Several civil society groups, activists, workers, and others who’ve featured in Wake Up, Singapore (WUSG) issued a solidarity statement on Thursday in support of the news and media website after it was criticised for featuring a story that turned out to be false.
The statement on Thursday (Mar 31) was signed by the Transformative Justice Collective, Rainbow Girls Singapore, Lepak Conversations, New Naratif, and Minority Voices, among others, and outlined the steps WUSG took to correct its mistake in publishing the story.
WUSG had reported on Friday morning (Mar 25) that a woman 20 weeks pregnant miscarried at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) after waiting for four hours to see a doctor. The hospital was able to identify the patient due to a hospital bill WUSG had included in its post, and looked into the matter. It found that a doctor had attended to her within an hour after she arrived, and she had not, in fact, miscarried at that time.
The hospital filed a police report later that day. WUSG apologised to the KKH and took down the posts, explaining in further posts that the patient had lied to the news site.
WUSG’s supporters said in their statement:
“When a police report was filed, they realised the story might be false and took down their posts related to the story immediately. Within minutes of confirming with the person who submitted the story that she had misled them, WUSG published an unreserved apology. They also went on to provide a full public accounting of their process in deciding to publish the story, the fact-checking process they went through, their communications with KKH, and why they were moved to share the story.”
The WUSG site was hit by public backlash and condemnation in the wake of the revelations.
On Sunday (Mar 27), the Ministry of Health (MOH) said it instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) Office to issue a correction direction to WUSG because of its posts abut the woman.
The supporters praised WUSG for “the honesty, accountability and humility they showed once they realised mistakes had been made,” adding that they are “committed to supporting them in learning from these experiences (as we all are).”
in their statement of solidarity, WUSG’s supporters emphasised that the site is run primarily by young volunteers “whose big dreams and fierce spirits need to be handled with care” and “are coming of age in a rapidly changing media environment where social media pages run by individuals in their free time sometimes gain more traction than well-resourced, professional media outlets, and are then, quite unrealistically, held to the same standards of journalism.”
It added an appeal to Singaporean society to be “kind to young people when they fumble, and gracious when they apologise”.
The supporters also underlined that WUSG has done much to draw attention to those in society whose experiences do not ordinarily receive much attention, such as nurses and food delivery riders, and has also shone the light on important issues such as racism, the death penalty, and workers’ rights.
They warned: “Many of us are still grieving the loss of The Online Citizen, and if WUSG doesn’t survive this incident, there are few platforms left in Singapore that will amplify marginalised voices.”
“WUSG is a platform of the people. It is not profit-driven (or even profit-making), or state-controlled. It has always been on the side of ordinary people who want to speak truth to power, and it has always, without compromise, protected those who have asked for anonymity,” it added.
Those who signed the solidarity statement also said that they do not excuse WUSG’s mistake, but believe that its volunteers had acted in good faith.
“The young people who run WUSG don’t deserve the mockery, vitriol and personal attacks they have been withstanding. Instead, give them your sincere feedback.”
They urged the public to tell WUSG “what kind of platform you want them to be” as well as “how they can do better,” encouraging those who have “time and ideas” to volunteer with them.
The error that WUSG made “happens to the best of media outlets” and what is important is that the platform has taken responsibility for their mistake.
“And we’ve seen that WUSG has fared better than most in this area,” the statement added.
Here is the complete list of the groups and individuals that signed the solidarity statement
Left.sg, Lepak Conversations, Minority Voices, My Queer Story SG, New Naratif, NTU Divest, Rainbow Girls Singapore, SG Climate Rally, Singaporeans for Palestine, Transformative Justice Collective, UequalsU-Sg, UpdateMePrn, Workers Make Possible, Zee Hsien Min (Founder and Director of Women Unbounded), Anna Mohan (Deputy Director of Women Unbounded), Maid for More, No Readgrets Book Club.
/TISG
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