Response from
Reporters without borders
Government criticised for condemning unconstructive
article
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=18208
It is not the job of government officials to take a position on
newspaper articles or blog posts unless they are clearly illegal,
Reporters Without Borders pointed out today after the Singaporean
newspaper Today published an opinion piece by an official on 3 July
condemning a recent post by blogger Lee Kin Mun as over-politicised
and unconstructive.
This reaction from a Singaporean official is disturbing, the
press freedom organisation said. It reads like a warning to all
journalists and bloggers in a country in which the media are
already strictly controlled. The media have a right to criticise
the governments actions and express political views. Furthermore,
a newspapers editorial policies depend solely on its editors. They
should under no circumstances be subject to instructions issued by
the government.
Lee, who uses the pseudonym mr brown, wrote an article entitled
Sporeans are fed, up with progress! for Todays opinion pages on
30 June in which he criticised recent government measures and the
constant cost-of-living rises in an amusing and acerbic
fashion.
Krishnasamy Bhavani, a press secretary to the ministry of
information, communications and arts, responded with an article
published in Today on 3 July in which she defended her governments
policies but went on to criticise Lee for taking a political
position.
It is not the role of journalists or newspapers in Singapore to
champion issues, or campaign for or against the Government, she
wrote. If a columnist presents himself as a non-political
observer, while exploiting his access to the mass media to
undermine the governments standing with the electorate, then he is
no longer a constructive critic, but a partisan player in
politics.
Lee is one of Singapores most popular bloggers. When the
government banned political podcasts during the recent elections in
April, the media largely took its cue from Lees position that,
Prison got no broadband, in which he seemed to discourage
bloggers from violating the new rules. But he nonetheless tested
the authorities himself by posting a series of persistently
non-political podcasts on his blog.
Reporters Without Borders was not able to reach Lee for a
comment.
