Mothership’s press accreditation suspended after releasing GST hike info before Lawrence Wong’s announcement

Singapore — The press accreditation of local media outlet Mothership was suspended with immediate effect after breaking an embargo on the Budget 2022 announced on Friday (Feb 18).

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) said that mothership.sg’s press accreditation was suspended after releasing Budget information with “selected media” slightly ahead of Finance Minister Lawrence Wong’s announcements.

Mothership published an infographic on its Facebook page detailing the staggered Goods and Services Tax (GST) increases before Mr Wong officially revealed it in Parliament, reported Channel News Asia.

“Because of this, MCI has suspended Mothership’s press accreditation with immediate effect,” said the spokesperson.

Mothership has until Mar 4 to appeal the suspension.

According to Mothership’s managing editor Martino Tan, the incident was a “genuine mistake made by prematurely publishing an infographic on Mothership’s Facebook page.”

“While further investigations ensue, the staff involved have been issued a two-week suspension,” said Mr Tan in a statement released by Mothership.

The said mistake was identified within two minutes, and the post was immediately deleted, he added.

“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,” said Mr Tan.

 

“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.”

Mr Tan noted that Mothership is cooperating fully with the authorities in their investigations into the matter.

According to the MCI website, media personnel working in Singapore may apply for a press accreditation card (PAC) from MCI. The PAC identifies the media personnel as bona fide media and provides access to government information and events.

Media personnel such as editors, journalists, photographers, and camera crew are eligible to apply for a PAC, given they are full-time employees of an accredited news organisation.

Meanwhile, MCI does not accredit media personnel from specialised publications or freelancers, interns, or temporary or contract staff. /TISG

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