CNA apologises for airing mismatched flags in SEA Games medal tally

Channel NewsAsia has apologised for mismatching the names of participating countries and their respective national flags on its SEA Games medal tally table which aired on its Asia First programme yesterday at 7.50am. An image circulating online showed the Philippines flag being labelled "Vietnam" while the Vietnamese national flag was labelled "Malaysia". Thailand was labelled "Indonesia" while the flags of Indonesia and Malaysia were labelled "Philippines" and "Singapore" respectively. Overall, nine out of 11 countries, including Brunei, Cambodia, and Laos, had their flags mismatched.

The error was on air for about 25 seconds and was corrected for subsequent SEA Games updates during Asia First, which included an on-air apology. "We deeply regret this happened. It falls short of the professional standards that we expect of ourselves and we extend a sincere apology to our viewers. We will strive to do better," CNA said in a Facebook post. This year's SEA Games are held in Hanoi.

https://www.facebook.com/ChannelNewsAsia/posts/pfbid024c5dHUVqYCgF3fz13yuYMwSjQ9pQHJ5dtSdLebZFpgrNrZ8J3VYtZuk2AjBhrEMKl

Such instances of mismatched flags and country names aren't new in the SEA Games. When Malaysia hosted the SEA Games in 2017, broadcaster RTM placed eight out of 11 participating countries wrongly on TV during the medal tally. The countries involved in the mix up were Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia, the Philippines, Cambodia and Laos. The medal tally also used the names "Singapura" and "Filipina" rather than "Singapore" and "Philippines". The Malaysian broadcaster quickly apologised for the gaffe. Shortly before that, the official souvenir book of the SEA Games 2017 opening in Kuala Lumpur also printed the Indonesian flag upside down, turning it into the Polish flag instead.

Separately, Singapore will host the 35th SEA Games in 2029, 14 years after it last hosted the games. Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin said on Facebook that the SEA Games holds special memories and experiences for Singapore and its Southeast Asian neighbours. "The camaraderie and rivalry we share are distinct and Singapore is once again happy to organise the 35th SEA Games to relive these moments," he said.

Singapore previously hosted the SEA Games in 1973, 1983, 1993, and 2015. The 2015 edition coincided with Singapore's 50th anniversary of independence and saw the country recording a historic medal haul of 259 medals, with 84 being gold medals.

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