Long live citizen journalism!
Being away from Singapore this General Elections, I have had to rely on the internet as my sole source of information on how the hustings have proceeded. Apart from the Straight Times, I have had to rely on blogs such as SgRally.blogspot.com and ElectionRally.blogspot.com, which have posted an incredible amount of video clips of opposition rally speeches. Whoever these guys are, I just want to say kudos to them, because they are doing Singaporeans who are away from home like me a great service!
My conclusion? There is such a yawning gap between what the Straight Times tells us and the real truth. I used to be kind of proud of the fact that the Straight Times trounced leading Australian and New Zealand papers to win the Newspaper of the Year in the Pacific award. But the paper's coverage of the elections this time round has disgusted me totally, and many others, I'm sure.
After all, this is why people have turned to the new media. When all the existing media channels are not performing and functioning as they should, people will turn to other sources. Over the last few years, the Straight Times has become more and more sophisticatedly propagandistic, but I believe this elections, they have stepped across this certain threshold and pushed many like myself to rejecting the overall spirit of its message.
And not just tertiary-educated guys like myself. How else do you explain the throngs and throngs of people flocking to hear what the opposition parties have to say, including many of your heartlander ah gong, ah mah, auntie and ah beng types? Why are so many people flocking to even the rallies of the SDP, which has been so roundly dismissed as being good for nothing?
Editors at the Straight Times. Are you listening out there?
The one thing that has made this General Elections so markedly different from all the other ones before is just how much has been happening in the blogosphere and the online community (note: they are not one and the same thing). If I remember correctly, the last General Elections, there was such a hush and sense of fear on the Internet, as the mainstream media channels dominated the role information source. This time round, more people are armed with digital cameras and camera phones, more Singaporeans are bloggers (LiveJournal lists Singapore as the 9th largest nation of bloggers) and internet services like Youtube have made videoblogging a breeze.
A report in the Straight Times today dutifully reminds us, "The Government has made it clear that political parties cannot use podcasts and videocasts to advertise their parties during the election period. Individual websites and blogs are spared. But if they persistently promote a party or stance, they will have to be registered and once that happens, they are banned from such activity during the election period. Those who persist can face a sentence of up to $1,000 fine or 12 months in jail, or both."
It goes on to say, "In an e-mail reply, an Elections Department spokesman reminded bloggers to abide by the law. She said developments in the blogosphere were being tracked." and perhaps to strike some fear into the owners of the above mentioned blogs, it says, "Most of the clips put up on websites such as SG Rally and Singapore Election Rally Videos are on opposition rallies such as the Workers' Party one held at Hougang on Sunday."
Fearful of the potential repercussions, the guys at SG Rally took the bait and made an almost tearful plea for PAP rally clips. Perhaps expecting no response, it went on to post clips from Channel News Asia.
Why are citizen journalists not braving the rain armed with their videocams to take clips of PAP rallies? Because EVERYONE knows they will be dutifully covered by the mainstream media, including even the most inane things that the new candidates have to say. If the mainstream media in Singapore were doing their job in the first place, then those podcast blogs would at once lose their raison d'etre and cease to exist!
Editors at SPH and MediaCorp. Are you listening out there?
You will perhaps find it most ironic that here in China, during the SARS crisis, when the state-run CCTV channels were parroting the government's stand that SARS was a western conspiracy against China and that there was no SARS in China (I kid you not, I sat through those programmes), Chinese netizens, tired of the lies, turned to Lianhe Zaobao for information. LHZB is the only foreign Chinese-language newspaper allowed to circulate in China.
Having almost lost my life covering a story on Chinese democracy, I will still tell anyone today that the Chinese media is by far more critical of local politics than the Singapore media (the same does not apply for national, cross-strait and regional affairs - this is just my humble opinion but anyone is welcome to dispute me on that). As great as the Straight Times is in covering international news, I must say it has failed its readers in domestic politics.
If the PAP does not release its stronghold on the media in Singapore, and for as long as the Straight Times is happy to remain acting as an apologist for the PAP, then it will only be doomed to losing its credibility and by the next general elections, we would all be just relying on the new media as our information source.
Editors at the Straight Times and the PAP. Are you listening out there?
Long live citizen journalism!
Blog on, Singapore, and keep speaking up!
My conclusion? There is such a yawning gap between what the Straight Times tells us and the real truth. I used to be kind of proud of the fact that the Straight Times trounced leading Australian and New Zealand papers to win the Newspaper of the Year in the Pacific award. But the paper's coverage of the elections this time round has disgusted me totally, and many others, I'm sure.
After all, this is why people have turned to the new media. When all the existing media channels are not performing and functioning as they should, people will turn to other sources. Over the last few years, the Straight Times has become more and more sophisticatedly propagandistic, but I believe this elections, they have stepped across this certain threshold and pushed many like myself to rejecting the overall spirit of its message.
And not just tertiary-educated guys like myself. How else do you explain the throngs and throngs of people flocking to hear what the opposition parties have to say, including many of your heartlander ah gong, ah mah, auntie and ah beng types? Why are so many people flocking to even the rallies of the SDP, which has been so roundly dismissed as being good for nothing?
Editors at the Straight Times. Are you listening out there?
The one thing that has made this General Elections so markedly different from all the other ones before is just how much has been happening in the blogosphere and the online community (note: they are not one and the same thing). If I remember correctly, the last General Elections, there was such a hush and sense of fear on the Internet, as the mainstream media channels dominated the role information source. This time round, more people are armed with digital cameras and camera phones, more Singaporeans are bloggers (LiveJournal lists Singapore as the 9th largest nation of bloggers) and internet services like Youtube have made videoblogging a breeze.
A report in the Straight Times today dutifully reminds us, "The Government has made it clear that political parties cannot use podcasts and videocasts to advertise their parties during the election period. Individual websites and blogs are spared. But if they persistently promote a party or stance, they will have to be registered and once that happens, they are banned from such activity during the election period. Those who persist can face a sentence of up to $1,000 fine or 12 months in jail, or both."
It goes on to say, "In an e-mail reply, an Elections Department spokesman reminded bloggers to abide by the law. She said developments in the blogosphere were being tracked." and perhaps to strike some fear into the owners of the above mentioned blogs, it says, "Most of the clips put up on websites such as SG Rally and Singapore Election Rally Videos are on opposition rallies such as the Workers' Party one held at Hougang on Sunday."
Fearful of the potential repercussions, the guys at SG Rally took the bait and made an almost tearful plea for PAP rally clips. Perhaps expecting no response, it went on to post clips from Channel News Asia.
Why are citizen journalists not braving the rain armed with their videocams to take clips of PAP rallies? Because EVERYONE knows they will be dutifully covered by the mainstream media, including even the most inane things that the new candidates have to say. If the mainstream media in Singapore were doing their job in the first place, then those podcast blogs would at once lose their raison d'etre and cease to exist!
Editors at SPH and MediaCorp. Are you listening out there?
You will perhaps find it most ironic that here in China, during the SARS crisis, when the state-run CCTV channels were parroting the government's stand that SARS was a western conspiracy against China and that there was no SARS in China (I kid you not, I sat through those programmes), Chinese netizens, tired of the lies, turned to Lianhe Zaobao for information. LHZB is the only foreign Chinese-language newspaper allowed to circulate in China.
Having almost lost my life covering a story on Chinese democracy, I will still tell anyone today that the Chinese media is by far more critical of local politics than the Singapore media (the same does not apply for national, cross-strait and regional affairs - this is just my humble opinion but anyone is welcome to dispute me on that). As great as the Straight Times is in covering international news, I must say it has failed its readers in domestic politics.
If the PAP does not release its stronghold on the media in Singapore, and for as long as the Straight Times is happy to remain acting as an apologist for the PAP, then it will only be doomed to losing its credibility and by the next general elections, we would all be just relying on the new media as our information source.
Editors at the Straight Times and the PAP. Are you listening out there?
Long live citizen journalism!
Blog on, Singapore, and keep speaking up!