Singapore takes Journal editor to court - report

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The Singapore government is taking legal action against a senior editor of the Wall Street Journal, accusing her of being in contempt of court for three articles published last year, the Straits Times newspaper reported on Saturday.

The newspaper said Justice Tay Yong Kwang granted an application by the Attorney-General to start proceedings against Melanie Kirkpatrick, the deputy editor of the New York-based financial daily's editorial page.

The newspaper, citing court documents, said the government was initiating proceedings against her for "actions which resulted in the publication and distribution' of articles that contained passages that scandalise the Singapore judiciary".

The articles were published in June and July last year in the editorials and opinion section of the Asian edition of the WSJ, the Straits Times said. The Wall Street Journal is published by Dow Jones & Co, which is owned by News Corp's. Dow Jones officials were not immediately available to comment.

The move comes almost four months after a Singapore court found the Wall Street Journal in contempt of court for publishing the same three articles, and fined it S$25,000 ($16,580).

Singapore leaders have won damages, settlements and apologies in the past from foreign media groups when they reported on local politics, including The Economist, the Far Eastern Economic Review, Bloomberg News and the Financial Times.