MCI issues warning to The Economist's SG bureau chief

Singapore’s Ministry of Communications and Information has issued a warning to The Economist Singapore’s bureau chief, Dominic Ziegler for actions that interfered in Singapore’s domestic politics. The aforementioned actions refer to Ziegler’s decision to publicly endorse writing in a local online publication called Jom, where he compared Singapore to an illiberal state and encouraged Singaporeans to embrace in an alternative vision. He also referred to what Singapore’s media as “allegedly captive”.

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“Ziegler’s action clearly crossed the line from reporting on Singapore to participating in Singapore’s domestic affairs. Ziegler has exploited his status in Singapore as a journalist in a prestigious international publication to advocate to Singaporeans for his viewpoint on domestic politics in Singapore, a country which he is not a citizen of,” MCI's statement said. The statement went on to refer to Singapore’s politics as being reserved only for Singaporeans, adding that it the ministry has expressed a clear expectation to Ziegler that he not interfere in domestic matters again.

Regarding free speech measures in Singapore, MCI said in its statement that foreign correspondents are free to report and comment on Singapore in their respective publications for a global audience, which Ziegler has done regularly. The government, however, insists that it should have the right of reply to correct foreign reports which it considers to be inaccurate or biased. “It does not prevent foreign correspondents from engaging anyone they wish here and reporting on Singapore in any way they think fit,” it explained.

Acknowledging that many foreign correspondents and media outlets base themselves in Singapore, it stated that The Economist would not have chosen to expand its bureau here if it did not find Singapore to be a suitable base for its correspondents. “We continue to welcome foreign correspondents and media outlets to operate out of and report on Singapore, including The Economist. However, they must comply with our laws and must not interfere in our domestic politics,” it said, concluding its statement.

Earlier this year in July, the MCI issued corrections of directions under POFMA to Jom. POFMA stands for the protection of online falsehoods and manipulations act which aims to counter online falsehoods and provide correction directions.

In an article titled "Singapore this week", Jom made inaccurate statement about Singapore's ministry which then led to it having to "carry correction notices, stating that the article contains false statements of fact."

Meanwhile, just last week, the High Court dismissed an appeal by Jom for the two correction directions issued to it over an article on the Ridout Road issue. The judge said that the publication made three false statements of on its website in July, according to reports on The Straits Times.
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