The Straits Times has come up with yet another misleading and deceptive headline to confuse its readers.
The title of an article published under its “Top Story” section reads: “No bonus for civil servants”
Followed by an inherently self-contradictory sentence – “Apart from their regular 13th month wage supplement, civil servants will not be receiving any other bonus next month.”
Now isn’t the 13th month bonus a bonus by itself which is tacitly acknowledged by Straits Times in the words highlighted in red above?
A more appropriate title should be: “Civil servants to receive 1.25 months in bonus this year” to better reflect the reality on the ground.
Readers who simply browse through the headlines without reading the article in depth will be deceived into thinking that civil servants did not receive any bonus this year.
In fact, the civil servants should consider themselves fortunate to still receive the 13th month bonus as not all workers in the private sector are given an additional bonus or “wage supplement” let alone one full month of bonus.
The Hong Kong Legco will be putting to vote a legislation in mid-December this year to reduce the salaries of their civil servants by up to 5 per cent though its economy has rebounded as strongly as Singapore’s.
As a supposedly English national daily, the Straits Times should seriously brushing up its atrocious standard of journalism to spare itself the agony of being ranked in a lowly position again in terms of press freedom by media watchdog Reporters without Borders.
The title of an article published under its “Top Story” section reads: “No bonus for civil servants”
Followed by an inherently self-contradictory sentence – “Apart from their regular 13th month wage supplement, civil servants will not be receiving any other bonus next month.”
Now isn’t the 13th month bonus a bonus by itself which is tacitly acknowledged by Straits Times in the words highlighted in red above?
A more appropriate title should be: “Civil servants to receive 1.25 months in bonus this year” to better reflect the reality on the ground.
Readers who simply browse through the headlines without reading the article in depth will be deceived into thinking that civil servants did not receive any bonus this year.
In fact, the civil servants should consider themselves fortunate to still receive the 13th month bonus as not all workers in the private sector are given an additional bonus or “wage supplement” let alone one full month of bonus.
The Hong Kong Legco will be putting to vote a legislation in mid-December this year to reduce the salaries of their civil servants by up to 5 per cent though its economy has rebounded as strongly as Singapore’s.
As a supposedly English national daily, the Straits Times should seriously brushing up its atrocious standard of journalism to spare itself the agony of being ranked in a lowly position again in terms of press freedom by media watchdog Reporters without Borders.
