Singapore mainstream media still do not “get” blogs
The nation-building press still “don’t get” blogs.
Evidence 1:
Straits Times 3 Nov 2004 via myrick
But Nanyang Technological University communication and information lecturer Randolph Kluver disagreed that more blogs will flourish.
‘I just don’t see much of a future for them until regulatory policies are relaxed somewhat, or until some sort of event occurs in which a blog can provide information the media cannot,‘ he said.
A Media Development Authority (MDA) spokesman said Internet content providers engaging in the propagation, promotion or discussion of political and religious issues relating to Singapore must register with the authority.
These include all political party websites and sites like Sintercom, an online magazine and forum on politics and current affairs. Individual sites and blogs need register only if the MDA asks them to do so.
What Randolph Kluver speaks about is a permissions-based culture. This is the culture that has been cultivated by the ruling classes, up till now. Don’t do it unless it is allowed, otherwise you will be punished. What Kluver demonstrates however, is that people who have been conditioned by the permissions-based culture seem unable to understand the possibility of alternatives. Either that, or the Straits Times is again engaging in its famous ability to mis-quote and mis-report on the facts.
Fortunately, while ruling classes can attempt to use technology to maintain control, technology is a natural symbiont to liberty. Without freedom and liberty, there can be no technology, and without technology there can be no liberty.
Kluver doesn’t see a future for blogs unless “regulatory policies are relaxed somewhat”, but he doesn’t realise that “code” trumps “law”. Leaving the issue of self-hosted blogs like mine aside, how would MDA(warning: ASP AND Flash, what a sick combination) deal with blogs hosted on Blogger, Livejournal and the various free blogging services? Unless the MDA orders the filtering of entire domains, there is simply no way for governments to suppress blogging. For everyone 10 blogs it can block, another 1000 will spring up. If they block entire domains, new services will rise up. It is akin to using artillery fire to kill ants: lots of sound and fury, but mostly accomplishing nothing.
Furthermore, it is relatively easy to maintain anonymity on the free blogging services, so apart from the fact that the pages themselves are difficult to deal with, authorities have the additional problem of finding out who the outlaw is. Would the MDA be able to compel Google (the owner of Blogger) or Six Apart (owner of LiveJournal and Typepad) to release the identities of the bloggers they wish to persecute? Highly unlikely.
Evidence 2:
Dr Kluver said: ‘This demonstrates that blogs are challenging not just other media, but actually governments. This is more than the contributions of many governments.’
However, much as blogs are now giving traditional media a run for their money, there are also questions about their credibility, especially regarding those who claim to report from the ground.
This has already happened with the US war on Iraq. A blogger at http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com said she was an Iraqi witnessing the American attack. Readers of that blog wondered if she was really in Iraq.
Assistant Professor Mark Cenite, at NTU’s School of Communication and Information, said: ‘Conventional journalism will continue to have a prominent role, as a source for news that meets traditional journalistic standards - fact-checked, and delivered in a polished style.
‘Blogs will have another role - as a source for unfiltered personal perspectives and news that has yet to be verified. If readers don’t like the way the media are covering a story, or want more information, they can go to the bloggers, find out their views, and even ask them questions.
‘Still, the overall impact of blogging of news will probably be minimal. Most of us only have very limited time for a news story unless it affects us directly. We’ll choose the convenience and polish of the mainstream media coverage over the raw stories that we have to search for in blogs.’
How amazing! Within a space of 2 months, Randy Kluver has changed his mind about blogs! At least that man has an open mind. 
The greatest irony is in the implicit accusation by the Straits Times that blogs are not credible and hence not to be trusted. It appears that the editor at Straits Times has yet to hear of “Rathergate“.
To summarize, Dan Rather, a formerly much respected TV journalist on 60 Minutes presented a set of memos purporting to be “unimpeachable” evidence that Bush received preferential treatment during his service in the Texas National Guard. Of course, the blogosphere pounced and the memos were revealed to be fake, entirely by the uncoordinated and decentralised efforts of individual bloggers.
Here is the question. Is the mainstream media any more credible than blogs? Cries of “traditional journalistic standards” ring hollow when even a program like 60 Minutes on a network owned by the powerful Viacom conglomerate can present allegations which were not “fact-checked”. As far as I can tell, the mainstream media fails the litmus tests that Prof Mark Cenite mentioned in the ST article.
Let us keep in mind that the government in Singapore has a monopoly over the dissemination of information (let us set aside the Internet for the moment). At the very least, the warring media conglomerates face competitive pressures to maintain “journalistic standards”. And yet if such competitive pressures cannot keep journalists honest in America, what more the monopolistic media in Singapore?
Furthermore, it is common knowledge, and a matter of explicit government policy that our nation-building press is to protect “our” interests. One wonders though, who the “our” refers to. Therefore, this question must be answered: How or why is the mainstream media more trustworthy than bloggers?
Until that question is answered, here are some stories to ponder over, and consider the possibilities that can be in Singapore when bloggers hold the mainstream press to account.
NYT: Blogs fact-check their own asses in tsunami debate via Boing Boing
NRO - The Blogosphere?s Smaller Stars
Update: Straits Times never do fact-checking here.
