A May 7 report by the Chinese evening daily, Lianhe Wanbao, detailing the Covid-19 experience of a student from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), has caused quite a stir. Not for the article itself, but how it came to be.

The student in question, Quah Zheng Jie, apparently detailed his Covid-19 experience on Instagram.

Quah claims that Lianhe Zaobao/Wanbao (LHZB/LHWB) proceeded to run a story about his experience, despite him rejecting the interview request.

Quah subsequently put up a Facebook note titled "National Newspaper fabricates interview based on my COVID-19 experience" on May 10 to expound on his claims against the reporter and the article in question.

Summary of Quah's Facebook note

In the Facebook note, Quah pointed out that despite his rejection, the reporter, who is an acquaintance of Quah, proceeded to write the article and use his photos which were credited as "provided by interviewee".

Here's the translated article title: "NTU Student perplexed at how he contracted COVID virus despite not having left the house during circuit breaker period"

Quah states that the article has led to speculation and public attention on Quah which caused him "much distress and anxiety on top of the discomfort and pain I experienced while recovering from Covid-19".

Another of Quah's criticisms was that the article caused "unnecessary panic". He noted that the headline played up how Quah got infected without stepping out of the house.

Quah also alleged that the reporter "fabricated his own fictional work", saying that the details in the article about his family and his daily activities prior to being hospitalised are untrue.

The online version of this article has since been removed.

But Quah remains upset at how the situation was handled by LHZB/LHWB as there was no "retraction, apology, or clarification" of the news.

He wrote:

"The response was that: After an internal investigation, they found out that [the reporter] had written the story based on my social media postings, and had made a wrong judgment to mention that I was interviewed although I had refused to."

While the online article has been removed, foreign media has re-reported and these articles are still available online as of May 11, Quah noted.

SPH's open letter addressed to concerned readers

On May 13, the Newshub editor from Singapore Press Holding's Chinese Media Group, Han Yong May, addressed concerned readers on this incident in an open letter.

In response to Quah's accusation of Wanbao creating "unnecessary panic", Han clarified that the reporter worked on the article involving Quah since mid-April.

There was a number of unlinked Covid-19 cases in the community back then.

As such, there was public interest to pursue a story like that and the reporter was drawn to Quah's story because of his Instagram post which read: “If by the end of the few stories and you still don’t get it I got the covid even I stayed home”.

Han said that the reporter made it clear to Quah that he was a journalist and acknowledged that Quah has indeed turned down the interview request.

Han said that the reporter used a "wrong method" in his reporting by framing the article as an interview when it was written off Quah's Instagram posts and his "personal understanding" of Quah.

The reporter did not inform his immediate supervisor that he did not obtain Quah's permission to run the story.

The letter also acknowledged that Quah's family circumstances and surnames were false and explained that it was done intentionally to obscure the real identity of Quah. However, such actions constituted a deviation from the newsroom's protocols.

After Quah flagged the article to the newsroom on May 8, Han said that the management took his accusations seriously and subsequently replied Quah saying that “we have taken down the report from our website and social media after an internal investigation”.

Han added that the management had also explained to Quah the article was written off his Instagram posts in their response to Quah, and acknowledged it was a mistake. The management had apologised to Quah as well.

"We further explained to Mr Quah that the reporter had written the story based on Mr Quah’s social media posts, and that the reporter 'had made a mistake and a wrong judgement to mention in the article that you were interviewed despite the fact that you said you were not willing to. We apologise for the wrong attribution and the inconvenience caused'."

Independent disciplinary committee to review the case

While Quah had requested to fire the reporter in his follow-up email on May 11, the letter said that an independent disciplinary committee has been set up to review the case and will decide on the penalties to be imposed as various factors are taken into consideration.

"The reporter is relatively new to the job, having just joined the newsroom two months ago. In his second email to the newsroom on 11 May, Mr Quah urged the newsroom to consider dismissing the reporter. Although the reporter has indeed made a mistake, the reporter has been truthful in admitting his mistake and expressing his remorse for misleading readers and impacting the newspaper’s reputation. We need to carefully consider if there are mitigating factors for someone who is just starting off his career.

The company has a disciplinary system in place, and if a reporter or staff is alleged to have violated any protocols or code of conduct, he or she has the right to a proper investigation process and hearing. We have set up an independent disciplinary committee to review the case, and will decide on the penalties to be imposed. SPH, as the employer of the reporter, will take responsibility by addressing the mistake, and take measures to avoid further recurrences."

The letter ended off with an apology to Quah and said that this incident is a "timely reminder" to the company to constantly review working procedures and to ensure reporters adhere to journalistic principles and processes.

A Chinese version of this open letter has been published online and will also be printed on Lianhe Wanbao on May 13.

Quah finds the open letter "disappointing"

In response to Han's letter, Quah wrote a second Facebook note on May 14 which he said it would be the last public response from him.

Quah said that he was compelled to write the note because Han's letter was "disappointing".

He also took the effort to include a table to summarise what the article had gotten wrong.

Quah refuted a few assertions made in Han's letter and said his concerns were not acknowledged fully.

Here's Quah's second Facebook note:

You can read the open letter by Han in full here:

Open letter to readers concerning news article "NTU Student perplexed at how he contracted COVID virus"

Lianhe Wanbao published an article on 7 May, titled “NTU Student perplexed at how he contracted COVID virus despite not having left the house during circuit breaker period”. The content of the article was later refuted by Mr Quah Zheng Jie, the subject of the article, in his social media post.

As zaobao.sg carries the content of SPH’s three Chinese news dailies, readers and the public alike assumed that the article was carried in Lianhe Zaobao, which was not the case.

Firstly, let me explain the rationale for reporting this story.

Our reporter had worked on this story since mid-April, during the circuit breaker period. At that time, there remained a number of COVID cases in the community that could not be traced. This was a concern to our readers, and therefore became a focus of our reporting. Our reporter, who is acquainted with Mr Quah, saw his Instagram post which read: “If by the end of the few stories and you still don’t get it I got the covid even I stayed home”.

Our reporter contacted Mr Quah via IG and struck up a conversation. When our reporter made it clear that he was a journalist and requested an interview with Mr Quah, Mr Quah turned down the request.

Notwithstanding the unwillingness of Mr Quah to be interviewed, our reporter used the wrong method to report on the story, by framing the article as an interview when it was actually written based on Mr Quah’s IG posts and his personal understanding of Mr Quah. He did not inform his immediate supervisor that he had not obtained Mr Quah’s consent for the interview.

The newsroom has in place strict protocols and procedures to ensure that our news reporting standards are upheld. In this instance, the reporter had not followed the procedures and protocols expected of all our journalists. As Mr Quah had declined to be interviewed, the reporter could still have written the article, making reference to the facts publicly available, e.g. public social media posts, but should not portray it as an interview piece.

In addition, Mr Quah’s family circumstances and surname were changed in an attempt to obscure the real identity of Mr Quah. No permission was granted to do so and the reporter also did not indicate, as our protocol requires, that an alias was used to protect the identity of the newsmaker. These actions also constituted a deviation from our protocols.

On 7 May 2020, Mr Quah took to social media accusing our reporter for behaving unethically. He followed up with an email to our newsroom on 8 May 2020. The newsroom management took his accusations seriously, and after confirming that the reporter in question did not interview Mr Quah, we replied to Mr Quah saying that “we have taken down the report from our website and social media after an internal investigation”.

We further explained to Mr Quah that the reporter had written the story based on Mr Quah’s social media posts, and that the reporter “had made a mistake and a wrong judgement to mention in the article that you were interviewed despite the fact that you said you were not willing to. We apologise for the wrong attribution and the inconvenience caused”.

On Sunday 10 May, Mr Quah posted an article on his facebook page: “National Newspaper fabricates interview based on my COVID-19 experience”.

The article accused Lianhe Zaobao of fabricating his experience and alleged that, “This is misleading because it suggests and perpetuates the idea that people can get COVID-19 even if they stay home.”

This news in fact ran on Lianhe Wanbao and not Lianhe Zaobao. In addition, the story was not fabricated. The details were based on extracts from Mr Quah’s social media posts.

The reporter is relatively new to the job, having just joined the newsroom two months ago. In his second email to the newsroom on 11 May, Mr Quah urged the newsroom to consider dismissing the reporter. Although the reporter has indeed made a mistake, the reporter has been truthful in admitting his mistake and expressing his remorse for misleading readers and impacting the newspaper’s reputation. We need to carefully consider if there are mitigating factors for someone who is just starting off his career.

The company has a disciplinary system in place, and if a reporter or staff is alleged to have violated any protocols or code of conduct, he or she has the right to a proper investigation process and hearing. We have set up an independent disciplinary committee to review the case, and will decide on the penalties to be imposed. SPH, as the employer of the reporter, will take responsibility by addressing the mistake, and take measures to avoid further recurrences.

We sincerely apologise to Mr Quah, as we should not have attributed the story we ran to an interview with him when he expressly declined the interview request. This incident serves as a timely reminder to us, that we should constantly review our working procedures and reiterate to our colleagues the importance of adhering to journalistic principles and processes.

Han Yong May

Editor, NewsHub

SPH Chinese Media Group