Vogue S'pore gets stern warning; permit shortened

Fashion magazine Vogue Singapore has been issued a stern warning and has had its permit shortened after it repeatedly breached content guidelines here.

Responding to queries from The Straits Times, a spokesman for the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) said that Vogue Singapore's current one-year permit has been revoked with effect from Thursday. The magazine has reapplied and MCI has since issued it a six-month permit.

"MCI has issued Vogue Singapore a stern warning and shortened the permit for Vogue Singapore from one year to six months, as it had breached the content guidelines for local lifestyle magazines on four occasions within the past two years, for nudity and content that promoted non-traditional families," said the spokesman.

She added that during the period when Vogue Singapore's breaches occurred, the content guidelines remained the same, and the magazine is required to comply with these guidelines as part of its permit conditions. These conditions include not undermining prevailing social norms.

The last time a permit for a magazine was shortened was when action was taken against local arts magazine Art Republik in 2014, for two severe breaches of content guidelines involving religiously insensitive and denigrative content, said the MCI spokesman.

She added that earlier cases include women's magazine Cleo, which was placed on a shorter permit in 2008, and men's magazine FHM Singapore, which had its permit shortened in 1998.

These magazines had committed repeated breaches pertaining to content on sex, nudity and the promotion of promiscuity and permissive lifestyles.