Dissecting the ST interview and the journalist-blogger relationship
Prior to my accepting the interview with ST about TOC, I had feared that I would be somewhat misquoted or the article will come out somewhat skewed. However, I would be lying if I said that I was not tempted by the outreach that mainstream media like ST would have - TOC is after all about reaching out to the people and being a voice for the people.I decided to take a calculated gamble that regardless of the outcome, people will get to hear about TOC nevertheless.
I hate to be proven right about the misquote and misdirection. Other than the background facts and statistics of TOC, the article has snippets of irelevant trivia like how Selene Cheng, our deputy editor “laments” that nobody follows the stylebook, how Leong Sze Hian joked about his articles being rejected and how I said my parents have “this niggling feeling that I will be ostracized, like it will be harder to get a flat or harder for kids I may have in future to get into good schools” etc. In the extracts of the featured articles, none of the political viewpoints and Sze Hian’s financial analyses were featured.
A huge part of political discourse that we touched on were totally left out and TOC was portrayed in the light of a website where each of us “want to say something about Singapore”, and “16 out of the 17 shake their heads” when asked if we would consider joining politics. In a subtle yet intangible way, suddenly we all looked bad for not wanting to join politics and yet wanting to say something about Singapore. Perhaps, we were all big mouths who have too much time to burn.
I said I owned an online business and a writing business, but was quoted as running a “website selling clothes”. Our deputy editor was quoted to have “stopped helping his brother to run his restaurant” and “has been living on his savings”. Is it relevant to the TOC website? No.
The thing that got my goat was the misquote that I supposedly said my parents have “this niggling feeling that I will be ostracized, like it will be harder to get a flat or harder for kids I may have in future to get into good schools“. The entire interview was on tape and I cannot comprehend why this came out wrong.
I said,[might not be the exact words, but close]
The post 65-ers generally have a fear of politics because they were from the era of Lee Kuan Yew and David Marshall - fiery politicians who pulled no stops and went all out for what they believed in. There was a very real repercussion back then.
I think they [my parents] might have a niggling fear at the back of their minds, that I might be ostracized for things like HDB, when my kids apply for a good school etc.
Why it came out as if my parents did say that, with the phantom “future” kids I “may have in future”, as opposed to the two very real kids I already have, I am thoroughly stumped. It is no secret I have two kids. It is all over my blog and my facebook.
But, TOC is not about me or any of our editors, or how we were made to look.
So, thanks ST for the interview. My consolation is if the readership for TOC increases as a result of this interview.
**
On a totally separate note, a fellow blogger had extracts of his blog post published in ST. Without permission and it was edited for language (the audacity).
Another blogger had his entire post lifted and published in Today. Without permission, again.
I am not linking the bloggers for privacy reasons and also because they did not appear to take as much objection as I have.
What is the journalist-blogger relationship coming to if the journalist thinks he can lift any or all of the blogger’s content if he so wish and without permission from the blogger?
Dr Huang took the time to answer some pretty heavy questions with well thought and analytical answers. This is a doctor who took the time to answer your questions and what do you do?
Does the journalist accord the blogger the respect he deserves?
What’s the journalist’s opinion of the blogger? Is he threatened by the other’s ability to reach out to the same masses? Is he threatened that a blogger can do the same job as he is doing, if not better?
In the age of the internet, bloggers are putting out news faster than print journalists due to a real time advantage. We have access to research materials. We are our own photographer, in some cases, videographer even, and our own writer.
But having said all that, print journalists will always have an edge over us and that is readership and immediate validation.
Bloggers have to work at our readership and some never really get there.
We also have to build up our credibility over time and it is not easy, given that some bloggers spoil it for the rest of us.
Rather than think we are the competition or find our existence irksome, print journalists might find it to their advantage to partner with us, leverage on our strengths and forge a win win relationship.
But please. Ask first.
You put the tape up for readers to download or at the very least put up the transcript of the interview.
ST journalists reporting in anyway they feel like has been around for a long time already. Sometimes I wonder if the interview in the first place was even necessary?
Pardon the typo.
“You should…”
Bloggers do have to work hard at getting the readership. I know of those who have worked hard it for 3 years to reach the stage they are in now. There are black sheep everywhere who often spoil the situation.
I feel that it truly is a pity that they have gotten the to the stage by lifting entire blog pots and publishing them as if they have every right to do so when Common Creative license exists while the print media objects to bloggers lifting any piece from them.
With your permission, I will link your post and write something about this.
“We also have to build up our credibility over time and it is not easy, given that some bloggers spoil it for the rest of us.”
Totally agree on this. The our credibility has been spoilt by the mainstream media and other bloggers time after time. Sigh.
Jaywalk: There is a lesson I have gleaned from this -
to have a taping device for future interviews (if I do agree again)
I did think of doing this prior to the interview but berated myself for being paranoid. But now I learn.
wishbone: I think as bloggers, we should also collectively stand together and reclaim our copy rights. It is useless if some do and the some condone the journalists for lifting our content.
xizor2000:Aiya, of course, 大哥！:)
DK:Hopefully one day we can all be untied as a front to change this. We know it’s going to happen soon right? *wink wink*
But please. Ask first.
The ST quoted my blog last year and not only did they not ask for permission (after all I wrote it!) but they didn’t bother to let me know. It upset me but I am not surprised that they are still doing things like that.
By the way, the link on your blogroll is wrong (my fault since I changed my URL).
Piper:Thanks for the heads up!! I was clicking on it two days ago and was thinking that it’s my connection or something. Will update it now.
I am glad you shared that about the ST quote. It seems that more and more such cases are being shared after I have blogged on this.
I sometimes wonder if basic courtesy is deemed too demanding.
Hi Rachel,
Thanks for reminding me of how the ST takes care of its own agenda.
Yes the reporter emailed me to say how much they would treasure my opinion about the “4 schools of opposition politics”. So like a fool that I am ( or was), I spent some effort and more than a little time to write what I thought was a very fair and concise account about JBJ,CST,LTK and CSJ. I was disappointed that not one word was printed.
We must remember that SPH, which owns almost all the important media in Sg, is owned and controlled by the govt. MM Lee already said that control of the media is a key pillar in the governance of Sg.
I was pleasantly pleased that ST agreed to print my tribute to JBJ ( which was one of only 2 letters about JBJ) but the editors decided to headline it “To some, JBJ is a hero, To Others a failure”.
Why must they use that phrase of all the sentences and phrases in my letter?
Judge the intentions of ST for yourselves.
Usually, I simply rebuff the national media for any comments after One time, I was misquoted and something I wrote lifted out of context just to pad a MSM article.
And the reporter(s) had the cheek to ask me for a more concrete observation for publication.
I’m not born yesterday, and while I know some of you fresh journalists are genuninely willing to sniff out a story and have the passion to fight for your beliefs, the problem here is that your editors always find it fit to amend under the guise of editorial reasons, to subtly shape the audience reaction in no means contrary to what the source meant.
Although the context of this article was more of a lifestyle/culture piece, I can certainly sympathise with the socio-political bloggers who are being taken advantage of in this area.
I would like to leave some words on how one senior ST editor thinks about bloggers. I will put this up every time some ST “professional editors” lifted some bloggers’ posts without proper manners. I can see that most papers under SPH are using bloggers’ posts as print content. The problem with this strategy is that there are always chances to rebut when they unjustly twisted the words. Every time they misquoted, people (local & international) will keep track and adjust the “integrity” barometer.
The following quote is made by Mr Leslie Fong. It is taken from the Singapore Press Club website and this is his reply to the question: “Are bloggers journalists?”
Link
Leslie Fong was the editor of the Straits Times for 15 years, until 2002. The current ST “professional editors” should take some advices from our esteemed Mr Fong.
Dr Huang:Thanks for dropping by. I was very appalled and indignant when I saw your post. And now, upon knowing that they deliberately made use of that one particular phrase to slant the angle of your letter, I am furthermore disgusted on your behalf.
Those of us who read your blog know your writing style. I, for one, believe that it was not your intended tone for that letter.
not a white rabbit:How true about editorial manipulation. However like you, I also believe that there are good genuinely sincere journalists out there who want to do a decent job of reporting.
The article was certainly not supposed to be a lifestyle or culture piece. It was posted under Insight and in the column of People and Perspectives which was politically inclined.
Joe: Thanks for sharing from yet another point of view. I agree with you on the gauge of integrity from editors who fudge on journalistic principles and certainly, I hope to see that credible bloggers will be respected in terms of copyright and professional courtesy.
With that, I do take exception to what Mr Leslie Fong has determined. While I do agree with him on journalistic principles and responsibilities, I have to respectfully disagree on the perceived lack of accountability from bloggers.
While I cannot speak for other bloggers, for example, those who see blogging as an online diary where they can say anything they want, those of us who blog about socio-political, environmental, educational, finance etc must be accountable for what we say. While we are not bound by professional standards, we impose upon ourselves, just as our readers impose upon us, the irrefutable need that our facts be accurate and our perspectives, reasonable and sensible.
We are certainly not only responsible to ourselves. We are accountable to our readers too, who in the freedom and openness of the internet, are free to criticize and spread the word if we are not trustworthy or reliable.
In the US, professional bloggers are being used over the mainstream media, as they are deemed more effective and gained more trust from the target market than msm ever could.
[...] Press rank 141 and falling - Xtralicious: Dissecting the ST interview and the journalist-blogger relationship - BothSidesOfTheJohorStraits: Channelnewsasia’s news bias: A private book-launch of an [...]
+1 Jay. And he has a pretty reliable tape recorder.
anyways, bloggers are not journalists cos bloggers don’t get paid.
there are a lot of implications in that statement, but let’s just leave it at that.
*Sigh* I hear you Rachel. I was equally mortified at that remark I made being quoted and I also share your displeasure at the “website selling clothes”. I mean, he makes it sound like pasar malam ware when it clearly ain’t.
Overall I felt the article was ok but those few bits. Oh well.
At least you guys and gals get some publicity. I dont wish to come across as a sour pussy cat. Only I believe blogosphere is bigger than TOC and TOC should actually use it their privilege position to promote some struggling bloggers. I think one problem with bloggers after the blogger 13 saga is there is no loyalty to each other anymore, it is everybody for himself. Just my two cents.
What I dont really like about you people is you are complaining over peih siah points, like grumbling over the price of sugar when kids in Africa a dying as they cannot even get milk. If you are not carefully many here may call you a conceited lot.
Vandalin: Yes, it does say a lot. Most of us are in it for the passion and the love of writing. Not to say that journalists are not passionate about writing but when you are paid to do something, there will always be a shift in paradigm.
Also, I said in the interview with ST that I think TOC is a force to be reckoned with because:
1. We are highlighting the problems from the ground and offering practical solutions and papers without being paid a single cent. Compare this to the million dollar salaried ministers whose “solutions” leave much to be desired.
2. We are doing this for the passion, which I figure might not exist in a certain dictionary. This is because they require their salaries to be pegged to the top people in private sector before they can “serve the people”.
[...] that your words will be published as it is. Ask fellow blogger Rachel, who had to go through this terrible experience. I wonder, will she not be more wary the next time the press contacts her for another interview? [...]
Selene: Yes the article was fine in the sense that we were not openly or viciously vilified. The rest, as I have said, is said and done - no point crying over spilled milk.
james theng: While I could not grasp exactly what your points were, a copyright claim on our own content would hardly be misconstrued as conceit.
Xtralicious,
I meant lifestyle/culture piece in reference to my own post being lifted in the past.
Cheers
[...] Press rank 141 and falling - Xtralicious: Dissecting the ST interview and the journalist-blogger relationship - BothSidesOfTheJohorStraits: Channelnewsasia’s news bias: A private book-launch of an [...]
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