‘Complimentary’ copies of The New Paper being given out FREE as boycott hit sales

Repost from Temasek Review 16 June 2011
http://www.temasekreview.com/2011/06/16/complimentary-copies-of-the-new-paper-being-given-out-free-as-boycott-hit-sales/
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Falling sales of English tabloid The New Paper (TNP) may have caused SPH to give out ‘complimentary’ copies to cut down on the number of unsold copies daily and to ensure the PAP’s propaganda get disseminated to its intended audience.


TR reader Ding Neng spotted copies of TNP being given out to passer-bys outside Amoy Food center yesterday and took a snapshot of one of them with the word ‘complimentary‘ being printed on its top right-hand corner:


Besides the off-peak soccer season, TNP’s sales may be affected by an ongoing boycott called against it by netizens to protest against its ‘gutter journalism’.

On 2 May 2011, TNP Deputy Editor Melvin Singh published a misleading article on SDP’s Dr Chee Soon Juan leading a non-existent ‘protest march’ after an election rally at Jurong East stadium when he was merely shaking hands with his supporters. (read more here)

He wrote another article a few days later claiming that it was SDP candidate for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC Michelle Lee who tipped him off about the ‘march’ as she did not want to get into trouble with the law. Ms Lee later denied making such statements to Melvin Singh on her Facebook. (read more here)

Melvin Singh’s blatant lies sparked a massive outcry among netizens calling him to apologize for disseminating falsehoods to smear SDP, but he subsequently issued a statement in The Straits Times proclaiming that he “stand by his story.”

A Facebook page was set up calling for a boycott of TNP and has garnered more than 8,100 ‘likes’ so far, more than the number of ‘likes’ on TNP’s official Facebook page itself.

According to tip-offs we received from readers, Melvin Singh graduated with a diploma in Mass Communications from Ngee Ann polytechnic somewhere in the 1980s after which he joined the Singapore Police Force as an inspector with ‘Delta’ division. He later quit to further his studies before joining Mediacorp as a broadcast journalist after which he was ‘poached’ by TNP to be its deputy editor.

Besides falsifying Dr Chee’s ‘protest march’ Melvin Singh was also responsible for smearing Dr Vincent Wijeysingha (SDP), Spencer Ng (NSP) and Chen Show Mao (WP) as well. He was most remembered for surfing PORN and reproducing baseless pornographic materials from a notorious porn site in a desperate attempt to smear TRE last year which prompted several parents to write in to SPH to complain.

Despite Melvin Singh’s lack of journalistic ethics and questionable character, SPH continues to stand by him and he is expected to receive several months of bonuses this year as a ‘reward’ for his excellent ‘performance’.

TRE calls for the continued BOYCOTT of TNP and its advertisers so long Melvin Singh remains as an employee of SPH. In the meantime, please feel free to contact us if you have any other information about Melvin Singh.

You can provide your ‘feedback’ to Melvin Singh below:

Melvinderpal Singh
Deputy Editor
Office: (65) 6319 5567
Email: melvin@sph.com.sg