The Capitalist Infidel is amused. The Capitalist Infidel has just found out that perennial government suck-ups Singapore Press Holdings has decided to start an online blogging portal at stomp.sg. The Capitalist Infidel feels that the misguided miscreants should stop kidding themselves.
For those of you not from Singapore, it may seem harsh for me to put them down like that. But the Capitalist Infidel would like to highlight the fact that Reporters Without Borders, ranked Singapore 140th out of 167 countries in their Free Press Index. Qatar, home of Al Jazeera, is ranked 90th. You see, Singapore Press Holdings, loves “self censorship”. In a market with many players, that would be their niche. Not many newspapers specialise in incomplete reporting, and the people who just want to read the good news will love it. When they are the market however, it just means that they are bankrolling the government’s censorship board.
If they were to run a blogging site, it would mean that the poor bloggers who want to write for them would be exposed to some of the most draconian of censorship rules worldwide. Now, while it will be a good field trip for all the lucky citizens of the top ranked countries, it is not what blogging is about. There isn’t much point blogging if the only thing you can blog about is the official line.
The Singapore Press Holdings seems to have grasped this point. So, what do desperate cronies of an autocratic do when they are unable to use force? They resort to bribes. Yes, they are going to give one of the sympathisers a car. The Capitalist Infidel is surprised to see such levels of desperation so soon. The Capitalist Infidel would like to direct the Singapore Press Holdings to BoingBoing.net. They don’t need to resort to bribes and they are one of the best in the world.
The lowering of barriers to citizen reporting by the internet is making the Singapore Press Holdings Sweat, and sweat they should! The forces of Liberty and Capitalism are awaking.
For Liberty!
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This entry was posted on 21 June, 2006 at 12:10 am and is filed under Commentary, Singapore. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.
Capitalist Infidel
Censored Blogs?
The Capitalist Infidel is amused. The Capitalist Infidel has just found out that perennial government suck-ups Singapore Press Holdings has decided to start an online blogging portal at stomp.sg. The Capitalist Infidel feels that the misguided miscreants should stop kidding themselves.
For those of you not from Singapore, it may seem harsh for me to put them down like that. But the Capitalist Infidel would like to highlight the fact that Reporters Without Borders, ranked Singapore 140th out of 167 countries in their Free Press Index. Qatar, home of Al Jazeera, is ranked 90th. You see, Singapore Press Holdings, loves “self censorship”. In a market with many players, that would be their niche. Not many newspapers specialise in incomplete reporting, and the people who just want to read the good news will love it. When they are the market however, it just means that they are bankrolling the government’s censorship board.
If they were to run a blogging site, it would mean that the poor bloggers who want to write for them would be exposed to some of the most draconian of censorship rules worldwide. Now, while it will be a good field trip for all the lucky citizens of the top ranked countries, it is not what blogging is about. There isn’t much point blogging if the only thing you can blog about is the official line.
The Singapore Press Holdings seems to have grasped this point. So, what do desperate cronies of an autocratic do when they are unable to use force? They resort to bribes. Yes, they are going to give one of the sympathisers a car. The Capitalist Infidel is surprised to see such levels of desperation so soon. The Capitalist Infidel would like to direct the Singapore Press Holdings to BoingBoing.net. They don’t need to resort to bribes and they are one of the best in the world.
The lowering of barriers to citizen reporting by the internet is making the Singapore Press Holdings Sweat, and sweat they should! The forces of Liberty and Capitalism are awaking.
For Liberty!
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This entry was posted on 21 June, 2006 at 12:10 am and is filed under Commentary, Singapore. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.