Journalism is alive and well in Singapore. At least, going by the number of companies that have made disclosures to the SGX about what transpired in an interview with the newswires.

Ezra is the latest example. This morning it said in a brief disclosure

"Ezra Holdings Limited ("company") wishes to elaborate on the circumstances of the interview between Mr Ovais Subhani of Reuters and Mr Lionel Lee, Ezra's Managing Director, leading to the attached article released by Reuters on 29 June 2006. The profit-related figures of 45% and S$52.3 million appeared in an analysts' forecasts compilation of Reuters, on which he was asked for his view or opinion; Mr Lionel Lee did not give the figures, neither were the figures generated by the company nor were these figures forecasts or prospective statements by the company. The statements relating to these figures should be viewed in these circumstances and the public is advised that they should adopt a holistic approach to decisions involving shares of the company."

The folks at Reuters are bound to be getting smug about the fact that their name keeps cropping up in corporate disclosures. I'd like to know how come we're not seeing this when Bloomberg and Dow Jones reporters go out and interview chief executives? Knowing the "eager beavers" at Bloomberg – many of them personally – the mere fact Reuters are conducting interviews gets them into the news will trigger a few patronising sniggers in Capital Square.

Leaving that aside, the point I am particularly pleased about is that CEOs are at least still talking. Eversince Henn Tan, CEO of Trek2000, paid S$75,000 in a civial penalty on April 4, 2006, for telling a Reuters journalist on January 19 that he expected sales and earnings to grow by 20% to 25% over the next three to five years, my fear was that corporate chiefs would just stop giving interviews. It's difficult enough to get answers out of many of them because they are too scared to run foul of the regulator.

Don’t get me wrong – the market should be the first to be informed of any guidance or other significant developments or material announcements. It's good these companies are overdisclosing. It shows the regulatory regime in Singapore is respected. I don't think anyone disputes that.

But for companies to simply zip up their lips and refuse to talk for fear of saying something wrong would have been – in my opinion – the wrong decision for the companies involved, bad for the news business, and worst of all a bad decision for investors who rely on reporters to fossick out interesting snippets of information (pardon the pun, my friends at DJ). It's often these snippets, insights and colour that make the difference between investors paying attention or not.

So, kudos to you, Lionel Lee and the corporate communications people at Ezra, for not only taking part in the interview, but also making the story available to the rest of the market in keeping with timely disclosure.