Last week Singapore government posted a photo collage on its website that includes some false stories published by well-known media organizations as well as on social media platforms to spread the awareness about the surge of fake news in the country.
While stating that "here are some examples in recent years," the authority also included pictures of two stories published by STOMP and The Straits Times.
IBTimes Singapore believes that the particular STOMP story was deleted from its website and provided an explanation of how the mistake happened. But the result was extremely confusing while searching the ST story, "MAS files police report against author of defamatory article relating to 1MDB."
The lead of the story says, "The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has filed a police report against the author of an article published on the States Times Review website on Nov 5 which made statements that were false and malicious, and impugned the integrity of MAS as a financial regulator."
As per the government, it is a fake news. It was published on November 8 and was updated on November 9. But, it is strange that IBTimes Singapore found a different headline for the same story in the search list that says, "Report linking PM Lee to 1MDB is fake, libellous: Singapore High Commission in Malaysia."
Look at the pictures here for more clarification:
If you click on this news, "Report linking PM Lee to 1MDB is fake, libellous: Singapore High Commission in Malaysia," it will take you to the article, which has a headline "MAS files police report against author of defamatory article relating to 1MDB."
In terms of the STOMP story, while several media questioned the authenticity of the LRT trains collision story, ST clarified that a commuter exaggerated the truth and told STOMP that a collision took place on the Sengkang LRT and the passengers also fell down due to the impact.
But when it comes to the ST story, which is declared as a fake news by the government, such headline tricks have triggered an unnecessary confusion among the readers now. However, IBTimes Singapore asked ST online desk and the respective editors to comment on this matter.
