LI HONGYI AND THE BLOGGERS

The Li Hongyi controversy is another case of Net-induced disclosure of government information. Pre-internet, such an incident would have been confined to coffeeshop talk; mainstream media may have been pressured to suppress it. Nowadays, it’s much harder for the authorities to sidestep the gossip; the pressure is on them to engage it openly. However, it would be a mistake for bloggers to get carried away by a misplaced sense of power. Post-internet, Singapore still has the SAF Act and the Official Secrets Act, under which the circulation of Li’s email could quite possibly constitute an offence. Full posting at JOURNALISM.SG - click the title above to go there.

NEW WEBSITE DEVOTED TO JOURNALISM ISSUES

JOURNALISM.SG is my new website dedicated to press issues in Singapore. Do visit.