I felt incredulous after I read a letter in the forum of today's issue of TODAY the free newspaper.
Some excerpts:
In the beginning, my impression of TODAY was that it would be merely another tabloid in the mould of The New Paper. The past four years have proven how wrong I had been...what sets TODAY apart are the thought-provoking commentaries and news comments.
Err, this guy has obviously not read papers like The Guardian and The New York Times. The commentaries and editorials there are what one would call excellent writing.
Letters that might have been rejected by other papers are published by TODAY, which epitomises what the media industry should strive to do--provide a platform for non-conformist or even radical ideas and discussions to emerge.
Excuse me, but does this guy even realise what 'non-conformist' and 'radical' actually mean? Like hello? How non-conformist and radical have ANY papers or publication in Singapore ever gotten? I say he should take a look at the media scene in the West to get an idea of what 'non-conformist' and 'radical' actually mean.
Nonetheless, I remain hopeful that the widespread speculation about SPH [Singapore Press Holdings] eventually gaining control of TODAY will prove to be unfounded.
This frog in the well or otherwise very deluded individual obviously hasn't realised that all along there has only been ONE controller of both corporations, i.e. the government. Like where have you been??? Or are you so naive as not to see beyond the surface?
Meanwhile, I will continue to enjoy reading TODAY--which, in my view, is the best thing to have come along since the liberalisation of the media.
I wonder how much he was paid to write this.
All these talk is in the wake of the impending merger between SPH and Mediacorp. So SPH, the publisher of the local newspapers and many magazines will now have a stake in Mediacorp (the incumbent free-to-air broadcaster) and vice versa. The step has been taken to stem the losses for both corporations in their TV arm and newspaper arm respectively.
To me, it's like playing merry-go-round. Ultimately, everything goes back to the Singapore government. All these talk about competition and stuff is crap. All along it has been a pseudo-competition. There has never been media liberalisation in the true sense of the word. So all these commentaries and editorials in the newspapers and on TV ever since the announcement of the merger, are to me, just nonsense.
Anyway, just thought the reader who wrote the letter should wake up from his slumber. He thinks he's some left-winger by supporting what he thinks is a left-wing paper. But unbeknownst to him, he's just a marionette whose strings have all along been pulled by a masterful puppeteer who has just loosened the strings but not let go of it all together.
Sorry, it's the cynic speaking here, but it's true!
Posted by DSD at September 21, 2004 12:08 AM