner and publisher, Terry Xu, was repeatedly sued by government officials. The SPH media conglomerate has been flailing for several years as it lost income and readers. As a result, self-censorship is widespread, including within the alternative independent media, which are intimidated by the judicial and economic pressure.” The other, Singapore Press Holdings, is supposedly privately owned but the government appoints those who run it. One, MediaCorp, is owned by a state investment company. The Paris-based RSF said on its website, “Two business groups control all of Singapore’s print and broadcast media. The story was broken by an independent publication called Wake Up, Singapore, one of the few free voices left in the country, which has long been criticized by media protection organizations including Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists for repressing free expression. The staff involved had been taken to task, or had left the organization." Temasek recognizes this.” Temasek has initiated an internal review by an independent team to study and improve its processes, and to draw lessons for the future, said Wong, who is also finance minister.Īccording to local media, the SPH irregularities came to light during a review of internal processes in March of 2022. An SPH Media spokesperson told local media, "Some inconsistencies in the reporting of the data were discovered, and we have immediately taken steps to strengthen processes. Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong told the Singapore Parliament on November 30 that “What happened with FTX, therefore, has not only caused financial loss to Temasek, but also reputational damage. In early November, FTX, once the world’s third-largest crypto exchange worth more than US$30 billion, collapsed into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US and took down with it a US$275 million investment by Temasek, the Singapore sovereign wealth fund, which had to write off the entire amount. It is the second major embarrassment for a Singapore institution in recent months. So the taxpayer has been paying more for ads besides funding the loss-making new entity? Will SPH reimburse advertisers who were overcharged? As a listed company, what financial reporting regulations were breached? How far back does this go?” Isn’t this just plain fraud?” In another Facebook post on January 11, Hsien Yang said, “The Government is probably the biggest advertiser (in SPH Media newspapers). Referring to the inflated circulation of SPH Media newspapers, Lee Hsien Yang, the estranged younger brother of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, said in a Facebook post on January 10, “Call a spade a spade. While SPH said 10 to 12 percent of total circulation was fraudulent, it is believed that the fraud occurred primarily in print circulation, meaning that inflated circulation could run as high as 22 percent. Together, according to the 2021 SPH annual report, circulation is 840,500, with the digital portion at 462,400, meaning print copies at 378,100 accounted for the rest. ![]() The publications, which are heavily subsidized by the government, include the broadsheets The Straits Times and The Business Times, the Chinese-language Lianhe Zaobao and Shin Min Daily News, and the Malay-language Berita Harian and the Tamil-language Tamil Murasu. Several unnamed senior executives are said to have been sacked, according to local media. Singapore’s government-owned print media face a major scandal, with executives of the parent SPH Media apparently cooking the books to inflate daily circulation by 85,000 to 95,000 copies per day, SPH Media officials acknowledged. ![]()
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