Many people are awe by LKY’s past achievements and certain good deeds for S’pore. But along the process, LKY is only human and cannot play God. The worst fact is he wanted to play God and….. God forbids.

The Shit Times are to everyone’s knowledge mouthpiece of the establishment of PAP.

When good things are said on the forums, the editor will not think twice to publish the articles whether relevant or not. So to this day since 2008, I had stopped contributing to the forum page. A couple of my goodie goodie letters were published on the ST online in 2008. I now write on my own Blog.

This Dr John Ng is what you call one bootlicker out of many, harping the harmonious tune. So when LKY speaks many will listen with ‘the ears closed but
eye wide opened.’

Thank God we do have the internet media of news to counter the bias inclination of state MSM. We will play our own God. Nothing is greater than that.

Is it better to claim to be perfect or
to admit to imperfection?

i wonder.

“The journalistic profession is in bad enough shape as it is without half-baked bloggers confusing their art for news reporting.”

“…state-controlled papers…”

How can it be state controlled paper? Is it officially true?

Our journalists are free to write unbiased, non-selfserving news.
They , imho, write what they write Consciously knowing what is it they write.
They know exactly what they are writing. They write it themselves.
They are Free to resign if they do not agree with its policies or culture.
The fact that many of these work there for years or decades writing news for the citizens proves that they Choose to Work there.
These people are so talented, I assume they are Responsible for their writings being professional jouranlists and i assume they are bounded by some principles.

So, these are Professionally Responsible for writting what they wrote and what they continue to write, imho.

‘controlled’ is such a strong word. These people do their job based on free will.
With their talents, they can choose to work anywhere in the world. They Consciously Choose to work here.

To serve you.

I am a bipartisan regular reader of both Temasek Review (TR) and The Online Citizen (TOC) and I agree that TR still has some way to go before their articles can be considered news-worthy standard.

Another point is that TR did not publish a few of my comments on their grammatical and spelling mistakes, and this type of censorship is akin to Young PAP’s blacklisting of Alex from their facebook page.

A good non-mainstream news website with well-written articles would be Asia Sentinel.

TOC censors some comments as well, and I don’t want to go into which kinds of comments other than the usual race/religious/defamatory etc.

Let’s not compare TOC to TR, rather recommend both to aspire to reach standards of Asia Sentinel.

I’ve had some comments on TR deleted as well. The folks there obviously can’t take criticism, so I don’t expect their standard to rise any time soon.

Temasek Review is a joke.

First, they’re plagiarisers, cheats and theives who steal articles from others and claim as their own.

It’s all here: http://temasekreviewplagiarism.wordpress.com./

Then they’re suspected of being a MSM outfit. Notice how they can have access to the news so fast? Ordinary bloggers would never be able to do this. And no one knows who’re behind that blog or how they are able to pay people to write (as noted on their website).

The Secret Admirer of the MSM – Temasek Review – (SG Daily)

The PAP’s counter-insurgency unit sure has not been idle. That’s all I can say. ;)

I see both TOC and TR as a twin brother and sister, a one in a 10,000 rarity.
The Papies will be clapping their hands in glee, if there is any friction or animosity between the two.

Sorry i did not finish my comment
So lets have cooperation between the siblings
Not backbiting or misunderstandings

#3 Puppies,

IMHO

How did you go from defending the state papers to talking about journalists like they run the show?! They are just regular folk trying to earn a living within extremely tight constraints. Yes, they are also free to quit. But so what? How does that mean the buck stops with them? (It’s much higher is the point.) How does that even relate to your desperate and wrong-headed defence that the papers are not state-censored? Nobody but you is accusing journalists are debauching journalism.

IMHO

how can you say like that? Journalists are world class talents who serve us including you . Their writings are non-biased and credible. This is why imho they can hold themselves responsible for what they write. they really wrote what they wrote. That is why you keep buying it everyday right? Tell me you don’t buy the newspaper.

I have no problem with both TOC and TR.
They serve my needs for social-political information well thus far.

Their styles are different although they both focus on alternative commentaries vis-a-vis MSM news.

No matter what people say, TOC and TR are brave enough to make this effort. Most singaporeans like me just orally satisified ourselves by typing out our non-spoken words here so we no need to feel the urge to voice up in public. Sort of release our tension.

just when someone say economy ho say liao, dubai gives another indication that the economy may not be so well afterall.

we can accurately tell what exactly is wrong with the economy based on hindsight. We can accurately tell what caused the crisis based on hindsight.
so talented.

by the by , i forgot to mention,
READERS! , singaporeans are Pathetically Apathetic enough for the last 50 years and counting. Lets not be so demanding of TR and TOC. We dont even have a singaporekini and yet we see some moles trying to cause friction between the siblings?

The influx is real and has happened as it continues to happen.
Look around, open your apathetic eyes. They are in our midst.
so, what else can i say? Lets open our arms and embrace them and help them succeed, prosper and get integrated. without them , we cannot hold a job.
this is what someone said.

Reading the comments in this thread, I feel I have to highlight something to the commentators thus far. Review here refers to the Review and Forum Section of the printed edition of The Straits Times, not Temasek Review. Please get this right.

To:

3) Puppies are loyal ultruistically on November 30th, 2009 3.11 pm

Read this link and you will know true journalism cease to exist in Singapore. The MSM is utterly a failure and endless shame.

http://www.yawningbread.org/arch_2004/yax-357.htm

Oxford Dude

Are you certain?

I’m very sure he is referring to the Temasek Review

He even linked the article in question after the part where “over-eager critics take the bait”

http://www.temasekreview.com/2009/11/23/doctor-thanked-mm-lee-for-showing-the-way/

Hi You sure? #16,

I would like to refer you to the 3rd paragraph:

John was quick to brush off such a notion, offering examples of unique insight and salient commentary the paper offered through the expert opinion featured on its Review pages and special reports from foreign correspondents. You might think, if his own staff needed the reassurance (even convincing) that their paper was not a government mouthpiece…

If I am wrong, then the author or the person who edited this article has to be more careful with using the same term to refer to 2 different entities.

When yr fellow writers in TOC mix commentary and fact badly , I hope you mock them too.

During the AWARE saga, there was plenty of this at TOC.

TR is a lot better thabn TOC. It is not boring. Hey even ST can be less boring than TOC.

Hello Oxford Dude,

Thanks for pointing that out. The Review when italicised should refer to TR, and perhaps this wasn’t clear enough. We’ll make the changes to clarify this.

Spiegel

To me both TOC and TR are find. For starters, we readers should not expect too much. How old are they? Perhaps 3 years old? Please give it more time. Rome is not built in one day.

Criticism on the weaknesses of TR apply both ways. The same criticisms can also apply to TOC and many other blogs in the cyberspace.

All participants in the New Media should unite and coorperate among themselves, under a silent mutual agreement, not to criticise one anothter. The New Media is still very new and many people are still trying to find their way to improve upon it and to improve themselves.

Blog posts are mainly written by volunteers without being paid, with the exception of a few lucky ones. Most of whom are not professional journalists or reporters. The fact that these bloggers have the passion and commitment to do something to awaken our sleeping and apathetic society is already a great achievement. Therefore, readers should have more patience and tolerance for the mean time.

Perhaps, in another five years or so, then we should expect voluntary free news blog sites to be something like the Malaysiankini?

So, I suggest everybody just cool it off and enjoy your reading. Or simply take them as a form of entertainment of past-time.

Have a nice day. Cheers!

The case of TR and TOC is analogous to our opposition parties. Both of you are trying to do good, by bringing balance to our very imbalanced system and both of you are going up against a leviathan that is made fat by the powers that be.

And like the opposition parties, both of you cannot co-operate, each wanting to carve a niche of your own, which itself is not a bad thing per se.

However, if you do not co-operate, at least do not try to do each other in. The very mouthpiece that you accuse of, that is the MSM, will laugh all the way to their banks when two upstarts try to broadside each other to oblivion.

Much like when we criticise opposition parties for not being co-operative and sometimes being antagonistic to one another, independent news sites like TOC and TR should also not be antagonistic to one another.

You have a choice to make history by concentrating on your main task, which is to be a counterweight to the MSM, all you can continue your petty bickering with your fellow counterweight new sites and become a mere foot note in history.

Your choice.

Another nail in the coffin of democracy and from Port of Spain as well. Can any journalist here tell me the rational of announcing such a important amendment to the election process from a country which many Singaporeans would not know if not for Dwight York.
So we have a 24 cooling off period before we vote. Only MSM coverage will be allowed. So we will have 24hours of propaganda for the ruling party just before the voting, perhaps even personal profile of all the opposition politicans or better still a documentary of how lucky we are or on how your estate will become slums and your wife and sisters will become maids.
Bravo, on acheiving a new low..

#17 Oxforde Dude
“If I am wrong, then the author or the person who edited this article has to be more careful with using the same term to refer to 2 different entities. ”

We should thank the author for showing us a real life example of the inherently Ambiguous potential of English language or any language for that matter.

Many have prospered thanks to the perceived weakness and characteristic of language. Words can twist, u-turn and sometimes black can mean white vice versa. It depends how much money you have.

I think its wrong to assume that by being ’state controlled’ the journalists are not responsible for what they write, wrote or have written.

i mean, these people, as mentioned by some here ,are really aware of what is it they write. The contents. The meanings. The aim of the article.

So, i mean, it would be unfair to use ’state controlled’ to assume journalists are not totally responsible for whatever they have written as they continue to do so. The thing you read today is written by journalists. They really wrote it.

you cannot compare the standards of the temasek review and the online citizen, one is – quite apparently, i might add – a not-so-intellectual, government-bashing blog while the other an obvious independent (socio-political) news site.

you cannot compare an apple with an orange.

no matter how the temasek review would like to style itself as an independent correspondent free of government intervention and ideals, its articles quite obviously says otherwise; that it has deviated so far from independence, it becomes not dissimilar to a mouthpiece of the opposition.

however, i personally continue to enjoy articles churned out by their correspodents; it’s rare to see people write with such passion, after all.

Whether stop-at-2 is in fact or in opinion a mistake, I’ll say the current PAP’s indiscriminate pursuit of immigrants, at the expense of Singaporean’s economical, social and psychological well-being, because of “declining natural birth rates”, has made it a FACT.

Maslow Dowager #24,

Journalists are accountable for getting the facts straight i.e. telling a true story, and ideally, telling it well. That’s it, really.

You started by asserting journalists are partially responsible:

“wrong to assume that by being ’state controlled’ the journalists are not responsible for what they write”

You ended by suggesting they are totally responsible:

“unfair to use ’state controlled’ to assume journalists are not totally responsible for whatever they have written”

There is no Content in between. I suggest you be “really aware” of what you write.

#27,

by “unfair to use ’state controlled’ to assume journalists are not totally responsible for whatever they have written”

It also does not mean that i am saying journalists ARE TOTALLY responsible.
I just said it UNfair to use that term to assume they are not totally responsible.

Journalists are responsible for whatever they have written. Can you deny this?

Maslow Dowager #28

“It also does not mean that i am saying journalists ARE TOTALLY responsible. I just said it UNfair to use that term to assume they are not totally responsible.”

I said it was suggested. By the way, what would be a fair term to use, to assume they are totally responsible?

“Journalists are responsible for whatever they have written. Can you deny this?”
Only to the extent I’ve laid out i.e. truthfulness. If the facts bear out, and someone’s feelings gets hurt after TOC does a critical piece on MSM (Or a Pro-MSM piece, for that matter), it’s not TOC or the writer’s responsibility.

A Tan #18,

“When yr fellow writers in TOC mix commentary and fact badly, I hope you mock them too. During the AWARE saga, there was plenty of this at TOC. TR is a lot better thabn TOC. It is not boring. Hey even ST can be less boring than TOC.”

How would you like you exciting coverage of AWARE? None at all? Or with scripture condemning homosexuality?

Can you really blamed the Journalists? They too are like many Singaporeans suppressed under the reality of earning a living.

Many years ago, I knew a friend who worked for Xin Ming Re Bao who attempted to write an article about a recent student sucide after a couple of similar incidents. He was onto a lead that these incidents could be indirectly linked to the way which Singapore run its insane education system. But before the article can be printed, the editor recieved a phone call from a MOE spokeperson to put the article down.

For those who want proof that the Govn’t is filtering our print and tele media, please read “To catch a Tar Tar”. This book is banned in Singapore but can be purchased from our dear neighbour.

#31 Freo,

you only mentioned those articles written by journalists that were shot down.
how about those that were not that you read every day for your entire life todate?

All those articles. Surely they are responsible for being the Author of these articles?

you used the word ’suppressed’. What about those journalists that worked there for decades? Are they suppressed from resigning? Of course not!
They work there Willingly Based on Freewill. They are adults who make decisions by themselves. The Consciously made the decision to work there. They may even be happy with their work.
Of course they know very well what the MSM is about. How can they not know given they are sufficiently educated and i assume talented?

pls do focus on the Majority of the MSM. In this world there is always a minority.
just like for any medicine (the cure/treatment) there is prolly a side effect big or small if not undiscovered.

enuf said.

#30

Keep the facts, analysis and commentaries distinct.

It waz the Brits that first mixed and match. When it works, it is a lot more insightful and entertaining) than the traditional (now American) way of not mixing.

But done badly it discredits the writers, his editors and the publication. That was what happened in AWARE reporting.

TR more-or-less got it right, making sure that readers knew what were the facts, what was the analysis and what was commentary.

After AWARE, I moved onto TR, scanning TOC.

A Tan #33,

Specific examples?

Suzie #32,

Do you expect doctors to donate their own organs and policemen to charge into the line of fire as well?

Let’s assume for a moment all journos are superhuman; the entire present generation quits because they can’t live up to journalistics ideals at a publication; the incoming replacements also quit because they also have to live up to superhuman expectations. It goes on and on in the scheme you laid out. What’s the constant?

Does the responsbility lie at the journalist-level or the management-policy-making level?

#34 sllim,

the FACT remains, these journos Are Responsible for what they wrote.
Its all in the public domain , decades and decades of these writings.

Else, tell me clearly that the Journos are NOT Responsible for their writings.

So, tell me directly, clearly.

Indeed, there are TR articles with uncorroborated assertions, representations of opinion as if they were fact, and a hyper-sensitivity and defensiveness to criticism. I find it irritating that some correspondents keep rehashing the same pet points from their past articles again and again in subsequent ones even if they have to strain to make the link. They want people to pay to read TR, but they really need to improve their editorial standards if they want to attract more of the middle ground’s dollars.

there is 1 main problem : Apathy.
Because of this, imho, singaproeans are very unique compared to any other country citizens in the world.

Without the problem of Apathy, there would not be TR and TOC. imho.

The non-apathetic ones have already decided.
The apathetic ones can be naive.
Being apathetic, they have not really thought about many issues.
These are the main obstacles.

imho.

Suzie #35,

Sure, I’ll tell you clearly.

“the FACT remains, these journos Are Responsible for what they wrote.”

This is called a bald assertion, insisting your argument is “FACT” etc., very classy that.

“Its all in the public domain , decades and decades of these writings.”

Even if journalists “Are Responsible” for any/every thing, the length of time is completely irrelevant. That you can’t see that, is quite telling.

“Else, tell me clearly that the Journos are NOT Responsible for their writings.”

They are responsible for truthful reporting. It would be a bonus if they push the envelope but even if they don’t, that’s fine, because I can’t expect the world to revolve around my unfair expectations; in itself the most unfair expectation of all.

By the way, can you specify what is it exactly you expect journos to be responsible for?

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