According to a report by CNA, alternative news site, Mothership has had their press accreditation suspended with immediate effect as they have shared details of the proposed GST increases on their social media platform ahead of time.
A spokesperson from the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) had said in a statement that an image with regards to the proposed changes was posted on Mothership’s Facebook page with details of the proposed increases.
This was done slightly ahead of time before Finance Minister, Lawrence Wong, made the announcements in Parliament.
Due to this reason, the MCI have decided that they will be suspending Mothership’s press accreditation with immediate effect and they have up to 4 March 2022 if they wish to make any appeals.
What is press accreditation card
If you are wondering what is press accreditation card, it can be applied with the MCI by people working in the media industry in Singapore.
This card can be used by government agencies in Singapore to check if a media site or their staff are credible.
Statement by Mothership’s Managing editor
Mothership’s managing editor, Martino Tan have issued a statement on the matter which he claims is a genuine mistake and said that upon realisation of the mistake after two minutes into publishing the post, staff have taken the post down.
Staff which were involved in this mistake were also suspended for two weeks.
Nevertheless, he apologised for the mistake.
Here is his full statement:
‘The breaking of the embargo was a genuine mistake made by prematurely publishing an infographic on Mothership’s Facebook page. We identified the mistake in under two minutes and immediately deleted the post.
While further investigations ensue, the staff involved have been issued a two week suspension.
We take our role of providing timely and accurate news in the digital space seriously. We are therefore committed and resolved to draw the right lessons from this incident, strengthen our editorial processes, and rebuild trust with our stakeholders.
We are also cooperating fully with the authorities in their investigations into the matter.
We sincerely apologise for the egregious mistake, particularly to the public servants who have been working so hard to ensure the timely and accurate communication of government information.’
Image source: Mothership.sg/Facebook, Ministry of Communications and Information/Facebook