1. Misleading news reports
On December 28th, 2014, AirAsia Flight QZ8501 went missing with 162 passengers on board. In the hours after, authorities scrambled to find the whereabouts of the jet. There were many unanswered questions, and amidst the confusion, Channel News Asia drew massive online backlash with this post.
Netizens harshly criticized the post for being insensitive ill-timed and confusing. Given the fact that the post was made on the morning of December 29th, a day after QZ8501 went missing, many were lead into a false hope of thinking the plane was found. This latest incident follows a string of embarrassing mistakes made by mainstream media outlets. Just a few hours before, Channel News Asia posted an update of QZ8501′s flight path. Needless to say, such news is irrelevant and only adds further confusion when facts have yet to be established.
2. Biased coverage
Weeks before Flight QZ8501 went missing, Channel News Asia was in the spotlight for its perceived biased coverage of the rat infestation in Bukit Batok. Jurong GRC MP David Ong was the first to shift the blame of the rat infestation to stray dogs and feeders. His assertions were further supported by a joint statement by AVA and HDB. Soon enough, Channel News Asia hopped on the bandwagon.
In its coverage, Channel News Asia simply reinforced the tune sung by Jurong Town Council, the AVA and HDB.
Channel News Asia even went to the extent of cutting out a large part of an interview with an Outreach officer of Save Our Street Dogs (SOSD) to make it appear as if she was blaming the stray feeders. This has been highlighted by SOSD in its status update (see below).
This was not the first time the mainstream media blindly echoed the government’s rhetoric. A recent example was when the Workers’ Party was taken to task for Town Council deficits and arrears management.
Take a look at the difference in reporting angle between these 2 articles.
On the Workers’ Party, the Today Newspaper couches the report as residents “calling for answer”s from the Workers’ Party. The phrasing used creates an impression that the Workers’ Party is hiding something.
Contrast that with its report on MND’s “clarification” issued yesterday on how it decides on the amount of grants to be given to town councils which is patently unfair and lacks transparency. On this, Today prominently uses the phrase “online speculation” to help MND in its cause.
3. False reporting and character assassinations
And apart from biased news coverage, the mainstream media has also been found in multiple occasions to have published false reports and engage in character assassinations of opposition figures. A year ago, ex NSP politician and candidate Nicole Seah was pictured with Steven Goh, CEO of social site mig33.
AsiaOne and Lianhe Wanbao jumped on the story by insinuating that she was dating a married man. This story turned out to be false as Steven Goh was already divorced at the time. Consequently, both newspapers issued apologies to Ms Seah, but not after receiving heavy criticism from netizens.
4. Embarrassing reporting errors
Adding to the list of biased coverage, character assassinations and insensitive posts are also embarrassing, facepalm-worthy bloopers. Take a look at this Straits Times article and see if you can spot the mistake.
The Straits Times featured a story on the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs, but the man in the picture is current CEO Tim Cook, who is very much still alive and kicking. What’s worse is that the mistake was only noticed after tens of thousands of copies were already circulated to the public.
5. Shameless promotion of a certain political party
In the immediate days after the Punggol East By-Election was announced, The Straits Times landed itself in hot soup for posting this report.
Under the Parliamentary Elections Act, publishing the results of any election survey from the day the writ of election is issued until the close of all polling stations on polling day is not allowed. The writ of election was issued on Jan 9. The article was published on Jan 10th. The Straits Times was subsequently investigated by the police for conducting an illegal poll.
But of course, in a long history of biased headlines, this one back from the 1997 Election in Chang San GRC takes the cake.
If you replaced The New Paper’s logo with that of the PAP’s, you could be forgiven for mistaking it as a party newsletter.
With incidents like these, it’s no wonder we’re consistently ranked near bottom in press freedom.
Ariffin Sha
*The writer blogs at http://ariffin-sha.com/