Why SPH will suffer in this age of quality citizen journalism

[Nice-Gook]

a lot of folks here don't seems to know what they are wishing for ....no pro government media har?...what is that suppose to mean ?...stay neutral ? meaning fuck every givernment that is in power ?...how than will they survive if the sitting government cuts off that newspapers advertisement and other revenues including its licence to print ?

let me elaborate ...lets take malaysia our closes neighbours...the parties in power decided to take over established newspaper ...UMNO ,the biggest malay based political party took Utusan Melayu and the chinese based MCA took over the STAR an English newspaper ...the oppositions such as Anwars PKR and DAP and even the ultra religious and ultra malay based party like PAS all had their own newspapers ...in short ,each newspaper printing their version of news ...now ,UMNO and MCA are coalition partners ...but where the ethnic interest differed they gave their own twist to the same news ..e.g., in the matter of chinese schools ,the opposition party like DAP and the party in power MCA agreed but the malay based UMNO and the opposition also a malay based PAS disagreed

than we had whole list of opposition news portals like the Malaysiakini ,Malaysian Insider ,Malaysia Today and so on and so forth ...and they were entirely quite opposition in everything they report about the BN government which consisted of UMNO ,MCA and MIC....but they too were not quite dependent on finance by subscription alone ...interested foreigners including local tycoons and even foreigners such as Soros bankrolled them

Now ,when UMNO lost power in the last election the Utusan Melayu which has the longest history went bust and closed...than Malaysiakini readership and subscription shot way high and it printed news never dared before such as questioning the royalties and bumi privilages....than all of a sudden Dr.M went down. and Mohideen seized power...now ,Malaysiakini went very very quiet and talks lot less even thouh Dr M and Mohideen are from the very same political party Bersatu

now ,you tell me whether there is such thing as a free press ?

 

[steffychun]

a lot of folks here don't seems to know what they are wishing for ....no pro government media har?...what is that suppose to mean ?...stay neutral ? meaning fuck every givernment that is in power ?...how than will they survive if the sitting government cuts off that newspapers advertisement and other revenues including its licence to print ?

let me elaborate ...lets take malaysia our closes neighbours...the parties in power decided to take over established newspaper ...UMNO ,the biggest malay based political party took Utusan Melayu and the chinese based MCA took over the STAR an English newspaper ...the oppositions such as Anwars PKR and DAP and even the ultra religious and ultra malay based party like PAS all had their own newspapers ...in short ,each newspaper printing their version of news ...now ,UMNO and MCA are coalition partners ...but where the ethnic interest differed they gave their own twist to the same news ..e.g., in the matter of chinese schools ,the opposition party like DAP and the party in power MCA agreed but the malay based UMNO and the opposition also a malay based PAS disagreed

than we had whole list of opposition news portals like the Malaysiakini ,Malaysian Insider ,Malaysia Today and so on and so forth ...and they were entirely quite opposition in everything they report about the BN government which consisted of UMNO ,MCA and MIC....but they too were not quite dependent on finance by subscription alone ...interested foreigners including local tycoons and even foreigners such as Soros bankrolled them

Now ,when UMNO lost power in the last election the Utusan Melayu which has the longest history went bust and closed...than Malaysiakini readership and subscription shot way high and it printed news never dared before such as questioning the royalties and bumi privilages....than all of a sudden Dr.M went down. and Mohideen seized power...now ,Malaysiakini went very very quiet and talks lot less even thouh Dr M and Mohideen are from the very same political party Bersatu

now ,you tell me whether there is such thing as a free press ?

Yes go to Norway.

 

[Nice-Gook]

Yes go to Norway.

hello pal,did you surf the net to get that information ?

please do tell me of personal experience of freedom of the press if it's Norway or others

i know malaysia pretty well and follow its news just as I do in sinkieland ..hence,what ever I wrote is out of my experience

now to Norway ,i have read its pretty much the same as elsewhere except the sitting government does not interfere in any publications but the fact still remains each publication writes their version of a story

this is another story line i heard to in a very democratic country with many many so called free presses ...come election ,the reporter interviews a candidate..than followed by a phone call ..my editor wants to know how much advertisement are you or your party paying for this interview to be published ?....that is the bottom of the line

even LKY did that ,hear of the Far Eastern Economic Review ?...a very reputable publication based in HK and quite critical of PAP....now ,LKY did not ban it ...what he did was print it verbatim here in Singapore without its advertisement and circulated in Sinkie free of charge ...he proved a point that if a publication is denied advertisement revenue its aa good as dead

 

[Pinkieslut]

Our twin problems for a long time were no press freedom and no competition. Add digitalisation now. It's the end for SPH.

a lot of folks here don't seems to know what they are wishing for ....no pro government media har?...what is that suppose to mean ?...stay neutral ? meaning fuck every givernment that is in power ?...how than will they survive if the sitting government cuts off that newspapers advertisement and other revenues including its licence to print ?

let me elaborate ...lets take malaysia our closes neighbours...the parties in power decided to take over established newspaper ...UMNO ,the biggest malay based political party took Utusan Melayu and the chinese based MCA took over the STAR an English newspaper ...the oppositions such as Anwars PKR and DAP and even the ultra religious and ultra malay based party like PAS all had their own newspapers ...in short ,each newspaper printing their version of news ...now ,UMNO and MCA are coalition partners ...but where the ethnic interest differed they gave their own twist to the same news ..e.g., in the matter of chinese schools ,the opposition party like DAP and the party in power MCA agreed but the malay based UMNO and the opposition also a malay based PAS disagreed

than we had whole list of opposition news portals like the Malaysiakini ,Malaysian Insider ,Malaysia Today and so on and so forth ...and they were entirely quite opposition in everything they report about the BN government which consisted of UMNO ,MCA and MIC....but they too were not quite dependent on finance by subscription alone ...interested foreigners including local tycoons and even foreigners such as Soros bankrolled them

Now ,when UMNO lost power in the last election the Utusan Melayu which has the longest history went bust and closed...than Malaysiakini readership and subscription shot way high and it printed news never dared before such as questioning the royalties and bumi privilages....than all of a sudden Dr.M went down. and Mohideen seized power...now ,Malaysiakini went very very quiet and talks lot less even thouh Dr M and Mohideen are from the very same political party Bersatu

now ,you tell me whether there is such thing as a free press ?

I am on your side that there’s really no such thing as free press. 2020 is a watershed year where all so call free media and so call democratic Cuntries resort to fork tongue speak and faked news.

but let’s call a spade a spade. Singapore media is absolutely atrocious. It’s sterile, dull, lacking creativity. some here might say it’s faul of controls from Singapore government. I will dare say because the shitizens here do not have much creativity, passion or gut in their genome. Even it’s AMDK wannable news channel CNA is way behind Communist a China CTGN and Putin’s Russia Times (RT).

 

[Confuseous]

Buy to clean dog shit?

This is not fair to advertisers - they will think that the readership circulation is high, not knowing that
the broadsheet has found its soul brothers in dog shit.

 

[bushtucker]

https://rsf.org/en/singapore

Not surprising lah. Sinkieland is 158th on the world press freedom index.

 

[laksaboy]

Those clowns working at SPH are not journalists. End of story.

The true test of a journalist: see what topics he/she dare not touch, and what are the consequences should there be a temerity to touch those topics. OB markers, red line, invisible walls... call them what you fancy.

 

[Nice-Gook]

Those clowns working at SPH are not journalists. End of story.

The true test of a journalist: see what topics he/she dare not touch, and what are the consequences should there be a temerity to touch those topics. OB markers, red line, invisible walls... call them what you fancy.

hope you are aware how newspapers are run these days

yes ,a journalist can hunt and write a story unknown and might be a ground breaking one too...but will it be published ?...that decision lies with the editors and sometimes with people further up the ladder .

 

[laksaboy]

hope you are aware how newspapers are run these days

yes ,a journalist can hunt and write a story unknown and might be a ground breaking one too...but will it be published ?...that decision lies with the editors and sometimes with people further up the ladder .

Oh don't worry about it, those so-called 'editors' also love to consider themselves as 'journalists'.

 

[Confuseous]

hope you are aware how newspapers are run these days

yes ,a journalist can hunt and write a story unknown and might be a ground breaking one too...but will it be published ?...that decision lies with the editors and sometimes with people further up the ladder .

Agreed. It all depends on the DNA and the owners. Murdoch is pro-Trump, so he allows all the crap that DT dishes out every day on Fox. Or The Guardian
in the UK.

 

[Nice-Gook]

Agreed. It all depends on the DNA and the owners. Murdoch is pro-Trump, so he allows all the crap that DT dishes out every day on Fox. Or The Guardian
in the UK.

That’s how things are cut in newspaper business ,politics and even life too

and I must add the decision to side one against another is neither a natural one either ...such are made on vested interest ...if our PAP folks were not currying favour with the American Jewish lobby things would have gone very badly for SG as a whole ,,,Malaysia and Indonesia has all the more to offer for Yankees locus standing here but the Jewish lobby will have none of it

 

[quidnunc]

hope you are aware how newspapers are run these days

yes ,a journalist can hunt and write a story unknown and might be a ground breaking one too...but will it be published ?...that decision lies with the editors and sometimes with people further up the ladder .

During LKY days, the joke was the "editor in chief" was his press secretary, acting on his instructions.

Nowadays, the role is performed by head of media, who is not a journalist. Current office holder is Anthony Tan, ex civil servant. Warren Fernandez, editor in chief in name, reports to him. NYC is the last gatekeeper.

Under the pap, SPH has become its personal mouthpiece. It reports what the government wants to say and not try to be too clever. Hence, investigative journalism or critical opinions are not encouraged. Only a few senior writers are allowed to pen commentaries but not on politically sensitive topics, especially before election time. Yet, these are the issues that concern the electorate. A few writers who went overboard or developed a conscience have lost their jobs.

Let me relate a true story of how a former ST political editor who rose to become ST editor , chairs meeting. He goes round the table of journalists asking the question: "Positive or negative", referring to the perspective from which the story will be viewed by government.

When a news organisation has been run in such a way for such a long time, the editorial instincts have become part of its DNA. The world has changed and moved on, but SPH is stuck in pre digitalisation age. In recent years, it has invested heavily in introducing new technologies into the newsroom, boasting it has digital newsrooms. But it has failed to realise it's not the technology but people who write stories and report the news. That, unfortunately, has not changed because the senior management continues to see itself as an obedient party organ.

 

[Nice-Gook]

During LKY days, the joke was the "editor in chief" was his press secretary, acting on his instructions.

Nowadays, the role is performed by head of media, who is not a journalist. Current office holder is Anthony Tan, ex civil servant. Warren Fernandez, editor in chief in name, reports to him. NYC is the last gatekeeper.

Under the pap, SPH has become its personal mouthpiece. It reports what the government wants to say and not try to be too clever. Hence, investigative journalism or critical opinions are not encouraged. Only a few senior writers are allowed to pen commentaries but not on politically sensitive topics, especially before election time. Yet, these are the issues that concern the electorate. A few writers who went overboard or developed a conscience have lost their jobs.

Let me relate a true story of how a former ST political editor who rose to become ST editor , chairs meeting. He goes round the table of journalists asking the question: "Positive or negative", referring to the perspective from which the story will be viewed by government.

When a news organisation has been run in such a way for such a long time, the editorial instincts have become part of its DNA. The world has changed and moved on, but SPH is stuck in pre digitalisation age. In recent years, it has invested heavily in introducing new technologies into the newsroom, boasting it has digital newsrooms. But it has failed to realise it's not the technology but people who write stories and report the news. That, unfortunately, has not changed because the senior management continues to see itself as an obedient party organ.

just 1 questions ...will tons and tons of truth exposed and written will ever move our voters ?

why ?

even the ever present 30% opposition never gets any representation in the parliment

 

[quidnunc]

just 1 questions ...will tons and tons of truth exposed and written will ever move our voters ?

why ?

even the ever present 30% opposition never gets any representation in the parliment

Huge damage has been done to the media in Singapore since independence. Cannot be repaired overnight. It'll take a long time to rebuild trust and credibility.

Media is only one factor of influence on voters, though an important one.

 

[Nice-Gook]

Huge damage has been done to the media in Singapore since independence. Cannot be repaired overnight. It'll take a long time to rebuild trust and credibility.

Media is only one factor of influence on voters, though an important one.

agree and disagree...yes ,both

agree that political wise ours is indeed shitty times but our voters seems not too concerned either ...how to explain people who gave their lives fighting PAP never got to be elected

but there is another failure too of our newspaper ...have you read The Star ,the malysian English newspaper operated by the Malaysian Chinese Association a party within the Barison National ?...it's also a government mouthpiece so as to speak ....but I really like to pick up its Sunday Edition ...full of untold interesting articles that would delight you ...at least some form journalism is exercised but grossly missing in sinkieland

 

[Confuseous]

SPH has always been headed staffed by ex-ISD personnel - starting from Nathan, Patrick Daniel, that Tjong xxx, Chua Mui Hoong etc

According Balji in his book, there was no need for govt to have someone in the editorial room the way Putin does - the presstitudes have
been well trained in the art of self-censorship.

 

[quidnunc]

agree and disagree...yes ,both

agree that political wise ours is indeed shitty times but our voters seems not too concerned either ...how to explain people who gave their lives fighting PAP never got to be elected

but there is another failure too of our newspaper ...have you read The Star ,the malysian English newspaper operated by the Malaysian Chinese Association a party within the Barison National ?...it's also a government mouthpiece so as to speak ....but I really like to pick up its Sunday Edition ...full of untold interesting articles that would delight you ...at least some form journalism is exercised but grossly missing in sinkieland

I am not surprised. In terms of press freedom and democratic practices, singapore is lagging behind Malaysia, not to mention Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. These countries have a common history in overthrowing dictators or changing authoritarian governments. The only other non communist Asean country (let's leave aside Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos) that we can compare with is Brunei. That is, of course, setting a very low bar. But the truth hurts.

 

[quidnunc]

SPH has always been headed staffed by ex-ISD personnel - starting from Nathan, Patrick Daniel, that Tjong xxx, Chua Mui Hoong etc

According Balji in his book, there was no need for govt to have someone in the editorial room the way Putin does - the presstitudes have
been well trained in the art of self-censorship.

Nathan and Tjong were from ISD. Pat D was from Trade & Industry. I dont think CMH was ever from ISD. You may be referring to her sis, Lee Hoong, who was ex ISD, and was also an ST editor.

Honestly, there are some editors who are not from ISD, but behave worse than ISD.

 

[hofmann]

just 1 questions ...will tons and tons of truth exposed and written will ever move our voters ?

The answer is Yes. If Malaysia only had one newspaper under Umno, the jho low saga would never have been revealed and najib will still be in power.

A "free" press is the last protection for a democracy against government abuse.

Unless you believe ownself check ownself is the way forward for our country.

 

[laksaboy]

just 1 questions ...will tons and tons of truth exposed and written will ever move our voters ?

why ?

even the ever present 30% opposition never gets any representation in the parliment

Of course, the system is rigged and the media is controlled.

The tons of untruths SPH and Mediacorp churn out on a daily basis evidently has an effect on the voters.