Mothership’s Press Accreditation Suspended For Breaking Embargo, Editor Explains It Was A Scheduling Error

Mothership Breaks Embargo On Budget 2022 Information

On Friday (18 Feb), Singaporeans tuned in to watch the news as Finance Minister Lawrence Wong delivered the Budget 2022 statement.

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During the 2-hour speech, members of the media churned out numerous articles on the updates to keep Singaporeans notified.

However, there was reportedly an error in scheduling articles before the appointed time, resulting in the suspension of a media outlet’s press accreditation.

According to The Straits Times (ST), Mothership broke an embargo on the Budget. As a result, their press accreditation has been suspended.

The local media outlet has until 4 Mar to appeal the decision.

Mothership releases infographic ahead of time & breaks embargo

On Friday (18 Feb), Mothership released an infographic with details of the 2023 GST hike on Facebook before Minister Wong’s announcement in Parliament.

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Speaking with ST, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) shared that Mothership broke an embargo on the Budget slightly ahead of announcements.

Mothership’s press accreditation has since been suspended.

It is unclear how long the suspension will last. However, the company has until 4 Mar to appeal.

Mothership editor apologises for ‘genuine mistake’

In response to the penalty, Mothership’s managing editor Martino Tan apologised for the mistake.

He offered his apologies to the public servants who have been working hard to ensure the timely and accurate communications of government information.

Explaining that breaking the embargo was a “genuine mistake”, Mr Tan said the errant Facebook post was identified in under 2 minutes and deleted.

The staff involved have been suspended for 2 weeks.

What are press accreditation & embargo?

Media outlets with press accreditation in Singapore can get access to government information and events.

Without it, reporters will not be able to attend press conferences by government agencies.

An embargo is a term in journalism and public relations, which means an official request for news provided by a source to be published only after a specific date and time.

For example, the information given to the press in advance states the embargoed time as 22 Feb, 12pm. This means that the media can only publish the news according to the given time and date.

Another media outlet was called out in 2015 for breaking embargoes

Government agencies would often provide information in the form of press releases ahead of time to accredited media outlets.

This information is often strictly embargoed until a specified hour. Breaking this arrangement carries consequences.

The last time the MCI called out a media outlet for breaking embargoes was in 2015. Back then, TODAY was said to have “repeatedly” broken embargoes.

Initially, a month-long ban was announced, and journalists were not allowed to attend government events involving embargoed news.

However, according to Yahoo News Singapore, MCI later said there had been a “miscommunication”, and TODAY journalists were not banned from attending government events.

Honouring the embargo offers media outlets a level playing field

Embargoes are in place to provide media outlets with a level playing field for breaking news.

This way, media practitioners can access important news on equal terms with their competitors and begin doing all the necessary research before publishing the news en masse.

Hence, MCI does its part by ensuring all accredited publishers abide by the rule.

However, in the case of genuine mistakes like this, hopefully, MCI and Mothership will address the issue and work out a solution.

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Featured image adapted from Mothership and Lawrence Wong on Facebook.