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Mightier than the pen: Remembering ISA detentions of writers
Above: This afternoon's event at Hong Lim Park commemorated the 25th anniversary of Operation Spectrum. It was organised by Maruah and Function 8. Read Yawning Bread's report of the event. This year...
View ArticleYes, it's time for an internet code of conduct – for readers
Originally published at http://cheriangeorge.tumblr.com/ Singapore sometimes seems like a metropolis in search of a kampung spirit. And I don’t mean in a good way, like being caring and considerate –...
View ArticleFreedom From The Press reviewed in TOC
One of the biggest challenges I set myself in writing Freedom From The Press was to ensure that an essentially academic monograph would also be accessible by the lay public. To get published by a...
View ArticlePress controls and the myth of the online bypass
Text of a talk delivered at the Singapore Management University law school on 3 September. When I started writing about press freedom issues more than 25 years ago, most Singaporeans seemed to believe...
View ArticleSticks, stones and violent words: bones of contention
In sending a man to jail for violence-ridden Facebook posts, Singapore’s High Court has drawn a line around extreme speech that is more restrictive of political expression than what is widely...
View Article[ROCK] Singapore, Google and Extreme Videos [HARD PLACE]
The Singapore Government’s order that Google block YouTube viewers here from watching an extreme anti-Islam video is a case of several wrongs not making a right. It also shows, yet again, why dealing...
View ArticleSingapore's banning of that anti-Islam video: why it was a mistake
The Singapore government’s order to block the anti-Islam video Innocence of Muslims here has been relatively uncontroversial. Singaporeans are comfortable with the idea that free speech should not be...
View ArticleTalking about press freedom – with P. N. Balji
At the Singapore Writers Festival on Saturday 10 November 2012, I spoke about my book Freedom From The Press and Singapore’s media system with P N Balji, former editor of The New Paper and Today. We...
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Poll: professional journalists need a code more than bloggers do
Most Singapore undergrads favour promoting responsibility among netizens, but they feel even more strongly that professional journalism needs to be accountable to the public. Whichever the medium,...
View ArticleMedia panel decides to let sleeping gods lie
The Media Convergence Review Panel has missed an opportunity to nudge the Government’s regulatory regime into the 21st century. The Panel took on the challenge of recommending how to harmonise rules...
View ArticleFor whom the libel tolls: government loses even as it wins
A week after I expressed my hope that the PAP government would stop using the defamation threat in political arguments, it has used a defamation threat in a political argument. One thing I have learnt...
View ArticleHow a free press can benefit the PAP
by GABRIEL WONG HONG ZHE Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims in exalting terms: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, this right includes freedom...
View ArticleBloggers are journalists who play by different rules
by KIRSTEN HAN Reproduced with permission from Kirsten Han's Spuddings blog. Kirsten is doing her MA in Journalism, Media and Communications at Cardiff University on a Chevening scholarship. Whenever...
View ArticleFilm censorship: was Porn Masala really too hot to handle?
The government's well-publicised censorship of the short film, Porn Masala, has provided an opportunity to query Singapore's arts regulation – an opportunity seized by an excellent panel of speakers at...
View ArticleSedition charge would send wrong signals about managing race
Race and religion form the third rail of Singapore politics. They lie in the deep, dark recesses of our national life, ready to strike the reckless and the ignorant with an untamable force. Most...
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When watchdogs bark up the wrong tree, let's not airbrush the error
UPDATE: New Nation editor Belmont Lay has said sorry to photojournalist Mohd Ishak, with style and humour. It's a lesson in accountability that even the pro's can learn from. When I was art and photo...
View ArticleLeslie Chew vs his demons, Round One: victory for common sense
UPDATE, 7 August: The government has dropped contempt of court proceedings after Leslie Chew apologised and took down the offending cartoons. See news report. The government has announced that it will...
View ArticleBalji in da house: The Independent is now the site to watch
Shortly before the Media Development Authority made The Independent famous by requiring it to register, a friend who heads a successful news site overseas asked me if this was a breakthrough to be...
View ArticleSPH vs Yahoo! was about content vs tech, not old media vs new
The lawsuit that Singapore Press Holdings successfully filed against Yahoo! News has been routinely described as a battle between old media and new media. The subtext: that Yahoo! had been trying to...
View ArticleYawning Bread in contempt again? Why blogger Alex Au deserves a break
Alex Au is once again facing the threat of contempt of court charges over his Yawning Bread blog. The High Court will today hear the Attorney-General’s Chambers case for taking action against him. Au...
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