Government may terminate SPH Media Trust's funding if serious wrongdoings found

SINGAPORE: While the government has built in safeguards that allow it to conduct “ad-hoc audits” on SPH Media Trust (SMT), it has the right to terminate funding if serious wrongdoings are found, said Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo on Thursday (Jul 6). 

Mrs Teo was responding in parliament to questions from Members of Parliament (MPs) on updates to SMT’s review of overstated circulation numbers, which covers the period of September 2020 to March 2022.

The review, which was reported in early January, found that daily circulation numbers of SPH Media titles had been inflated by about 10 to 12 per cent of the reported daily average circulation.

The media company - which publishes news titles such as The Straits Times, the Business Times and Lianhe Zaobao - then tasked its audit and risk committee, with the help of legal advisers, to further investigate the inflated daily circulation numbers. 

In February last year, the government had announced that it would provide up to S$900 million in funding support for SMT over the next five years.

This came after SMT was hived off from Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) in 2021 to become a not-for-profit entity, amid the steep decline of print media and the migration to the digital space.

The direction that SMT is charting out is "promising", but significant investments are needed and it will likely be loss-making in the transition period, Mrs Teo said in February last year.  

The first tranche of funding was disbursed in March this year, Mrs Teo told the House on Thursday. The events in question preceded the period of funding, and no public funds had been involved, she said. 

Mrs Teo on Thursday also said that the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) is committed to working with SMT to overcome the challenges of disruption caused by readership moving online and succeed in its transformation plans.

The funding is mainly directed at three key areas: Technology upgrade, talent development, and sustaining the vernacular media. 

MEASURING ACCOUNTABILITY 

The funding agreement already contains measures to ensure accountability, said Mrs Teo in response to questions filed by Ms Tin Pei Ling (PAP-MacPherson) and Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim (PAP-Chua Chu Kang) on whether the government would impose additional safeguards. 

“For example, SMT is required to submit specific information on KPIs (key performance indicators), including methodologies and sources. These must be agreed upon and SMT is not allowed to change them without MCI’s consent,” she said. 

SMT’s KPI performance and financial statements must also be audited by independent external auditors, she added.

While the valuation of and improvements to internal processes are “clearly the responsibility” of SMT’s executive team, she said, the government will intervene in cases of misconduct or mismanagement of public funding. 

"If serious wrongdoings are found, we have the right to terminate funding," Mrs Teo added.

Responding to Ms Hany Soh's (PAP-Marsiling-Yew Tee) supplementary question on whether MCI is tracking how the incident has affected public confidence in SMT, Mrs Teo further outlined how accountability would be measured. 

“This accountability, in relation to funding, will include the extent to which SMT has been successful in its transformation, especially towards digital media. It will also be held accountable for maintaining trust,” she said. 

The government will rely on independent reports, such as those carried out by Reuters, but will also have its own studies to “confirm what these independent resources have established as findings”. 

Accountability to the public also includes improving governance within SMT, mainly by doing three things, added Mrs Teo. 

“It is to make sure that bad things don't happen again. It is to ensure that your systems for controls and contracting pricing … have to be cleaned up, made better.

“And the other aspect of governance that needs to be improved is also the culture. How people view these kinds of things and their willingness to tolerate them, or to speak against them.”

SMT is “well aware that it is one thing to tell people what the findings are”, said Mrs Teo. “It is quite another to commit to making improvements.” 

She also reminded the House that the circulation data issue had originally emerged because SMT was conducting its own review and due diligence following the transfer of the media business from SPH Limited in December 2021. 

“So the seriousness of this incident and its potential impact on the levels of trust that the public has in SMT and its titles is not lost on its board, as well as the management,” she said. 

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/government-may-terminate-sph-media-trusts-funding-if-serious-wrongdoings-found-3610521

Explainer: What potential offences might have been committed over the inflation of SPH circulation numbers?

SPH Media Group has filed a police report over the irregularities found in its circulation numbers.

However, the version of the SPH audit and risk committee (ARC) report released to the public has been redacted to remove the names of the personnel allegedly involved and also what offences, specifically, might have been disclosed by the investigation.

Now that a police report has been made, it remains to be seen whether the police will take up the investigation.

While the police generally have a duty to investigate, they may decline to take further investigation where there is insufficient evidence of criminal wrongdoing.

In the meantime, however, a few key observations about the case may be made.

WHAT EXACTLY WAS THE POTENTIALLY OFFENDING CONDUCT?

The ARC report states that its legal advisors, Allen & Gledhill, believed that certain matters discovered during the investigation could potentially constitute offences.

• First, the inflation of circulation numbers by counting bulk copies that had been returned, unsold or undelivered. Bulk copies refer to news publications sold or distributed at a discounted rate or for free in large numbers  

• Second, improper accounting of revenue. In particular, recognition of revenue from bulk copies that had not been sold or distributed to a third party

• Third, an improper barter arrangement, called the “X barter deal”. This was a deal in which SPH agreed to exchange e-paper digital subscriptions to entity X for 15,000 digital subscriptions to The Straits Times and The Business Times

The ARC report states, however, that “the X barter deal could potentially have evolved into a questionable arrangement entered into for the sole purpose of inflating circulation numbers and revenue, without a genuine intention to execute the arrangement”.

WHO COULD POTENTIALLY BE PROSECUTED?

First, in relation to the overstatement of circulation numbers, it seems from the ARC report that this practice may have started much earlier, with the establishment of the Newspaper in Education (NIE) Fund, an internal SPH fund set up to pay for newspaper samples for students, needy families and charities.

However, according to the report, “the NIE Fund was used to pay for NIE bulk copies used to shore up the circulation numbers in (SPH’s) annual reports, cushion the fall in print circulation numbers and to meet key performance indicator (KPI) targets in respect of circulation numbers for the circulation division”.

The report does not definitively state when the NIE Fund was set up, but mentions that it could have been as early as 2000.

The report says the NIE Fund was under the overall control of a particular officer, whose name is redacted.

The KPI targets for circulation numbers were discussed with senior management and approved by another person whose identity is redacted. The report suggests that at least one of the people whose identities are redacted was in senior management.

The report states that the X barter deal dates back to 2013. Two persons are mentioned, though both names are redacted. One was in charge of deciding whether to renew the deal, and the other in charge of approving the decision.

The major targets of any investigation are therefore likely to be the persons identified by the ARC report.

Even if they have subsequently left SPH, that is no barrier to prosecution. There is no statute of limitations on the commission of offences in Singapore.

A secondary issue is whether SPH itself could be criminally liable. This depends on whether the criminal acts were committed by someone who represented the company as an entity, and was not merely acting of his own accord.

This seems unlikely in this case, based on the available evidence, as the ARC report states: “The persons who were involved in the overstatement of circulation numbers (and in particular, had knowledge that copies that were not delivered were included in the reported circulation numbers) were from the circulation division. There has been no evidence sighted to suggest that the (SPH) board or its senior management (save for [redacted]) were involved in this.”

Similarly, while the board was aware of the X barter deal, it was not apprised of the operational details and it seems unlikely therefore that the company would be responsible for any criminal wrongdoing in this regard.

More at https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/explainer-sph-circulation-numbers-inflated-potential-offences-2199606

SPH Media files police report after potential offences flagged in circulation data probe

SINGAPORE – SPH Media Group has filed a police report after potential offences were flagged in an investigation into the overstating of circulation numbers.

The police confirmed that a report was lodged and are looking into the matter.

The media company, which publishes The Straits Times, said in a statement on Wednesday that it will cooperate fully with the police, following recommendations made in a report by the organisation’s audit and risk committee. It had been tasked by SPH Media Holdings’ board in January to look into the inflated numbers.

During an internal briefing for SPH Media publications, Mr Max Loh, who chairs the committee, said the police report was not made against specific individuals or entities but comprised the findings of the investigation.

He added: “We cannot say more than that because it will prejudice police investigations. We’ve laid out what the issues or the findings are. And I think we really have to leave it to the relevant authorities, which, in this case, are the police, to figure out how they’re going to proceed and maybe if at all, they want to proceed.”

When asked about the specific offences that were laid out in the report but redacted, Mr Loh said it was not for the committee to determine the offences. The police have access to the full, unredacted report, he said.

“We’ve drawn a line in the sand, basically, so that we can collectively as an organisation move forward with our own mission and purpose... not being unduly burdened by these legacy things that have bogged us down for the past months,” said the former managing partner of EY Asean and Singapore and a member of SPH Media’s board.

The report, which is available on SPH Media’s website, also determined that there was no evidence found that the journalism and editorial departments were involved in the overstatement of circulation numbers.

The committee had commissioned legal advisers from Allen & Gledhill to assist, and in turn, it appointed accounting firm Deloitte to help with forensic discovery and analysis of relevant data.

SPH Media had said in January that several senior employees had been taken to task or had left the company after inconsistencies were found in reporting circulation data.

The matter came to light after an internal review of processes for the period from September 2020 to March 2022. It was during this time, in December 2021, that SPH Media was created following a restructuring of its then listed parent company Singapore Press Holdings (SPH).

When asked how many people were interviewed for Wednesday’s report, Mr Loh did not give an exact number but confirmed that the process included more than 10 people from SPH Media and SPH and that it was “quite thorough and comprehensive”.

It did not, however, include the four staff members who had left the company in January as they had been interviewed for the earlier internal audit, he said.

More at https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/sph-media-files-police-report-after-potential-offences-flagged-in-circulation-data-investigation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee-brlA-xbY Ong Ye Kung thanks Khaw Boon Wan for being a

Whistleblower shared SMT CEO told staff to“let the matter rest” at townhall meeting before its scandal went public

SINGAPORE — Staff from selected departments at SPH Media were allegedly told to “let the matter rest” at a town hall meeting by the Chief Executive Officer of SPH Media Trust (SMT) over actions taken against executives who were said to be connected with the misrepresentation of the circulation figures for its publications.

This is according to a whistleblower who self-proclaims to be part of a group of individuals who have obtained the information from sources within the revenue and advertising arm of SMT and Straits Times (ST) who have attended the town hall meeting.

A scoop by Wake Up Singapore (WUSG) on 8 January shared allegations of the departures of three senior executives in SPH Media over alleged discrepancies relating to circulation and/or subscription numbers.

A day later, SPH Media, through a report by ST, acknowledged that some inconsistencies in the reporting of the data were discovered during a review of internal processes in March 2022, which looked at a period from September 2020 to March 2022.

This included the reporting of circulation data, lapsed contracts that continued to be counted into circulation data and also copies that were printed, counted for circulation and then destroyed, as well as the double-counting of subscriptions across multiple instances. There was also a project account which was injected with additional funding over a period of time to purchase fictitious circulation.

“Certain circulation numbers were arbitrarily derived,” noted the SPH Media spokesperson, which resulted in a discrepancy of between 85,000 and 95,000 daily average copies across all titles, which represents 10 to 12 per cent of the reported daily average circulation.

The media publications of the former Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) were incorporated as SMT, a Company Limited by Guarantee (CLG), on 19 July 2021 after being cut off from SPH due to its declining revenue. They include ST and The Business Times, as well as Lianhe Zaobao, Shin Min Daily News, Berita Harian and Tamil Murasu.

“Let the matter rest at that”, asks SMT CEO

According to the whistleblower, the town hall meeting was held some days after several executives were “taken to task or left the company after an internal review”, and was hosted by the CEO of SPH Media Trust, Ms Teo Lay Lim.

No specific date was given by the whistleblower, and neither did SPH Media on when actions were taken against the executives.

In it, she informed the members who attended of the actions taken by the company and asked them to “let the matter rest at that” — referring to the departure of the executives.

The CEO was said to be concerned about the matter coming to the attention of the Ministry of Communications and Information and being debated and questioned in the Singapore Parliament.

It was highlighted that the town hall meeting was not attended by all members of the company but only staff from the marketing, advertising and circulation departments.

The whistleblower suggests this implies that the CEO and the top management did not want the entire staff strength to know about this matter.

It was also pointed out that no circular on the departure of these several executives and the reasons for their departures were made known — via an HR circular — to the staff.

The whistleblower also said that the group understood that the “fabricating of circulation numbers” was a common practice before the internal review, certainly before September 2020, which further suggests that members of the past management may have known about this practice, and shareholders of SPH were deliberately misled.

“It was very likely that the annual reports in the years when circulation began to fall had probably contained inflated figures.” wrote the whistleblower in the email.

Had it not been for the scoop by WUSG, it would be highly likely that SPH Media would have kept mum about the findings of its review.

Double counting, legitimate

This was, in a way, acknowledged by former ST editor and SPH marketing chief Leslie Fong said in a WhatsApp message that has been circulated that when a household pays for both a print copy and a digital subscription, the Audit Bureau of Circulation Singapore (ABC) allows that sale to be counted as two copies.

Mr Fong, who later confirmed with TODAY the veracity of the message, added: “In some other countries, if the digital subscription covers an e-paper or PDF (Portable Document Format) version, the publisher can and often does claim a count of three. SPH kept it as two.

So this is legitimate ‘double counting’, not cheating or inflating.”

Mr Fong, whose 46-year stint with SPH also included 15 years as editor of ST, as well as three years as editor of the Chinese-language Shin Min Daily News, said that since more than two decades ago, the ABC has accepted as legitimate that bulk sales to advertisers for free distribution can be counted in its circulation figures even if only half of the copies were picked up.

“That bulk sale of, say, 1,000 copies of the ST to, for example, a shopping mall for free distribution to its shoppers be counted as 1,000 circulated copies,” he said in his message that has been circulated.

This has been industry practice endorsed by every external auditor the company has used and every SPH main board led by the likes of former Cabinet Minister Lim Kim San or former president Tony Tan, Mr Fong said.

Copies that were sent free to advertising agencies for their principals’ reference are also included in circulation numbers, he added.

“Newspaper publishing is not a simple business,” he said.

It is said in SPH’s annual report that the total print and digital circulation numbers reported are in accordance with the rules set by ABC in 2016.

TOC wrote to ABC last week to ask if its rules have been violated by SPH Media and whether actions would be taken against it but has yet to receive a reply.

SMT funded up to S$180m per year

Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo confirmed in Parliament in February 2022 that the Government will fund SMT to the tune of up to S$180 million annually over the next five years for a total of S$900 million.

So far, no minister has issued any statement over the scandal. Mr Khaw Boon Wan, former People’s Action Party Minister and Chairman of SMT, is also missing in action.

Responding to media queries over the matter, a Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) spokesperson said the ministry has asked SPH Media to share its full findings and has recently received SPH Media’s internal report on the matter.

“MCI will undertake our own review to determine if these inconsistencies in circulation data affect the decision to fund, and the amount the Government committed to fund SPH Media. MCI expects SPH Media to fully cooperate with our review,” said the spokesperson.

The whistleblower also wrote, “We don’t want our identities to be made known, so we are writing this to your organisation in confidence, and we hope our sharing will lead to greater transparency and accountability on the management of public monies and the upholding of public trust.

The email was sent to other publications in Singapore and has been circulated on private messaging.

TOC wrote to the senior management of SPH Media for clarifications last week, but no reply has been received as of the publication of this post. We will include SPH Media’s response in the post once it is provided.

https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2023/01/18/whistleblower-shared-smt-ceo-told-staff-to-let-the-matter-rest-at-townhall-meeting-before-its-scandal-went-public

Fun fact: Fat bastard Ng Yat Chung was obscenely compensated for his "good" work in wrecking Ass-Pee-h. ;)

https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2020/11/09/sph-ceo-receives-more-than-1-3m-salary-while-company-loses-money/

Lim Tean has chimed in:

The costs and implications of the SPH Media scandal

When news broke yesterday that three senior executives at SPH Media have been inflating its circulation data, the whole saga very quickly escalated into becoming a national embarrassment as more Singaporeans started questioning the integrity of those media executives in the media group under SPH Media in whom the People’s Action Party (PAP) government has generously supported despite many objections from Singaporeans who see it as a desperate attempt by the PAP to perpetuate its own political propaganda.

To make matters worse, when Wong Wei Kong, the editor-in-chief of the publications under SMT, foolishly tried to subsequently narrate that SPH Media has taken a “painful but necessary decision to make public that its past circulation figures were inaccurate”, it gave a false impression that as if it was the one who had disclosed this deception on its own accord when the truth is that this whole saga came to light after Wake Up Singapore (WUSG) reported it.

This goes to show just how insincere its editor-in-chief has been and how SPH Media has no qualms in trying to bend the narrative to play down the whole incident as if Singaporeans and their advertisers are all fools.

Come on Wong, time to come clean and admit that SPH Media was caught with its pants down and stop trying to spin more lies or falsehoods.

If not for WUSG, we would all still be kept in the dark, no?

If the Chairman, CEO, senior executives, editors and journalists at SPH Media can still behave so insincerely and lack the moral courage to come clean, then the whole talk of setting up SPH Media Trust (SMT) is looking more like another desperate attempt by the PAP politicians to use tax-payers monies to prolong the longevity of their party rather than for the good of our country.

It is very probable that inflating the circulation data may well be just a part of a wider scandal, and it is best for Singaporeans to brace themselves for more bad news to come.

The Scandal

Before this latest scandal, we have seen many of the 4G PAP politicians actively singing praises of SPH Media so that they can then justify the use of almost a billion dollars of public funds to keep it from sinking into obscurity in the next five years while allowing its previous shareholders and institutional investors like Temasek to discard all their liabilities and walk away from this sinking ship with a handsome profit while the new buyer of its assets gets a “good buy” out of this absurd arrangement.

As the scandal slowly unravels, it is looking like those who had earlier taken Singaporeans for a ride may now find themselves being compromised by this latest scandal as if some bad karma had returned to taunt them.

Up to now, it is totally incomprehensible as to why the leadership at SPH Media has been silent on naming those involved in criminally manipulating circulation data to cheat not only advertisers from the private sector but also our government.

And as almost a billion dollars of public funds has been allocated to support SMT, shouldn’t the new Chairman, CEO and senior management be coming forward to hold a press conference and stop this scandal from escalating needlessly out of control?

Criminalities & Wider Implications

Given the criminalities involved in the deliberate inflation of circulation data and the cheating of advertisers and our government, why has no one from SPH Media lodge any police report so that the Police can act swiftly to prevent those involved from tampering or destroying critical evidence?

But if SPH thinks that they can simply fire those three veterans to avoid making a police report or informing the government, probably thinking that the whole scandal can stay hidden by allowing those three executives have walked into the sunset, then its Chairman and CEO will have a lot of explanation to do.

Besides our government and advertisers who got cheated, how is the authority going to address the manipulation of SPH’s stock price as a result of this scandal?

By keeping quiet for so long, aren’t they all complicit in the crimes that were committed and shouldn’t they be held as liable as those three executives?

Just how deep is the rot?

For failing to take decisive action, SPH Media has led some Singaporeans to speculate that the stepping down of ex-Lieutenant-General Ng Yat Chung in May 2022 as the former CEO of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) may have been connected to this latest scandal.

Such an allegation is not entirely baseless when one looks at the tremendous amount of effort and resources needed to regularly print so many publications and then subsequently destroying them.

As such, it is hard to believe that the previous senior management did not know or suspect something was terribly wrong at SPH unless everyone was sleeping on their jobs.

It is equally hard to believe that such an elaborate scandal can be pulled off by just three executives without the help of more employees of SPH.

If so, why wasn’t this scandal raised in parliament when Mrs Josephine Teo, the Minister for Communications & Information, was championing for the government to keep SPH Media economically viable by providing it with an enormous annual grant of up to S$180 million and is renewable after the first five years?

Was Josephine aware of this malpractice, or have the former Chairman and CEO kept all these disturbing developments from her?

As such, shouldn’t the former Chairman, CEO and directors be investigated and held liable for this scandalous crime too?

And where did former MCI Iswaran get his data from when he was singing praises of SPH Media’s performance in parliament in May 2022 when stating that “SPH’s overall reach and readership has never been higher as its total circulation rose by 5% between 2017 and 2020”.

In light of this scandal, are those data still credible, and if not, isn’t the parliamentary record also corrupted by this scandal?

Now that the cat is out of the bag, both Josephine and Iswaran ought to consider addressing parliament to retract their earlier glowing statements for SPH Media for otherwise, the whole purpose and function of parliament is nothing but a joke, no?

Who is going to pay for this scandal?

For Mrs Teo, she will have to also address how SPH is going to compensate advertisers who have been cheated, including the government of Singapore, as it does not make sense for SPH Media to own up while the government dip into our reserves to help SPH pay for its financial damages, penalties and liabilities.

So it will be interesting to see who will ultimately end up paying for this scandal.

Think about it – if those executives at SPH Media, past and present, can possibly manipulate its data to give a false impression that all is well at SPH, enjoy their lucrative remunerations and benefits all these years but end up cheating both the government and advertisers, by what authority does SPH Media have to fire those involved and not make a public disclosure or make a police report?

Are they above the law to be doing so?

Are they going to pay for all the mess they have created?

As such, pending police investigation, the current senior management of SPH should be held responsible and complicit and not be allowed to destroy or tamper with evidence that may materially implicate them.

It will be interesting to see if Mr K Shanmugam, the Minister for Home Affairs, will have the moral courage and integrity to put the law above the interest of his party by bringing all those responsible for this crime and those who condoned or tried to conceal it to court.

As much of our public fund is at stake, will Mr Lawrence Wong, the Finance Minister, be able to show his political impartiality by convening a public inquiry into this whole scandal and conducting a thorough review as to whether the government should continue to support SMT when its integrity and credibility have been so badly tarnished.

In light of this scandal, isn’t it “cheaper, better & wiser” to fund WUSG instead of SMT?

Importance of checks & balances

This latest scandal at SPH is symptomatic of a large problem facing Singapore — the growing lack of transparency and accountability at many of our public and government-linked organizations and the rise of mediocrity over meritocracy.

Think about it – the former CEO of SPH has already sold off our once highly-prized NOL and is now holding the dubious honour of stripping away the assets of SPH and handling them freely to its previous shareholders while getting the government to pump in hundredths of millions just to keep the non-viable part of SPH going annually.

Seriously, what does an ex-paper general like Ng know about the complexities of the media industry where everything is dynamic, unlike the army, where everything can be stripped down to “command & order”.

For shareholders like Temasek, isn’t Ng a very obedient and lucrative asset to cultivate, but at the national level, isn’t he a very costly liability?

Singapore should get rid of all the ex-paper generals and mayors if we truly want to restore meritocracy and get rid of mediocrity.

Without “check & balance”, there is no transparency or accountability to keep mediocrity in check, and when this happens, corruption will very quickly permeate and perverse every facet of the organization and our society.

Question is, are we there yet?

In this aspect, Singapore cannot afford to be caught in one scandal after another but must put in real effort to restore meritocracy, transparency and accountability in every of our public and government-linked entities.

The Hard Truth is that if no real effort is put in to restore transparency and accountability across our public and government-linked entities, then it is only a matter of time before most of these entities will start rotting from the top, no?

In this aspect, the senior executives, past and present, must be held responsible and be charged so that the message is clear – Singapore will not tolerate or allow anyone or any entity to make a mockery of our country, our parliament or our government.

The ball is now in the court of the PAP-led parliamentarians and if nothing is done decisively, then this whole scandal will cause the PAP-led government to lose its integrity and credibility.

So the challenge is, can the PAP politicians implicated by this scandal be able to show their impartialities and put the interest of Singapore and the laws above those of their party?

Patriotic Singaporeans must scrutinize the development of this scandal and hold all those who dare perpetuate or make light of these falsehoods, manipulations and lies to accountability so that we can get rid of useless parliamentarians at the next General Election.

Until the PAP politicians walk their talk and are able to do what is right by the people in a consistent manner, then Singaporeans ought to wise up to the Hard Truth that Singapore deserves better…

https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2023/01/11/the-costs-and-implications-of-the-sph-media-scandal

Everything About SPH Media’s “Fake” Circulation Numbers & Why It’s Such a Hoo-Ha

Yesterday, everyone’s attention might’ve been on Yishun, but in a move that’s certainly not timed, The Straits Times reported that The Straits Times’ circulation numbers might have been tampered with.

In other words, they ownself report ownself.

SPH Media Publications’ Circulation Numbers Inflated by Up to 12% by Employees

Before anything, let’s understand one thing: Numbers.

A news publication prices its rates to advertisers based on the eyeballs it can garner, pretty much similar to how influencers charge clients based on their followers count.

For example, if a client wants to promote something on Instagram and is looking at JianHao Tan and Goody Feed, JianHao Tan can charge way more than Goody Feed, not because JianHao Tan can take better images, but because he has way more followers.

In the same vein, news publications do that, and instead of “followers”, they use circulation numbers—which refers to how many copies of newspapers were printed and sold daily.

These numbers are the Holy Grail of every media outlet for obvious reasons.

SPH Media owns brands like The Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao—publications that are still in print form, which means circulation numbers are important since other online-based brands like TNP can base their “follower count” on pageviews, which cannot be amended.

The Straits Times reported yesterday (9 January 2023) that in March 2022, SPH Media initiated a review of internal processes, and one of the processes is the reporting of circulation data.

That was when they discovered “some inconsistencies in the reporting of the data.”

It turned out that there’s a “discrepancy of between 85,000 and 95,000 daily average copies across all titles.”

This means their daily circulation numbers are inflated by up to 12%.

If we were to ask an influencer about this kind of discrepancy, I’m pretty sure they’d say it’s bots or spam accounts, but you can’t use that reason for print copies, so here’s what really happened:

Newspapers were printed, counted for circulation and then destroyed.

Greta Thunberg won’t be happy about this.

In addition, in some instances, there was double-counting of subscriptions (because if you’re old enough, you’d know that we don’t just buy newspapers from the downstairs auntie—most of us subscribe to it monthly and have an uncle throw the newspaper at our doorstep every morning instead).

Double-counting would suggest that even when someone subscribes to just one publication, it’ll be logged in as two subscriptions. Pretty sure that’s not how password-sharing works.

But…could it be an accident?

No—an account used for a project was injected with additional funding to do that.

For example, maybe SPH Media has a project about creating a blue cat to talk about news daily, and it needs $5,000 a day to run the project, so the budget is, technically, $5,000.

However, they might say it takes $7,000 a day, so that the extra $2,000 is used to print newspapers and destroy them.

It’s not revealed which publications were affected.

With that, several senior employees of SPH Media have been taken to task or left the company. They were not named.

Yes, this happened after the Umbrage Incident.

Lest you only remember the man and not the incident, here’s a recap: SPH isn’t making money, so it was split into two entities in December 2021: one would be an entity that’s still making money through properties, and the other, known as SPH Media Trust, will be the one that’s losing money from the media industry.

And because it’s losing money, it’ll receive public funding instead, so we’d still have news to follow daily, and reporters will still be paid.

Shortly after, there months later, in March 2022, SPH Media engaged a new Chief Executive Officer, Ms Teo Lay Lim.

And, of course, the review started on March 2022, so if you connect the dots, you’re probably asking the same question: Is this something new, or has this been going on for a long time?

SPH Media did not say how long these practices have been going on.

Since it’s receiving public funding, the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) has responded, with a spokesperson saying that they will conduct their own review.

Why the Hoo-Ha?

Now, imagine you’re an advertiser who’s been engaging an influencer to promote your products, and because it’s merely a branding campaign, you have no way to measure the results of your campaign except to base it on the number of followers the influencer has.

The more followers the influencer has, the more people will see your product, right?

It doesn’t matter if they buy or not since the goal is to get eyeballs and not conversion.

An example would be a campaign by a soft drink company: they do it regularly to remind us to buy more, and they cannot measure the results of their advertising campaigns: it’s based on the number of followers.

Now you know why it’s such a big hoo-ha: if the circulation numbers have been inflated intentionally, it’s akin to influencers buying followers.

And when a big influencer buys followers, you can bet that people would take umbrage.

https://goodyfeed.com/sph-circulation-numbers/

Maybe the Shit Times didn't outright lie about the statistics, it just felt embarrassed to let the whole world know the 10-12% that was "unaccounted" for used the newspapers to wipe their butts and pick up dog poop.

Fake 就 fake, 没有办法的 :(

Will Fatty Ng take umbrage at this?

https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2023/01/09/senior-executives-in-sph-media-leave-organisation-issues-such-as-buying-fictitious-circulation-discovered-during-review/

😡😡😡

Oops, guess the antibiotics against fake news just became fake news itself, come I clap for you 👏

Utterly pathetic, credible press my arse!