<TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgF noWrap align=right width="1%">From: </TD><TD class=msgFname noWrap width="68%">kojakbt22 <NOBR>
</NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate noWrap align=right width="30%">7:41 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT noWrap align=right width="1%" height=20>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname noWrap width="68%">ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 1) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft width="1%" rowSpan=4> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>8527.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Blogs' reach limited: Study
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Mainstream media is still the key source of news and views </TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Clarissa Oon, Senior Political Correspondent
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->SINGAPORE'S socio-political blogs have grown in the quality of writing, but their reach remains limited compared to mainstream media, two Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) researchers said yesterday.
Most Singaporeans still rely heavily on traditional media for news and views, IPS senior research fellow Tan Tarn How said in a presentation on developments in the local blogosphere.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD>
VIDEO
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Mr Tan compared the several thousand readers who tune in to socio-political websites The Online Citizen (TOC) and The Wayang Party Club to The Straits Times' circulation of nearly 400,000 and its readership of 1.3 million.
He also cited a Gallup poll conducted in 2005 and 2006 in which 69 per cent of Singaporeans said they had confidence in their mainstream media, compared to 32 per cent in the United States.
Mr Tan said that until 12 to 18 months ago, bloggers who wrote on social and political issues did so mainly as commentators and armchair critics in an 'echo chamber' that had little impact offline.
More recently, however, bloggers from TOC and The Wayang Party Club have done more activism and original reporting.
One example was TOC speaking out last September against the public transport fare hikes and releasing a 10-page report on how to improve the transport system.
Another example was during the online outcry over Permanent Secretary Tan Yong Soon's expensive culinary holiday, in which Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC MP Charles Chong was also targeted after he was quoted as using the term 'lesser mortals' to describe the Permanent Secretary's critics.
The Wayang Party Club wrote to Mr Chong to get him to clarify his remarks, and ran his full reply on its website.
But TOC and Wayang Party Club editors do not think the majority of Singaporeans are aware of their sites, said IPS researcher Tan, who interviewed them.
He noted that while contributors to these sites do first-hand reporting on issues that they feel have not been well covered by the traditional media, they face two major constraints.
The first is a lack of resources as these sites are run largely by unpaid part-time volunteers.
The second is what Mr Tan called the presence of an 'offline-online firewall'.
He explained it in this way: 'What appears online is not really part of a national conversation unless it has appeared in The Straits Times or Channel News Asia.'
As traditional media does not often report on issues debated online, Internet discourse is more like a 'subaltern public sphere, confined to a small group of people, dispossessed critical voices outside the public sphere', he explained.
The main reason more Singaporeans are not going online for political news and views is that 'the Government is seen as credible and responsive', he added.
For instance, when Minister in charge of the Civil Service Teo Chee Hean reprimanded Mr Tan Yong Soon in Parliament, it 'helped to defuse some of the anger' over the issue, he said.
Debating the IPS team's findings, bloggers and academics in the audience did not question the present lack of a wider readership for sociopolitical blogs, but disagreed with some of the researchers' assumptions.
Nanyang Technological University journalism professor Cherian George questioned if the phenomenon of bloggers dabbling in citizen journalism and activism was really new. He cited the Think Centre website run by activist James Gomez since 2000.
Mr Gomez, who was a Workers' Party candidate in the 2006 election and who was at the seminar, disagreed with Mr Tan about the need for more 'professionalism' on the Internet - an evolving medium which he felt appeals to participants precisely because it is 'rough around the edges'.
But TOC editor-in-chief Choo Zheng Xi, a law undergraduate, said his writers were working to improve their reporting skills.
Drawing the dialogue to a close, IPS director Ong Keng Yong observed that alternative voices had always been present in Singapore, not just in recent years.
The growing sophistication of expression on the blogosphere was, however, a very important development, a challenge which the Government must rise to, he added.
For bloggers, his piece of advice is: Even as blogs become more sophisticated, readers are also becoming more sophisticated. 'So bloggers should be aware that what they write may last just 24 or 48 hours,' he said.
[email protected]
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</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Mainstream media is still the key source of news and views </TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Clarissa Oon, Senior Political Correspondent
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- show image if available --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->SINGAPORE'S socio-political blogs have grown in the quality of writing, but their reach remains limited compared to mainstream media, two Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) researchers said yesterday.
Most Singaporeans still rely heavily on traditional media for news and views, IPS senior research fellow Tan Tarn How said in a presentation on developments in the local blogosphere.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD>
VIDEO
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
<TABLE align=left><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Political blogs take a leap forward
(2:27)
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- Background Story --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>He was speaking at a seminar attended by about 60 bloggers, academics and media professionals at the National University of Singapore's Bukit Timah Campus.
(2:27)
Mr Tan compared the several thousand readers who tune in to socio-political websites The Online Citizen (TOC) and The Wayang Party Club to The Straits Times' circulation of nearly 400,000 and its readership of 1.3 million.
He also cited a Gallup poll conducted in 2005 and 2006 in which 69 per cent of Singaporeans said they had confidence in their mainstream media, compared to 32 per cent in the United States.
Mr Tan said that until 12 to 18 months ago, bloggers who wrote on social and political issues did so mainly as commentators and armchair critics in an 'echo chamber' that had little impact offline.
More recently, however, bloggers from TOC and The Wayang Party Club have done more activism and original reporting.
One example was TOC speaking out last September against the public transport fare hikes and releasing a 10-page report on how to improve the transport system.
Another example was during the online outcry over Permanent Secretary Tan Yong Soon's expensive culinary holiday, in which Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC MP Charles Chong was also targeted after he was quoted as using the term 'lesser mortals' to describe the Permanent Secretary's critics.
The Wayang Party Club wrote to Mr Chong to get him to clarify his remarks, and ran his full reply on its website.
But TOC and Wayang Party Club editors do not think the majority of Singaporeans are aware of their sites, said IPS researcher Tan, who interviewed them.
He noted that while contributors to these sites do first-hand reporting on issues that they feel have not been well covered by the traditional media, they face two major constraints.
The first is a lack of resources as these sites are run largely by unpaid part-time volunteers.
The second is what Mr Tan called the presence of an 'offline-online firewall'.
He explained it in this way: 'What appears online is not really part of a national conversation unless it has appeared in The Straits Times or Channel News Asia.'
As traditional media does not often report on issues debated online, Internet discourse is more like a 'subaltern public sphere, confined to a small group of people, dispossessed critical voices outside the public sphere', he explained.
The main reason more Singaporeans are not going online for political news and views is that 'the Government is seen as credible and responsive', he added.
For instance, when Minister in charge of the Civil Service Teo Chee Hean reprimanded Mr Tan Yong Soon in Parliament, it 'helped to defuse some of the anger' over the issue, he said.
Debating the IPS team's findings, bloggers and academics in the audience did not question the present lack of a wider readership for sociopolitical blogs, but disagreed with some of the researchers' assumptions.
Nanyang Technological University journalism professor Cherian George questioned if the phenomenon of bloggers dabbling in citizen journalism and activism was really new. He cited the Think Centre website run by activist James Gomez since 2000.
Mr Gomez, who was a Workers' Party candidate in the 2006 election and who was at the seminar, disagreed with Mr Tan about the need for more 'professionalism' on the Internet - an evolving medium which he felt appeals to participants precisely because it is 'rough around the edges'.
But TOC editor-in-chief Choo Zheng Xi, a law undergraduate, said his writers were working to improve their reporting skills.
Drawing the dialogue to a close, IPS director Ong Keng Yong observed that alternative voices had always been present in Singapore, not just in recent years.
The growing sophistication of expression on the blogosphere was, however, a very important development, a challenge which the Government must rise to, he added.
For bloggers, his piece of advice is: Even as blogs become more sophisticated, readers are also becoming more sophisticated. 'So bloggers should be aware that what they write may last just 24 or 48 hours,' he said.
[email protected]
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