Former ST political desk journalist: We were not allowed to report on good opposition candidates or highlight anything good about them

[melzp]

Many brilliant concise journalists left coz

THERE ARE MANY UNWRITTEN RULES.

And why they put kbw there for what ?

 

[Scrooball (clone)]

If you are brilliant, will u choose to write for Shit Times? Haha

Let’s face it la, it’s a monopoly, and if you don’t like it, the door is wide open for you!

 

[Majulah]

your eyes must be ta stamp then

this is exactly the reason the world is in constant chaos . when face with the truth those evil people without any conscience pretend not to
see it , worse , these evil people will instead offer a rebuttal with some twisted logic or lies. there are a lot of this kind of people in the west.
all done to perpetual their selfish interest and power.

 

[myfoot123]

You don't need the former ST editor to tell the truth. It has always been there since time immemorial resulted in Shit Times, having to undergo several restructuring and retrenchment exercises due to poor readerships.

 

[Majulah]

 

[TerrexLee]

More like ta sai.

 

[jw5]

Wish her good luck in her future endeavours.

 

[joemartini]

if they dare, all those ex-ST political desks journalists come out into the open and trash the system like those reservists who challenged LHL over the Ivan Lim saga. It is GE season now. do they dare? all of them???

 

[laksaboy]

Of course. Because you people are not journalists. You are propagandists of a totalitarian regime.

There is a big difference.

Your 'journalism' is comparable to North Korea's Rodong Sinmun or China's Xinhua.

In summary: don't flatter yourselves, and don't insult the profession of journalism.

 

[joemartini]

look closely...these ex journalists lost their jobs due to poor readership and now only dare to come out into the open??
the saving bank account drying up already?? prolonged unemployment starting to bite??

 

[glockman]

The pap will never allow a level playing field, because they are cowards. Everything they do is to ensure their own survival. Even at the expense of SG and sinkies. And fuck those sinkies who are not able to see through their bs.

 

[steffychun]

I get super worked up when I hear people say "opposition candidates are not good". I also feel bad because as a journalist on the Straits Times political desk, I was part of the media machinery that helped perpetuate this image.


There always have been really good opposition candidates who dared to put themselves up for election - you just never heard about them because we were not allowed to report on good opposition candidates or highlight anything good about them. But news of silly minor things that made them look bad - those we played up. (Photos of them with eyes half closed, mouths open, looking sweaty etc were encouraged.)


There were, of course, a fair number of real nutjobs that emerged during elections. Those we played up. A lot. To build up the image that opposition is ridiculous and have no real candidates. If you still feel that way, it means you fell for the ploy.


My favourite opposition candidate was Dr Wong Wee Nam who has since passed away. I covered his candidacy in 1997. If you've never heard of him and still think "opposition" never had good people... well, that's thanks to mainstream media.


I tried my best to give Dr Wong and his team fair coverage. Once even managed to get a full page coverage for his party then - National Solidarity Party. It actually went to print... but boy was there hell to pay the next day. Editors had to scramble to explain to the "higher ups" why opposition candidates were given so much coverage.


Editors explained to us later on, in seemingly-logical language that "coverage of parties must be proportionate to the number of MPs they had in government". Meaning it is totally fair for opposition candidates to get little to no coverage.

More at https://shrtcô.de/Rbofie

Well known

 

[bigozt]

Those dark ages before internet were long and dark. In 1991, LTK quietly slipped into Hougang under JBJ's long shadow while media whore's attention was focused on Chiam's SDP. Pappies learnt all these tricks from the Commies. Fuck PAP!

 

[birdie69]

The pap will never allow a level playing field, because they are cowards. Everything they do is to ensure their own survival. Even at the expense of SG and sinkies. And fuck those sinkies who are not able to see through their bs.

They have no confidence or don't know how to compete in a level playing fiel?

 

[steffychun]

Praise opp you'll be unemploed esp from govt jobs for life. Or sued.