tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5539995.post110069836835542162..comments2023-11-05T17:53:13.405+08:00Comments on Singabloodypore: Singapore slams media watchdog for low ranking in press freedomUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5539995.post-1147658003212881232006-05-15T09:53:00.003+08:002006-05-15T09:53:00.003+08:00Great work!http://tpinvxui.com/ailv/qdfz.html | ht...Great work!<BR/>http://tpinvxui.com/ailv/qdfz.html | http://drmxwnaz.com/oryj/ycjk.htmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5539995.post-1147657989966358712006-05-15T09:53:00.001+08:002006-05-15T09:53:00.001+08:00Good design!My homepage | Please visitGood design!<BR/><A HREF="http://tpinvxui.com/ailv/qdfz.html" REL="nofollow">My homepage</A> | <A HREF="http://ewpbsfqv.com/hmst/rxnw.html" REL="nofollow">Please visit</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5539995.post-1147657988314105202006-05-15T09:53:00.000+08:002006-05-15T09:53:00.000+08:00Thank you![url=http://tpinvxui.com/ailv/qdfz.html]...Thank you!<BR/>[url=http://tpinvxui.com/ailv/qdfz.html]My homepage[/url] | [url=http://yvcwrsly.com/ioiz/aoph.html]Cool site[/url]Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5539995.post-1101119322407640332004-11-22T18:28:00.000+08:002004-11-22T18:28:00.000+08:00Good link. I've criticized Andy Ho and Chua Lee Ho...Good link. I've criticized Andy Ho and Chua Lee Hoong much along the same lines before. Chua is the paradigm of sycophantic journalism.<br /><br />Singapore, btw, has no "intellectual elite". It has, at most, a self-indulgent chattering class.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5539995.post-1100843631971985622004-11-19T13:53:00.000+08:002004-11-19T13:53:00.000+08:00Right, North Korea a beacon of press freedom then?...Right, North Korea a beacon of press freedom then? After all, they have "special circumstances" and an alternative model too - not to mention non-Western values. <br /><br />Not much of a response is it? Clearly, (mis)Information Minister Lee Boon Yang's defensive blustering is nothing more than an _ignoratio elenchi_.<br /><br />Criticism per se is of course not indicative of the level of press freedom. But of course. No one suggested otherwise. Rather, the point is that press freedom is unduly stifled in Singapore because of <br /><br />1. the perceived compliance of the judiciary when it comes to politically motivated litigation; <br /><br />2. the fact that senior editorial and management positions are staffed by ex secret police operatives (e.g. Chua Lee Hoong, Irene Ho, Susan Sim and Tjong Yik Min) and other loyalists who doubtless toe the line; <br /><br />3. the zealous tabs the state keeps on reporting that is even remotely controversial or critical; <br /><br />4. the fact that Singapore Press Holdings - which prints the main daily broadsheets - is closely linked to the government; and <br /><br />5. the austere strictness of the formal - and informal - regulative (and self-regulating) regimes of the press.<br /><br />In such a climate, no editor who is a career journalist will likely stake his professional life on the line by being overly critical, much less stoke controversy. Indeed, he'd do well to err on the side of prudence, seeing as the odds are stacked against maverick (dirty word, that!) journalism.<br /><br />But back to Mr. Lee's non-response. Nowhere in the Reporters sans frontières criteria was "criticism" mentioned as a criterion of assessment. Yet even if it were - it would have been merely 1 of 53 criteria of distributed weightage. Amongst the criteria are:<br /><br />". . . every kind of violation directly affecting journalists (such as murders, imprisonment, physical attacks and threats) and news media (censorship, confiscation of issues, searches and harassment). . . . the degree of impunity enjoyed by those responsible for these press freedom violations. . . . the legal and judicial situation affecting the news media (such as the penalties for press offences, the existence of a state monopoly in certain areas and the existence of a regulatory body) and the behaviour of the authorities towards the state-owned news media and international press."<br /><br />The honourable minister simply has not addressed what he purports to address - namely, the validity of the criteria used to assess press freedom. He claims we have a 'different press model', yet curiously does not elaborate on how we are to assess the level of press freedom in his "alternative model". Presumably, it would be assessed according to criteria predicated on "alternative" values then? So far so vague, but we are left none the wiser. <B>BECAUSE I FAIL TO SEE HOW *ELSE* ONE CAN ASSESS PRESS FREEDOM EXCEPT IN TERMS OF RESTRICTIONS TO THAT FREEDOM - PRECISELY THE CRITERIA EMPLOYED BY REPORTERS SANS FRONTIERES</B>.<br /><br />Unless of course, Mr Lee is suggesting we ditch the entire concept of press freedom as unimportant and irrelevant altogether, in which case he should just come right out and _say so_ instead of dancing around vacuous pronouncements about how we supposedly measure press freedom 'differently'.<br /><br />Oddly enough, when positive evaluations - from quasi-thinktanks such as PERC - as to our economic freedom, economic competitiveness, judiciary's competence, etc. are gaily splashed across the Straits Times as front page news I don't see them clucking about "different models" and 'alternative standards' of economic freedom!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5539995.post-1100830256093309122004-11-19T10:10:00.000+08:002004-11-19T10:10:00.000+08:00hey i'm back to haunt you ;)
anyway i was frankly...hey i'm back to haunt you ;)<br /><br />anyway i was frankly expecting more than just another 'harp' on the media in sg. perhaps a better way is to point out inconsistancies in the gov's handling of 'special' circumstances instead of just picking on the validity of it. This way it might be easier to convince detractors that either the media control is unwarranted or other governmental policies are mistakenly formulated, win win situation.<br /><br />Just a thought, from a humble undergrad :)<br />-ivan ivanandxia.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com