SINGAPORE, July 6 — While some public money has been disbursed by the Government to SPH Media Trust from March this year, the funding deal could be terminated if any serious wrongdoing in the media outfit is found, Parliament heard today.

In the wake of findings that circulation numbers at the group had been artificially inflated, Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo said the Government had now built in safeguards allowing it to conduct ad-hoc audits of the organisation.

“The Government will intervene if there is a case of misconduct or mismanagement of public funding,” Teo added.

She noted that the findings of inflated circulation numbers related to a period before the public funding of SPH Media began, so such conduct had no bearing on public funds.

Teo said while the Government would continue funding SPH Media at the amounts committed to, the Ministry for Communications and Information (MCI) would be reviewing the terms of this current funding agreement “at its mid-term juncture”.

The funding arrangement is up to S$180 million a year for five years, or a total of S$900 million.

“SPH Media's ability to address these management issues will be taken into consideration,” she added.

‘Possible offences commited’

Teo was responding to questions filed by Members of Parliament seeking updates on SPH Media’s review of its overstated circulation numbers over the period between September 2020 and March 2022.

In January this year, it was reported that the daily circulation numbers of SPH Media titles, which include The Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao, had been inflated by between 85,000 and 95,000, including instances where copies were printed, counted for circulation and then destroyed.

A probe into the matter was conducted by the audit and risk committee with the assistance of law firm Allen & Gledhill and consultancy firm Deloitte. Findings from the internal probe were published in a report made public on June 21.

SPH Media also filed a police report, acting on recommendations detailed in the report.

Teo told Parliament on Thursday that “possible offences (had been) committed, based on several findings”.

These included the reporting of circulation numbers in a manner that was “inconsistent with established standards”, an improper accounting of revenue, and a barter deal that was a “possibly questionable arrangement entered into for the sole purpose of inflating circulation numbers”.

Teo said that she was unable to provide further details as this was an ongoing police investigation.

‘Allocate resources to ‘strengthening governance’

Six Members of Parliament (MPs) and one Non-Constituency MP (NCMP) filed supplementary questions on the topics of transparency, accountability and possibly ring fencing funding to prevent such incidents from recurring.

Ang Wei Neng (West Coast GRC MP) asked if increasing circulation numbers was regarded as a key performance indicator (KPI) in the funding formula for SPH Media, and if this might have placed pressure on them.

He also asked why the names of companies involved in helping to inflate the circulation numbers were not revealed.

Teo said that the matter has been referred to the police for investigations, and that SPH Media has provided them with all findings submitted by the audit and risk committee to the board.

“This full set of findings would have already been made available to the police.

“They include names of the companies and the people involved,” said Teo, adding that the police had “full view” of the unredacted findings.

Teo added that the investigations were ongoing, and that “things will need to take their natural course... for the relevant authorities after they have completed their investigations to determine what information to publicly disclose and when to do so”.

She also said that circulation, as a metric, was “no longer as relevant”. Instead, as media increasingly moved online, its reach – or how often people came into contact with its content – was more important.

“The KPIs, therefore, that we have included in the funding arrangement includes the total reach and engagement of SPH Media's full range of products, with a focus on their digital platforms.”

Teo added that the whole purpose of funding SPH Media was to ensure that its digital transformation was successful.

Yip Hon Weng, MP for Yio Chu Kang Single Member Constituency, asked if the MCI would be prepared to consider ring fencing an amount out of the earlier-committed S$900 million to strengthen internal accountability.

In response, Teo said that there was “no specific intention”, for the time being, to ring fence resources for improving governance, though SPH Media would be expected to direct these resources accordingly.

“We size the funding according to the needs that are most pertinent to successful transformation. Strengthening governance is certainly a big part of it, but we also expect SPH Media to allocate his own resources accordingly,” said Teo.

Non-Constituency MP Leong Mun Wai of the Progress Singapore Party asked when the first tranche of public funds had been disbursed, and whether they were paid to SPH Media before or after the completion of the audit committee’s report.

Leong also asked for a confirmation as to whether the MCI was pursuing responsibility of the past top management of SPH.

Responding to this, Teo said that the Government began disbursing funds to SMT in March 2023, noting that that the SPH Media committee had not completed its findings at the time.

“But the important point to note is that by March 2023, only then (did) funding arrangements with SPH Media started, whereas the events in question took place well before March 2023,” said Teo.

She also clarified that as a police report had been filed, the decision on whether to take further action against parties involved in the incident would be “a matter for the police to decide”.

Steps SPH Media will take

In her speech to Parliament, Teo also outlined steps SPH Media would take to address the issue.

These include a follow-up in three main areas:

  • To benchmark reporting to international standards. SPH Media will commission the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers to review and advise on their methods for measuring the reach of its various titles
  • To improve internal controls. These include but are not limited to improving separation of duties among staff, to ensure data accuracy and accountability, and commissioning external parties to review its governance, control and compliance measures
  • To enhance risk management practices throughout the organisation and review its risk culture — TODAY