LTA defends public image, calls out ST for misreporting

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has called out The Straits Times for a factually inaccurate report regarding a recent LRT train incident on the Sengkang line. This was done via its Facebook page which referred to the article as "erroneous and misleading".In the original article, ST stated that Sengkang LRT trains "collided". However, LTA came forward in a Facebook post to clarify that the two LRT carriages were travelling as a single train on the system and had "stalled". As a result, this may have thrown some passengers who were not holding on to the standing poles or grab bars off balance, giving the false impression that the second train car had collided with the one in front."The report in ST was inaccurate and misleading and it is our responsibility to correct the article. We do the same with all other issues and media outlets," LTA's spokesperson said, in a statement to Marketing.ST has apologised for the error and added that the story was corrected following clarifications by SBS Transit and LTA. When contacted by Marketing, an SPH spokesperson said the initial story was sourced from ST's citizen journalism website, Stomp, where a contributor reported the "collision".  The spokesperson added that its editors made a mistake, moved promptly to "put it right" and apologised for it.This is not the first time Stomp misreported on train incidents. In 2012, it published a false report of MRT trains moving while a set of train doors were open. Investigations by SPH revealed that the image of the open train doors was taken from Twitter, and Stomp apologised.Read also on fake news: SG government to take stronger stance on battling fake news Singapore minister K Shanmugam calls out "fake news" sites