Did you hear about the recent news surrounding Nicole Seah, Steven Goh & SPH (Singapore Press Holdings)? If you didn’t know, here are the juicy details:

What’s Going On?

It started off this photo that Nicole Seah (the 2nd Assistant Secretary-General of the National Solidarity Party) uploaded back in October with Steven Lim, an entrepreneur.

This photo was then picked up by SPH where extra “juice” was added to make the news more juicy and newsworthy. And thus came the following article headlines:

“Nicole Seah uploads photo of her with a man believed to be married“

And in Wanbao news online:

佘雪玲有已婚男面簿上载亲密照
(Nicole Seah uploads photo of her with married man).

And in print on Wan Bao as well:

The evening daily’s headline described the man as ‘yi hun’. The term can be interpreted to mean ‘already married’ or ‘formerly married’.

But for people with poor Chinese skills like me will read it as married man <_<

My Reaction & The Actual Truth

I was seriously shocked when I scanned the headlines briefly yesterday on AsiaOne news and was turned off by it.

Unfortunately, I had also immediately assumed the worst of her (and most people as well) due to the rather misleading title that she was dating a MARRIED guy but in actual fact – she wasn’t.

So just to clarify: Steven Goh was married in 2009 BUT he got divorced in 2011.

As you can tell from her status below, Nicole Seah was PISSED! 

There are news reports in BOTH English and Chinese mainstream media that I am seeing a married man. 

This is NOT true at all, and an example of gutter journalism at its finest. Nobody even called me to clarify this and went to town with the story.

To MSM - If you're looking to sensationalize your news in order to increase your dwindling readership at the expense of tarnishing a person's reputation, please do so based on fact and have the decency to at least verify your sources before running off to print. 

Please help me spread the word if you see this grossly inaccurate report circulating around the Internet. Thank you very much for your help.

Article Titles Changed

Later in the day, after much negativity online..the titles of the online articles such as the one on AsiaOne were discreetly changed. But it was unfortunately spotted as seen below:

“Nicole Seah uploads photo of her with a man believed to be married” changed to -> Nicole Seah says she is dating man in photo she uploaded on Facebook

*Updated article can be found HERE

And then on Wanbao online:

佘雪玲有已婚男面簿上载亲密照  changed to 佘雪玲有新恋情面簿大晒亲密照

Well… unfortunately it’s a little too late as the damage has been done to her reputation (like, it’s in print – and the title can’t be changed!).

Nicole Seah Seeks Official  Apology from Singapore Press Holdings (SPH)

Anyway, apparently, Nicole Seah is looking into asking for an official apology from Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) and if they don’t, she is debating to take legal action by suing them for libel and slander as seen below:

My contacts in the media industry are currently looking into asking for an 
official apology from the Singapore Press Holdings for the irreversible damagethat they have caused to me and my loved ones because of their baseless and 
irresponsible reporting. 

Failing which, I am looking into the very real possibility of suing them for 
libel and slander. 

Just because I'm from the opposition doesn't accord the media more liberties 
to mess around with my reputation. After all, they wouldn't dare do the same 
with anyone from the PAP. Please compare Steve Chia's and Yaw Shin Leong's 
case against what happened with Michael Palmer. In Palmer's case, he got away quietly and the girl involved was implicated severely. 

My situation is completely innocuous and there is even no semblance of a 
scandal or mistake that I have to own up to. I have absolutely nothing to hide

In the meantime, I ask of a favour from the general public, if you are free, 
to kindly write to the Singapore Press Holdings and demand that they refrain 
from practising double standards and baseless accusations in their reporting. 

This is not just about me or my reputation. This is about journalistic 
integrity in Singapore at large and will have bearing on the way other news isbeing reported, and is akin to deceit to the public in their skewed reporting

UPDATED!

Wan Bao apologizes to Nicole Seah

AsiaOne apologizes to Nicole Seah

AsiaOne would like to unreservedly apologise to Miss Nicole Seah and to Mr Steven Goh for any distress and inconvenience caused by an article posted on AsiaOne on Tuesday, November 26, 2013.

The headline of the article, “Nicole Seah uploads photo of her with a man believed to be married”, as well as the first line of the article which mirrored the headline, did not correctly reflect the rest of the article’s content, which indicated that Mr Goh, the man in the photo, is divorced and not presently married.

Adrian Tay
Editor, AsiaOne

Credits: AsiaOne

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