Coming from a communist country, which had suffered half a century of repression of freedom of speech and which is now experiencing serious abuses of power - with state media turned into an aggressive tube of propaganda (that could almost rival the DPRK), while private outlets are either bought up by capital linked to the ruling party or facing struggles having their licenses renewed - I find it quite entertaining to listen to pompous ignorants whining about alleged lack of standards in Singaporean journalism.
These comments came in the past few days on the heels of the resuscitation of TOC, by Terry Xu, and the topic of government funding of SPH.
The biggest problem with journalism in Singapore isn't that the government is financing news outlets (as governments around the entire world do), nor that they are a tool of state propaganda (which they aren't if you care to read the coverage of different affairs in SPH titles) but the absolutely appalling state of the so-called "independent journalism" in the country.
You see, it's not that the evil PAP has quashed some fearless freedom fighters reporting on important affairs but that there are no "independent journalists" in Singapore who wouldn't be either incompetent or malicious (most frequently both).
Despite the supposed horrors of oppression in Singapore I don't seem to be able to recall names of any internationally acclaimed dissidents living outside of the city-state. How is that?
Li Shengwu, the disgraceful grandson of LKY, appears to exhibit some ambitions in becoming one, claiming that there is a "high risk" that he would be arrested upon returning to the country - despite the fact that nobody is actually looking for him.
When I pointed out that the only reason he's afraid of coming back to Singapore is not his arrest but the fear that nothing would actually happen to him, he swiftly banned me on Twitter :)
Can you imagine something more pitiable than a spoiled kid-turned-American-academic whining on social media how he somehow can't go back to the country where nobody really wants anything from him, at a time when Alexei Navalny - defiant opponent of Vladimir Putin, nearly poisoned to death by the FSB - returned to Russia from the comforts of Western Europe (which saved his life) and is now serving combined sentences of over 10 years in a high-security penal colony, just to make a stand?
And yet it was Li who commented on Twitter lately about how Singapore is "driving independent journalists abroad", referring i.a. to the case of TOC and Terry Xu.
The very same Terry who shamelessly hid his Malaysian writers behind fake names, duping everybody that they are actually Singaporean reporters.
He's so bent on smearing Singapore and its government on every occasion that he has no qualms about sharing content lamenting alleged poor living standards of foreign workers and five seconds later questioning why the government is trying to employ doctors from India. Anything that stirs sh.t up is good (even if it means hounding an old lady with dementia just to squeeze out a story painting SPF in a negative light - which Terry never apologized for).
For two long years he had failed to provide clarifications about the funding of TOC, after repeated requests by the IMDA, leading ultimately to the site's suspension.
Now he's in Taiwan, pretending he's escaping persecution and claiming to be writing more about Asian affairs, when in reality he's back to mindless Singapore-bashing, trying to drive more clicks to the site that he probably is in need of generating extra revenue from.
So much for "independent journalism".
Who else shall we talk about? New Naratif which dependent on foreign funding in lieu of lack of local demand for its content? Last I read PJ Thum bailed out and moved to Manila, where his wife is teaching at a local university. Turns out that when foreign money dried up there was simply not enough left to run the business because of non-existent demand.
Not even teaming up with Sean Francis Han - the infamous provocateur behind "Wake Up, Singapore" - helped.
Their buddy, Kirsten Han, left NN earlier is somehow living perfectly unmolested in Singapore, despite her occasional scathing opinions published in the foreign press. Somehow, however, it seems to me she too is trying to claim some of the victimhood.
It doesn't seem to occur to her that if you're defending murderers and drug dealers in a country where vast majority of the population supports death penalty, you're not likely to garner much following.
Or when you're bemoaning persecution of sexual minorities at an annual, legally permitted rally in the heart of the city, few people outside of your echo chamber are going to understand your "plight".
Let's not forget, shall we, that those people claiming to be independent journalists actually went on to befriend Mahathir in 2018 and sought advice from Joshua Wong, whose contribution to mindless rallies in Hong Kong led to the city's accelerated demise and forceful takeover by Beijing 25 years before it was due.
Last but not least, there's Bertha Henson, a few days ago issuing a rallying cry to fellow "journalists" to resist government influence, particularly as it is funding SPH with big bucks (you know, like the BBC is).
She's good with words, I must say, and she appears to believe in what she preaches. But she also happens to be another case of a person who demands everybody else "do as I say, not as I do".
Because when it comes to her commentary, Ms. Henson is nowhere near the standards she demands of others.
She banned me from her FB 2 years ago, after a heated exchange where I pointed out she doesn't know - or even care to understand - the basic statistics she was reporting or asking questions about. In her mind, if she didn't understand something it was government's role to have explained it - even though she loves to play the arbiter of the truth and tells others to do their research.
From what I see not much has changed and she likes to comment on things she did no basic fact-checking about - giving a rather poor example to other journalists.
Perhaps this explains why her own attempt at running an independent news outlet, Middle Ground, went down the toilet, suffering from lack of public demand which made it financially unsustainable to continue.
It seems that all those self-professed "independent journalists" are suffering from a saviour complex.
They appear to believe that they - or someone sharing their views - must arrive to save Singapore from the Straits Times et al but when push comes to shove it turns out the only way some alternative outlets are able to stay afloat is either by lies or foreign funds - and that is, mind you, without a finger being lifted by anybody from the government.
Despite some controversies (nothing new, again, anywhere in the world) Singaporeands largely trust their media even if they notice their flaws (ask Westerners what they think about their media).
And even I am the last one to say that I think they're perfect. No, they're not. If anything, however, what is plaguing SPH is desperate pursuit of balance in covering politics, even though there's little to base it on.
If journalists in Singapore were really committed to facts and figures, then all the media would look far more as a government mouthpiece than they do today.
It is because, just like in the reporting business, there are hardly any reasonable characters in politics outside of the PAP.
In the world of Raeesah Khans, Lim Teans, Charlie Yeos, Goh Meng Sengs, Chee Soon Juans, how exactly do you find anything to report that match successful governance of the country, which is the envy of the world (even more so during the tumultuous two years we've been through)?
The leading opposition party was even propped up by the title of Leader of the Opposition bestowed on Pritam Singh, only for him to later spend months defending himself from allegations of covering up Raeesah Khan's lie.
That is already on top of the AHTC case still going through courts, where WP's leadership found itself sued by the very auditor they employed to look through the town council's books.
And people then lament the bias of the media. Hello?
The media aren't biased - Singapore is simply so successful that there's little to reasonably complain about. That's why the only niche "independent journalists" can operate in requires lying, manipulation or ignorance.
This is the real problem that nobody talks about.
