Singapore Puts Circ Binders On 'Financial Times,' 'Herald Tribune'

By: Mark Fitzgerald Singapore announced it is imposing so-called "offshore newspaper" restrictions on the circulations of the Financial Times, the International Herald Tribune and other publications.

In the announcement posted Thursday on its Web site, the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts said it was lifting the "exemption" from the circulation conditions that had been granted to the two newspapers as well as to the newsmagazines Time and Newsweek.

Under Section 23 of the nation's Newspaper and Printing Presses Act (NPPA), "offshore newspapers" must meet certain rigorous conditions, including putting up a security deposit of S$200,000, the equivalent of US$127,000, appointing "a person within Singapore authorized to accept service of any notice or legal process on behalf of the publisher," and submitting to a cap on circulation inside Singapore.

The ministry also said it was reclassifying the Far Eastern Economic Review, a monthly magazine published by Dow Jones & Co., as an "offshore newspaper." Its circulation will be capped at 10,000 copies, the government agency said.

"The NPPA serves to reinforce the government's consistent position that it is a privilege, and not a right, for foreign newspapers to circulate in Singapore," the ministry statement said. "They do so as foreign observers of the local scene and should not interfere in the domestic politics of Singapore. Hence, foreign newspapers seeking to circulate in Singapore need to comply with the provisions in the NPPA."

In 1987, the Far Eastern Economic Review was "gazetted" as a declared foreign newspaper for "interfering in the domestic politics of Singapore," the ministry said. In 1990 it was classified as an offshore newspaper, but in 2004 those restrictions were lifted when it changed from a weekly to a monthly. But the ministry said it is an "anomaly" not to apply the same standards to the magazine that apply to its sister publication, The Wall Street Journal Asia.

As to the newspapers, the ministry said they "now regularly report on political issues in the region and Singapore , and have significant circulations in Singapore."

The changes imposed on the Far Eastern Economic Review will take effect Sept. 11, the ministry said. The newspapers and newsmagazines will be subjected to the new conditions when their current publication permits expire, it added.