Mothership.sg is an online news website that operates in Singapore. It was founded in August 2013 and officially launched in February 2014.
History
Mothership.sg begun with Lien We King, a finance executive, proposing an online platform for young Singaporeans to Martino Tan, a social media manager for Singapore's Prime Minister
Lee Hsien Loong
Lee Hsien Loong (; born 10 February 1952) is a Singaporean politician and former brigadier-general who has been serving as Prime Minister of Singapore and Secretary-General of the People's Action Party since 2004. He has been the Member of Par ...
in 2012.
Together with Belmont Lay, a co-founder of ''New Nation'', a Singapore online satirical news website, the trio experimented with producing content for the website, with inspirations from the style of
BuzzFeed publication.
Their first article in August 2013, ''48 reasons why you still feel for Singapore'', crashed their servers for two hours after being shared widely.
In February 2014, the website was officially launched.
It was initially funded by social enterprise, Project Fisher-Man, which is headed by civil servant veteran,
Philip Yeo
Noel Philip Yeo Liat Kok ( Chinese: 杨烈国; born 1946), DUNU (First Class), is the Chairman oEconomic Development Innovations SingaporeAdvanced MedTech HoldingsanAccuron Technologies From April 2007 to March 2018, Yeo was Chairman of Standar ...
. Former foreign minister of Singapore,
George Yeo
George Yeo Yong-Boon ( zh, s=杨荣文, p=Yáng Róngwén; born 13 September 1954) is a Singaporean former politician and brigadier-general who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs between 2004 and 2011.
Yeo served in the Singapore Army and ...
, was its advisor as well.
On 2 April 2014, the website registered for a class license issued under the Broadcasting Act.
After the
Media Development Authority had introduced a new framework for websites with local news content in 2013, the website sought MDA for advice if it should be licensed under the framework as well. In 2015, the website was told by MDA that it met the threshold that requires the website to be registered.
As part of the requirements, the website had to put up a bond.
In 2016, Mothership.sg website was registered as Bridgewater Holdings Pte Ltd.
This was done to change its funding structure from being supported by a social enterprise to a fully commercial media business. It was determined that without commercialising the website and depended on funding from Project Fisher-Man, the website would potentially have run out of funding by the end of 2015.
In 2021,
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) is a UK-based research centre and think tank founded in 2006, which operates Thomson Reuters Journalism Fellowship Programme, also known as the Reuters Fellowship.
History
The institute ...
issued a Digital News Report in which indicated that Mothership was used by 42% of Singapore's population. On 18 February 2022, the site made a mistake and published an infographic on the
Goods and Services Tax hike ahead of an embargo of the news. As a result, the site had its press accreditation suspended for six months after an appeal was submitted to the
Ministry of Communications and Information
The Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI; ms, Kementerian Perhubungan dan Penerangan; zh, 通讯及新闻部; ta, தொடர்பு, தகவல் அமைச்சு) is a ministry of the Government of Singapore respo ...
, thus losing access to press conferences and media briefings held by government agencies.
In a study published in the ''Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023'', Mothership emerged as the most used online news source, surpassing mainstream competitors Channel News Asia and ''The Straits Times.''
References
External links
* {{Official website
2014 establishments in Singapore
Internet properties established in 2014
Online publishing companies
Singaporean news websites