Mothership’s press accreditation has been suspended after it broke an embargo related to Finance Minister Lawrence Wong’s Budget 2022 speech on Feb. 18.
The Ministry of Communications and Information has informed Mothership about the suspension. Mothership has until March 4 to appeal.
The suspension of Mothership’s press accreditation means that its reporters will not be able to attend briefings and press conferences by government agencies.
The embargoed information pertained to the news of the GST hike being delayed until 2023 which was presented in an infographic published before Wong announced it in his speech.
In a statement, Mothership’s Managing Editor Martino Tan apologised for the mistake — “particularly to the public servants who have been working so hard to ensure the timely and accurate communication of government information.”
The errant Facebook post was identified in under two minutes and the post was deleted.
“The breaking of the embargo was a genuine mistake made by prematurely publishing an infographic on Mothership’s Facebook page,” said Tan.
“We take our role of providing timely and accurate news in the digital space seriously,” he added.
“We are therefore committed and resolved to draw the right lessons from this incident, strengthen our editorial processes, and rebuild trust with our stakeholders.”
Here is Tan’s statement in full:
“The breaking of the embargo was a genuine mistake made by prematurely publishing an infographic on Mothership's Facebook page. We identified the mistake in under two minutes and immediately deleted the post.
While further investigations ensue, the staff involved have been issued a two week suspension.
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.
We are also cooperating fully with the authorities in their investigations into the matter.
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.”
Top image from Mothership