http://www.mrbrown.com/blog/2007/05/world_business_.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mr-brown/504222330/
http://www.worldbusinesslive.com/article/655151/top-20-asian-progressives/
16. LEE KIN MUN (ALIAS MR BROWN), SINGAPORE
Singapore has some of the world's tightest media restrictions.
Little genuine public debate is permitted and investigative
journalism is largely non-existent. The role of the media is to
report government announcements rather than to hold the government
to account. And so Singaporeans are fed a bland diet of lifestyle
articles, world news often slanted to show Singapore in a good
light by way of comparison, and news about government policy. Not
surprisingly, Singapore has one of the world's most active blogging
communities. Genuine debate, opinion pieces and news appear on many
Singapore-related websites.
Lee Kin Mun has become one of Singapore's most widely read and
influential bloggers through his social and political commentary
website, www.mrbrown.com. Lee also produces a satirical podcast
called the Mr Brown Show, which averages 20,000 downloads a day. It
is sophisticated and hugely funny - and a stark contrast to what is
available on local government-controlled television.
Such is the popularity of Lee's blog that he was given a column in
the government-controlled Today newspaper in a measure designed to
demonstrate that the government could tolerate a measure of public
debate. However, the experiment ended abruptly after Li wrote a
column on rising living costs. A government official complained
that Lee had distorted the truth and Singapore's prime minister
claimed that Lee had made wild accusations.
Lee continues to publish and broadcast his satires and
commentaries, providing Singaporeans with a vibrant and diversified
media otherwise denied them
