Mothership’s press accreditation suspended again after breaking embargo on PUB announcement
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Local media outlet Mothership published an article on its website and a Facebook post on the revision of water prices on Sept 26, before the embargo was lifted on Sept 27.
ST PHOTO: DESMOND FOO
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SINGAPORE - The press accreditation of Mothership has been suspended, after the local media outlet broke an embargo on an announcement by national water agency PUB.
The outlet published an article on its website and a Facebook post on the revision of water prices on Tuesday, before the embargo was lifted at 5pm on Wednesday, the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) said on Friday, in response to The Straits Times’ queries. It has until Oct 11 to make an appeal, the ministry added.
“Given the breach, the MCI has suspended Mothership’s press accreditation with immediate effect,” the ministry said, without elaborating on the length of this suspension. This means Mothership’s representatives will not be able to attend briefings and press conferences by government agencies.
This is the second time the Singapore-based media outlet has broken an embargo
On Feb 18, 2022, Mothership released details on the staggered goods and services tax (GST) increases before it was announced during the 2022 Budget. The outlet’s press accreditation was subsequently suspended for six months.
In response to media queries, Mothership acknowledged the latest incident was “a serious breach, as the information impacts every person in Singapore”.
It said it removed the embargoed material when it was alerted to the breach, and subsequent investigations showed that a member of its editorial team failed to observe its protocols and also breached the additional safeguards put in place in 2022. It did not elaborate on them.
“The colleague has been suspended from duty while we conclude our investigations and make our representations to the regulators,” Mothership said.
Its managing editor Martino Tan said: “While this may have been an error on the part of an individual colleague, as managing editor I assume personal responsibility for not adequately ensuring and enforcing the standards that we had set for ourselves.” He added that the outlet would resolve “these operating issues once and for all”.
“We unreservedly apologise to Singaporeans, our stakeholders – especially PUB and MCI – and our industry colleagues for this matter, and for causing such unnecessary trouble at a time when there are more pressing priorities to focus on.”
