Lee Hsien Yang uses PM Lee’s famous words, says for SPH Media trust circulation issues we should “Call a spade a spade”

SINGAPORE — Lee Hsien Yang took to social media on Tuesday (Jan 10) after an internal review at SPH Media found issues linked to circulation numbers. In his Facebook post, the younger Mr Lee quoted the SPH spokesman who said that “Some inconsistencies in the reporting of the data were discovered”.

The spokesman said that inconsistencies in the reporting of data resulted in a discrepancy of between 85,000 and 95,000 daily average copies across all titles, which represents 10 to 12 per cent of the reported daily average circulation, the spokesman added. SPH Media cited several examples of these inconsistencies in reply to queries from The Straits Times. Lapsed contracts continued to be counted into circulation data.

SPH Media circulation numbers inflated 10 to 12%; media veteran claims this has been going on for years

There were also copies that were printed, counted for circulation and then destroyed, as well as double-counting of subscriptions across multiple instances.

“Call a spade a spade. Isn’t this just plain fraud?” Mr Lee, younger brother to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said.

He quoted the famous words of PM Lee in 2014, during the latter’s exchange with Mr Low Thia Khiang in Parliament. PM Lee said: “We have to call a spade a spade. If we have changed position and your previous position was wrong, say so. If you hold by your position, have your guts to reaffirm it and take the consequences. But to weasel away, play with words, avoid the issue and then claim to be responsible, that is what we fear can drive Singapore’s politics into the same place where many other countries have gone.”

In another post on the same day, the younger Mr Lee added his thoughts on the matter along with SPH’s daily average circulation numbers: “From 2021 SPH Annual Report, total circulation was 840,500. Digital was 462,400 so print was 378,100. See chart of circulation data below. Based on the illustrative examples given by SPH, much of the 10-12% of total circulation fraud (85,000 to 95,000 daily ciruclation) sounded like it was related to print circulation statistics, so as a percentage of print circulation it was a much higher percentage”.