The Colour of Political Censorship - the last say.
Apparently Lee Boon Yang had the last say, so far, on this matter before our mainstream media relegate this item to Limbo Land.
Reproduced from AsiaOne.
July 12, 2006
Why Government has to respond to mr brown's comments
AsiaOne
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Well-known local blogger "mr brown" was taken to task today by a second minister for his criticism on key government policies in his column in the Today newspaper, which dropped him last Friday.
Dismissing the various allegations which the 36-year-old Singaporean full-time writer had made in his weekly column as unfair and unjustified, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Lee Boon Yang said the Government was duty-bound to respond to such "distortions", which would undermine confidence in the Government, if allowed to spread.
In his last column published in Today on June 30, mr brown, whose real name is Lee Kin Mun, commented that the increases in taxi fare and electricity tariffs had come right after the General Election, at a time when a Government survey showed a growing income gap.
That invited a robust reply from the Government. In a letter published in Today on July 3, Ms K Bhavani, Press Secretary to the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts (Mica), said his views "distort the truth" and offered no solutions. "It is not the role of journalists or newspapers in Singapore to champion issues, or campaign for or against the Government," she added.
The editors of Today suspended "mr brown" column last Friday.
Responding to media queries on the suspension the following day, Second Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Vivian Balakrishnan said the mainstream media had a responsibility to ensure a certain standard of discussion in national debates, as it was not the same as an Internet chatroom.
Dr Lee reinforced the Government's position when asked by reporters this morning to comment on the suspension of mr brown's column after he launched the Singapore HeritageFest at Suntec City. (For his speech on the Singaporean identity, click here.)
"I think he made very unfair, unjustified comments on key government policies, and various allegations which are unfounded, of course, all under the guise of humour," said the minister on why the Government had to set the record straight.
"I think we are duty-bound to give a response to mr brown, to address his comments, and we did. We sent our response. We were just exercising our right of reply."
He warned that if such distortions were allowed to spread, it would undermine confidence in the government, and would make it more difficult to rally Singaporeans for national objectives.
Dr Lee said the mainstream media must be be objective, accurate and responsible for its views.
"And that's always been my position, or the position of this Government - that the mainstream newspaper must report accurately, objectively and responsibly," he said. "And that they must adopt this model that they are part of this nation-building effort, rather than go out and purvey views that would mislead people, confuse people, which will in fact undermine our national strategy!"
He added that as the Internet was often a free-for-all arena, certain critical and humourous elements were acceptable. It was not the Government's intention to chase after every posting on the Internet, said the minister.
Asked if the Government's actions contradicted his earlier statement about taking a lighter touch with bloggers, Dr Lee told reporters: "I said that we will look at how we can have a lighter touch in regulating the internet during the election. Mr brown's comments was not posted on his blog. If he had posted the same comment on his blog, we will treat it as part of the internet chatter, and we would have just let it be. But he didn't post it - he wrote it and published it in the mainstream newspaper. That's the difference."
Meanwhile, the police are looking into a gathering of 30 people who turned up wearing brown to support the blogger at city Hall MRT station on Sunday afternoon, in response to an SMS message that had circulated over the weekend after the suspension of mr brown's weekly column in Today, which sparked online postings by bloggers and netizens, mostly criticical of Today's move. (For ST report, click here.)
Related stories:
S'porean blogger Mr Brown's column suspended by Today free newspaper
Today paper suspends blogger's columnVivian stresses media's role in ensuring standard of national debates
Cops looking into gathering in support of mr brown
What makes you, You? (Dr Lee Boon Yang's speech)
Reproduced from AsiaOne.
July 12, 2006
Why Government has to respond to mr brown's comments
AsiaOne
-->
Well-known local blogger "mr brown" was taken to task today by a second minister for his criticism on key government policies in his column in the Today newspaper, which dropped him last Friday.
Dismissing the various allegations which the 36-year-old Singaporean full-time writer had made in his weekly column as unfair and unjustified, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Lee Boon Yang said the Government was duty-bound to respond to such "distortions", which would undermine confidence in the Government, if allowed to spread.
In his last column published in Today on June 30, mr brown, whose real name is Lee Kin Mun, commented that the increases in taxi fare and electricity tariffs had come right after the General Election, at a time when a Government survey showed a growing income gap.
That invited a robust reply from the Government. In a letter published in Today on July 3, Ms K Bhavani, Press Secretary to the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts (Mica), said his views "distort the truth" and offered no solutions. "It is not the role of journalists or newspapers in Singapore to champion issues, or campaign for or against the Government," she added.
The editors of Today suspended "mr brown" column last Friday.
Responding to media queries on the suspension the following day, Second Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Vivian Balakrishnan said the mainstream media had a responsibility to ensure a certain standard of discussion in national debates, as it was not the same as an Internet chatroom.
Dr Lee reinforced the Government's position when asked by reporters this morning to comment on the suspension of mr brown's column after he launched the Singapore HeritageFest at Suntec City. (For his speech on the Singaporean identity, click here.)
"I think he made very unfair, unjustified comments on key government policies, and various allegations which are unfounded, of course, all under the guise of humour," said the minister on why the Government had to set the record straight.
"I think we are duty-bound to give a response to mr brown, to address his comments, and we did. We sent our response. We were just exercising our right of reply."
He warned that if such distortions were allowed to spread, it would undermine confidence in the government, and would make it more difficult to rally Singaporeans for national objectives.
Dr Lee said the mainstream media must be be objective, accurate and responsible for its views.
"And that's always been my position, or the position of this Government - that the mainstream newspaper must report accurately, objectively and responsibly," he said. "And that they must adopt this model that they are part of this nation-building effort, rather than go out and purvey views that would mislead people, confuse people, which will in fact undermine our national strategy!"
He added that as the Internet was often a free-for-all arena, certain critical and humourous elements were acceptable. It was not the Government's intention to chase after every posting on the Internet, said the minister.
Asked if the Government's actions contradicted his earlier statement about taking a lighter touch with bloggers, Dr Lee told reporters: "I said that we will look at how we can have a lighter touch in regulating the internet during the election. Mr brown's comments was not posted on his blog. If he had posted the same comment on his blog, we will treat it as part of the internet chatter, and we would have just let it be. But he didn't post it - he wrote it and published it in the mainstream newspaper. That's the difference."
Meanwhile, the police are looking into a gathering of 30 people who turned up wearing brown to support the blogger at city Hall MRT station on Sunday afternoon, in response to an SMS message that had circulated over the weekend after the suspension of mr brown's weekly column in Today, which sparked online postings by bloggers and netizens, mostly criticical of Today's move. (For ST report, click here.)
Related stories:
S'porean blogger Mr Brown's column suspended by Today free newspaper
Today paper suspends blogger's columnVivian stresses media's role in ensuring standard of national debates
Cops looking into gathering in support of mr brown
What makes you, You? (Dr Lee Boon Yang's speech)
posted by 逍遥老头 at 8:32 AM
3 Comments:
did u see e mr brown t shirts??
e tur kwa one looks realli cute! haha.
so temmmmmmpting. haha
ha ha
maybe they can ship to you leh ?
haha. dun think i will buy. cos dun think i will wear. XD
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