http://theladymelissa.blogspot.com/2009/03/paper-fit-for-peasants.html
Monday, March 23, 2009
A Paper Fit For Peasants
I have been busy and so distracted by my real life that I have not been able to come here to participate in inane conversations with morons. A very close friend of mine was a very close friend of Dr. Allan Ooi, the SAF scholar doctor who committed suicide, and comforting her day and night has left me emotionally drained as well.
Needless to say, readers of my blog must have seen his suicide note all over the internet. First of all, I must confirm that the SAF bond is, for all intents and purposes, is unbreakable. Do not ask me for details - if any of you have SAF scholar friends, you can ask them. That was also probably the main reason for Allan's suicide.
But that is not the point of this post. The point of this post is to express my utter disgust at the idiots who run especially The Straits Times, and all the SPH papers. A few days after the suicide, the Straits Times, OUR NATIONAL BROADSHEET, printed a full page article on PAGE THREE, speculating that Allan had committed suicide because he played too many computer games. Notwithstanding the fact that by then, a copy of the letter had already been emailed to them, that article was so utterly banal, puerile and noxiously unbelievable I doubt it would have even made it to The News of the World. Yet, it appeared on PAGE THREE of our NATIONAL BROADSHEET, who regularly awards prizes to itself for 'superb journalism'. Other papers like Shin Min, The New Paper etc also ran equally moronic articles, but at least they do not labour under the responsibility of being our nation's only broadsheet. As such, I do not hold them to equally high standards of journalistic ability, even if they do exhibit the same level of intellectual disability.
Every day, I am forced to read The Straits Time because it is my only source of lo! cal vill age news, except that sometimes, this local village news, which should really be buried somewhere in the Home section, somehow appears in Prime News. Like when Fandi Ahmad's wife fell down. Really now - prime news? In a national broadsheet? If David Beckham's wife Victoria fell down, even though they are true celebrities,it would hardly deserve a mention in The Guardian. But we do live in a village populated by peasants, and our national broadsheet surely is an authentic reflection of this.
Yet, many bright minds have gone overseas to the best global universities, and could have come back to join what is one of the most respected professions in the world, journalism. But that is precisely the problem. Journalists in Singapore, having for years having to bear the stigma of writing for a village witless newspaper, have become one of the most denigrated, laughed-at and even despised profession. As such, no self-respecting intellectual will ever aspire to join SPH. Thus, only third-rate minds join SPH, and continue to churn out third-rate dribble. Even SPH scholars are third-rate, often having been rejected by other scholarship boards, and the good ones break their (breakable) bonds way before they are up. And so, the vicious cycle continues.
The newspapers in Singapore are not worth the paper they are written on. Like any generalisation, it remains that. There are a few journalists I admire, like Janadas Devan (the son of our Singapore's third President Devan Nair), especially when he tore apart the parliamentary speech of that repulsive bigoted homophobe and religious fundamentalist, MP Thio Li-An.
By and large however, this incident has re-affirmed what I have known all along. The Straits Times is truly a paper fit for peasants.
Monday, March 23, 2009
A Paper Fit For Peasants
I have been busy and so distracted by my real life that I have not been able to come here to participate in inane conversations with morons. A very close friend of mine was a very close friend of Dr. Allan Ooi, the SAF scholar doctor who committed suicide, and comforting her day and night has left me emotionally drained as well.
Needless to say, readers of my blog must have seen his suicide note all over the internet. First of all, I must confirm that the SAF bond is, for all intents and purposes, is unbreakable. Do not ask me for details - if any of you have SAF scholar friends, you can ask them. That was also probably the main reason for Allan's suicide.
But that is not the point of this post. The point of this post is to express my utter disgust at the idiots who run especially The Straits Times, and all the SPH papers. A few days after the suicide, the Straits Times, OUR NATIONAL BROADSHEET, printed a full page article on PAGE THREE, speculating that Allan had committed suicide because he played too many computer games. Notwithstanding the fact that by then, a copy of the letter had already been emailed to them, that article was so utterly banal, puerile and noxiously unbelievable I doubt it would have even made it to The News of the World. Yet, it appeared on PAGE THREE of our NATIONAL BROADSHEET, who regularly awards prizes to itself for 'superb journalism'. Other papers like Shin Min, The New Paper etc also ran equally moronic articles, but at least they do not labour under the responsibility of being our nation's only broadsheet. As such, I do not hold them to equally high standards of journalistic ability, even if they do exhibit the same level of intellectual disability.
Every day, I am forced to read The Straits Time because it is my only source of lo! cal vill age news, except that sometimes, this local village news, which should really be buried somewhere in the Home section, somehow appears in Prime News. Like when Fandi Ahmad's wife fell down. Really now - prime news? In a national broadsheet? If David Beckham's wife Victoria fell down, even though they are true celebrities,it would hardly deserve a mention in The Guardian. But we do live in a village populated by peasants, and our national broadsheet surely is an authentic reflection of this.
Yet, many bright minds have gone overseas to the best global universities, and could have come back to join what is one of the most respected professions in the world, journalism. But that is precisely the problem. Journalists in Singapore, having for years having to bear the stigma of writing for a village witless newspaper, have become one of the most denigrated, laughed-at and even despised profession. As such, no self-respecting intellectual will ever aspire to join SPH. Thus, only third-rate minds join SPH, and continue to churn out third-rate dribble. Even SPH scholars are third-rate, often having been rejected by other scholarship boards, and the good ones break their (breakable) bonds way before they are up. And so, the vicious cycle continues.
The newspapers in Singapore are not worth the paper they are written on. Like any generalisation, it remains that. There are a few journalists I admire, like Janadas Devan (the son of our Singapore's third President Devan Nair), especially when he tore apart the parliamentary speech of that repulsive bigoted homophobe and religious fundamentalist, MP Thio Li-An.
By and large however, this incident has re-affirmed what I have known all along. The Straits Times is truly a paper fit for peasants.
