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10-07-2013, 09:10 AM
An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:
Written by Ng E-Jay
10 July 2013
New Media’s impact on the social, economic, cultural and political development of societies around the world has grown exponentially over the years. Singapore is not spared these sweeping changes. Our government, however, has reacted to the growing influence of the Internet and New Media haphazardly and indecisively.
First, the government tried to suppress dissent and discourage criticism of the establishment through intimidation and censorship. Then, when technology and society advanced so quickly that such tactics no longer worked, the government became confused and disoriented, and came up with all kinds of soft approaches like political gazetting of websites (such as TOC), setting up of an Internet brigade (which operates on an organized scale today), proposing an Internet Code of Conduct (which was promptly rejected by netizens), and finally, by requiring that news sites that meet certain criteria be subject to additional MDA licensing over and above current Broadcasting regulations.
All these tactics reveal one thing — that the government has thus far chosen to treat cyberspace and the New Media as an adversary rather than a potential stakeholder, collaborator, or partner, in the grand journey of nation building and creating a 21st century Singapore.
This primarily adversarial approach has understandably created a deep rift in cyberspace between pro-establishment and anti-establishment groups. At times, the differences in opinion, values and political philosophy seem utterly irreconcilable. Certainly, the frequent flame wars and mud-slinging does nothing to help matters at all.
Like so many other societies around the world, Internet and New Media is exerting continuous pressure on our government to change with the times, and become more open, progressive, and democratic.
But instead of heeding this call for change, our government has found itself lost in the wilderness, unsure of its own footing, trying to cling on to the old ways of doing things whilst being reactive rather than proactive in dealing with society’s challenges.
In frustration, or perhaps in desperation, the government has resorted to increased use of threats of legal action (suing for defamation), as well as publicly taking on bloggers and other netizens in a manner that is quite beneath any self-respecting government.
- http://www.sgpolitics.net/?p=8459
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://www.sammyboy.com/showthread.php?156675-The-government’s-adversarial-approach-to-New-Media&goto=newpost).
Written by Ng E-Jay
10 July 2013
New Media’s impact on the social, economic, cultural and political development of societies around the world has grown exponentially over the years. Singapore is not spared these sweeping changes. Our government, however, has reacted to the growing influence of the Internet and New Media haphazardly and indecisively.
First, the government tried to suppress dissent and discourage criticism of the establishment through intimidation and censorship. Then, when technology and society advanced so quickly that such tactics no longer worked, the government became confused and disoriented, and came up with all kinds of soft approaches like political gazetting of websites (such as TOC), setting up of an Internet brigade (which operates on an organized scale today), proposing an Internet Code of Conduct (which was promptly rejected by netizens), and finally, by requiring that news sites that meet certain criteria be subject to additional MDA licensing over and above current Broadcasting regulations.
All these tactics reveal one thing — that the government has thus far chosen to treat cyberspace and the New Media as an adversary rather than a potential stakeholder, collaborator, or partner, in the grand journey of nation building and creating a 21st century Singapore.
This primarily adversarial approach has understandably created a deep rift in cyberspace between pro-establishment and anti-establishment groups. At times, the differences in opinion, values and political philosophy seem utterly irreconcilable. Certainly, the frequent flame wars and mud-slinging does nothing to help matters at all.
Like so many other societies around the world, Internet and New Media is exerting continuous pressure on our government to change with the times, and become more open, progressive, and democratic.
But instead of heeding this call for change, our government has found itself lost in the wilderness, unsure of its own footing, trying to cling on to the old ways of doing things whilst being reactive rather than proactive in dealing with society’s challenges.
In frustration, or perhaps in desperation, the government has resorted to increased use of threats of legal action (suing for defamation), as well as publicly taking on bloggers and other netizens in a manner that is quite beneath any self-respecting government.
- http://www.sgpolitics.net/?p=8459
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://www.sammyboy.com/showthread.php?156675-The-government’s-adversarial-approach-to-New-Media&goto=newpost).