Singapore Prime Minister’s Office calsl for police investigation on hoax image bearing the false news.
KUALA LUMPUR: The race among news media to be the first to announce breaking news was the cause of major embarrassment yesterday for two reputable media organisations.
Relying on information circulating on social media, CNN and CCTV both reported, albeit erroneously, the death of Singapore’s former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.
The move prompted Singapore’s Prime Minister’s Office to announce its intention to lodge a police report over what it described as a hoax image suggesting that Lee, aged 91, had passed away at 5.30pm yesterday.
It is understood that the URL displayed by the hoax message did not match the URL of the Prime Minister’s Office.
Despite this, CCTV announced the purported death on its news bulletin, while CNN Breaking News reported it on twitter, attributing the information to a “government website.”
CNN, thereafter, posted a second tweet saying, “Reports emerge that statement attributed to Singapore government about Lee Kuan Yew may not be official. Developing.”
It later tweeted, “Singapore says Lee Kuan Yew is alive; dismisses death report as a hoax.”
CCTV’s twitter feed, on the other hand, posted an update which read, “Singapore says Lee Kuan Yew is alive; dismisses death report as a hoax.”
FMT understands that neither has tendered an apology as yet.
Two other news agencies known to have reported the matter, China’s SINA and Hong Kong’s Phoenix China News, both apologised for the error earlier today.
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