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Singapore Tightens Foreign Media Rules
Singapore (AFP) Aug 06, 2006 Singapore said it was tightening the rules on a handful of foreign publications previously exempt from part of the city-state's media code, which a watchdog ranks among the world's toughest. The government announced that Newsweek, Time, the Financial Times, the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER) and the International Herald Tribune were the media outlets that would be affected. Since 1990, offshore papers have been required to appoint a publisher's representative in Singapore who could be sued, and to pay a security deposit of S$200,000 (US$126,500). The exemption for those publications named by the information and communication ministry was lifted due to what it called a changing media landscape. It also came after the FEER published an interview with Singapore opposition leader and vocal government critic Chee Soon Juan in its latest edition. "These newspapers now regularly report on political issues in the region and Singapore and have significant circulations in Singapore," the Ministry of Information, Communication and the Arts (MICA) said late Thursday. MICA said the press act "serves to reinforce the government's consistent position that it is a privilege, and not a right, for foreign newspapers to circulate in Singapore. "They do so as foreign observers of the local scene and should not interfere in the domestic politics of Singapore." In its July-August edition, FEER wrote about Chee's campaign for more democratic freedoms in the city-state and how the ruling People's Action Party have responded with a barrage of lawsuits. Singapore has strictly regulated the foreign media, and foreign publications have paid heavy legal damages or suffered circulation restrictions after publishing articles critical of Singapore's leaders. Ahead of general elections in May, the government imposed restrictions on political discussions on blogs and Web sites. The city-state's founding father, Lee Kuan Yew, said in April he would not allow foreign journalists to tell his country what to do on domestic issues. Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) last year ranked Singapore 140th out of 167 countries in its annual press freedom index, alongside the likes of Egypt and Syria. Roby Alampay, executive director of the Bangkok-based watchdog Southeast Asian Press Alliance, noted that the latest move came ahead of next month's annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) hosted by Singapore. "The truth ... has always been known that Singapore is intolerant of too many questions and prying eyes. The real context here, we believe, is the upcoming IMF-WB meeting in Singapore," he told AFP by e-mail. About 16,000 delegates from more than 180 countries, including heads of government, finance chiefs, central bankers and chief executives of leading corporations, are expected to attend the meetings.
Source: Agence France-Presse Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Learn about Cyberwar Systems and Policy Issues at SpaceWar.com Cyberwar - Internet Security News - Systems and Policy Issues
International crime rings, not hackers, true Internet villains
Las Vegas, Aug 5, 2006 Organized crime is winning the Internet security war, specialists warned at the world's foremost gathering of computer hackers in Las Vegas on Saturday. The online peril is no longer brilliant young social outcasts penetrating networks for notoriety; it is international crime rings swiping billions of dollars with keystrokes and malicious computer codes, cyber cops agreed. |
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