Political Editor Reassigned After Just 9 Months
The Straits Times (ST) has often been criticised for being overly-supportive of the government.
A recent report suggesting that ST’s Political Editor, Ms Li Xueying, was reassigned due to political reasons will probably stoke similar criticism.
The 39-year-old writer has been with ST for 16 years. She became Political Editor last November. Just 9 months later, she was transferred to the Enterprise Desk.
Ms Li’s LinkedIn page
Source
According to reports of an internal email, Ms Li’s role at the new desk is to produce “original, unique and impactful content for Sunday Times and ST, across platforms”.
Reportedly transferred over political reasons
2 ST employees told Yahoo News Singapore that ST Editor-in-Chief Warren Fernandez had announced Ms Li’s imminent transfer in mid-July. A former employee of the publication also confirmed this.
Mr Fernandez had allegedly cited certain government officials’ unhappiness about ST’s political stories as the reason for Ms Li’s reassignment.
He gave the example of the story “A PM without a degree? Possible, says Ong Ye Kung“.
In it, Education Minister Mr Ong Ye Kung told ST that while university degrees are often associated with higher “cognitive abilities”, they are not always necessary for ministerial jobs. He subsequently explained that it is possible for someone to develop such abilities without going through university.
It seemed at first that Mr Ong was undermining the ministerial role. But his explanation quickly makes it clear that he intended no derogation.
So it’s strange that story displeased officials in the first place — supposing that it really did.
ST Editor-in-Chief responds
Mr Fernandez responded to queries from Yahoo News Singapore, saying:
The moves you refer to happened several months ago, when we set up our Singapore Desk, bringing together our local news, business and political teams, to work more closely together on content related to Singapore. Editors and reporters were deployed to play to their respective strengths and to get the best from the team.
He also called the report “rather fanciful”, explaining that the transfer was part of a greater reorganisation and denied that there was anything “sinister” about it.
Attempts to contact Ms Li have so far been unsuccessful.
As of today, a new Political Editor has not yet been appointed. Currently standing in for the position is Deputy News Editor (Politics), Royston Sim.
A rough year for the publication
2018 seems to be shaping up as a difficult year for ST.
Earlier in October, 2 senior editors at the national broadsheet were found to have “improper relations” with a subordinate.
And now, this.
Hopefully, the matter will be resolved properly and transparently.
Featured image from Zit Seng’s Blog.
