Mothership (website)

Mothership is a digital media company that operates in Singapore. It was founded in August 2013 and its website officially launched in February 2014.

History
Mothership was started in 2013 as a socio-political blog for young Singaporeans. The timing of its conception coincided with a period of political and social change in Singapore following the watershed elections of 2011. Mothership's "48 reasons why you still feel for Singapore" was published in August 2013 when the site was in beta phase. It 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 Fishermen, which is chaired by former senior civil servant, Philip Yeo. Former foreign minister of Singapore, George Yeo, is its non-executive advisor.

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 sgd50000 bond.

In 2016, Mothership was incorporated 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 project and depended on funding from Project Fishermen, the website would potentially have run out of funding by 2016.

In 2017, Mothership rebranded itself and launched a new logo, typeface, and website design.

In 2019, Mothership’s application for press accreditation was approved by the Ministry of Communications and Information. This meant that it would have access to government information, news, and events. However, the press accreditation has been temporarily revoked, 6 months each, twice for breaking press embargo, once in 2022, and once in 2023.

In 2022, Mothership launched a new creative space called “Matchbox”, aimed at empowering emerging creatives in creating content and showcasing their talents, and at being a creative hub for community engagement, focusing on arts, entertainment, and social purpose. In November 2023, Matchbox held a live event called "Making .wavs" that featured young, up-and-coming local musicians hoping to break into the industry. It also held an Eco Bazaar, collaborating with eco-friendly businesses and partners like ACRES and Cat Welfare Society to set up booths and run workshops. The event was open to the public and drew over 500 people from diverse backgrounds.

Reception
In 2021, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism issued a Digital News Report which indicated that Mothership was used by 42% of Singapore's population.

In the 2023 edition of the study, Mothership emerged as the most used online news source in Singapore, surpassing mainstream competitors CNA and The Straits Times.

Editorial content, notable events, & criticisms
In 2019, Mothership was caught copying content from Today newspaper without giving proper attribution. The content was amended to include an attribution and was subsequently removed.

Singapore General Election 2020
GE2020 saw the increased popularity of digital platforms and sources as ways for voters to get information on the election. Mothership published numerous videos during this period, including original interviews with Jamus Lim from the Workers’ Party and National Solidarity Party's Choong Hon Heng, and a Polling Day live show. A Mothership video featuring Ho Ching reminding PM Lee Hsien Loong to observe safe distancing rules at a polling centre generated over 1 million views.

Covid-19 coverage
On March 3, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong shared a Mothership video featuring a Singapore General Hospital contact tracer and the contact tracing process for Covid-19 patients.

@b.linling incident
On 19 September 2023, Mothership reported on a Singapore-based Chinese influencer, Lin Lin, and misreported that she was a "tourist from China" when she had been living in Singapore for eight years and had been creating "helpful" content about life in Singapore. After the inaccurate article was published, Lin Lin became the subject of inappropriate comments, which she said was affecting her private life. Her private requests to Mothership for amendments were largely ignored. Mothership then changed its headline to replace "tourist" with "woman", of which Lin Lin viewed as "a deliberate attempt at causing controversy". She publicly requested for Mothership to take down the "false content" and issue a public apology in a video rant, after which Mothership apologised in an editor's note on the article, and amended their article while taking down the accompanying Instagram post.

Subsequently, Mothership and Lin Lin published a public statement saying that Lin Lin has accepted Mothership’s apology and hopes to move on from the matter.

Breaking of embargo
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 government press accreditation suspended for six months after an appeal was submitted to the Ministry of Communications and Information, thus losing access to press conferences and media briefings held by government agencies.

On 29 September 2023, its government press accreditation was suspended for breaking embargo on an impending hike on water usage charges in Singapore with a member of its editorial team breaching the safeguards put in place after the previous break of embargo in 2022. The suspension was lifted in March 2024.