MDA clarifies online news licensing scheme amid criticism

May 31, 2013 11:18 PM Yahoo Newsroom

Singapore’s media watchdog on Friday clarified new licensing rules for online news sites after the scheme was widely criticised by Singapore’s online community as a move to further restrict press freedom in the city-state.  From June 1, websites that regularly report Singapore news and have significant reach will require individual licences to operate.

Currently, most websites are covered automatically under a class licence scheme. But the Media Development Authority (MDA) will require websites to be individually licensed once they meet two criteria. These are: if they report an average of at least one article per week on Singapore's news and current affairs over a period of two months, and have at least 50,000 unique visitors from Singapore each month over a period of two months. The individual licenses have to be renewed every year.

Under the new framework, these sites must also put up a performance bond of $50,000, similar to that required for niche TV broadcasters. MDA said the move would place such sites on a "more consistent regulatory framework" with traditional news platforms like newspapers and television stations, which are individually licensed. The licence makes clear that online news sites are expected to remove content that is in breach of MDA standards within 24 hours, once notified to do so. This material could cover content that is against the public interest, public security, or national harmony.

Under the scheme, online news sites will need to obtain individual licences if they report at least once a week on Singapore’s news and current affairs over a period of two months, and are visited by at least 50,000 unique IP addresses from Singapore each month. They must then put up a performance bond of $50,000 and comply within 24 hours with any of the regulator’s order to take down objectionable content.

Ten sites currently fit the media regulator's criteria, of which seven are run by Singapore Press Holdings.  The 10 are: straitstimes.com, asiaone.com, businesstimes.com.sg, omy.sg, stomp.com.sg, tnp.sg, zaobao.com as well as the sites for Today newspaper, ChannelNewsAsia and Yahoo News.

Currently, news sites are automatically granted a “class license” that already require them to observe guidelines prohibiting content that incites racial or religious hatred, among others, said the regulator.

More than 20 activists and bloggers behind alternative Singapore news sites such as The Online Citizen, publichouse.sg and TR Emeritus called on MDA to junk the licensing scheme, which they fear would impact citizens’ ability to “receive diverse news information”.

Media Development Authority (MDA) said the new licensing framework would apply only to sites focused on reporting Singapore news and that bloggers’ personal sites would not be subject to the new licensing terms. “The framework is not an attempt to influence the editorial slant of news sites,” MDA asserted.  MDA said it would only step in when complaints are raised to its attention and when it has assessed that the content is in breach of the guidelines. In the past two years, it has only issued one take-down notice for the “Innocence of Muslims” video.

Also, the watchdog clarified that the $50,000 performance bond need not necessarily entail cash up front, and that licencees can consider a banker’s guarantee or insurance. The bond was among the features of the licencing framework that raised concern. The bloggers and activists who called on MDA to ditch the scheme said that the bond would potentially be beyond the means of volunteer-run and personal online platforms like theirs. The group had also said they believe that the introduction of the licencing regime had not gone through the proper and necessary consultation, and had been introduced without clear guidance.

Publichouse.sg’s Andrew Loh noted that the MDA’s clarification on what constituted reporting Singapore news did not jive with its statement on Tuesday defining a “Singapore news programme”.

“I think you're just confusing everyone,” he said in a comment on the MDA’s Facebook page.  Loh and other members of the public also posted on MDA’s Facebook page comments expressing anger over an interview with BBC in which Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Communications and Information, which oversees the MDA, said, “As long as they [the public] go onto online news sites to read the news, I think it is important for us to make sure that they read the right things….”

Singapore has been accused of having restrictive controls over the media. Recently, it fell 14 places to a record-low 149th position in the latest annual press freedom ranking of Reporters Without Borders.

MDA blocks extramarital dating website

 By Walter Sim And Feng Zengkun

 Published on Nov 09, 2013

The Straits Times

EXTRAMARITAL dating website Ashley Madison has been banned here, after Singaporeans objected to its recent announcement that it was setting up a local portal. The Media Development Authority (MDA) said yesterday that it has worked with Internet service providers to block access to the site. Normal attempts to access the Canadian-based website from within Singapore brought the following message: "The website you are trying to access is restricted by the MDA." But as of last night, the website could still be accessed through virtual private networks. The site's ".sg" domain featured a woman holding a finger to her lips, with the site announcing it was "coming in November", and inviting people to register.

The MDA said the Government has a pragmatic and light- touch approach to regulating the Internet, and that it blocks a limited number of sites - most of which are pornographic - as a "symbolic statement". But Ashley Madison was targeted because it "stood out". "It aggressively promotes and facilitates extramarital affairs and has declared that it will specifically target Singaporeans," said the MDA. "It is against the public interest to allow Ashley Madison to promote its website in flagrant disregard of our family values and public morality."

But the authority recognises that site blocking is "not a perfect way" because it can be circumvented.

Ashley Madison, which was set to be launched here in the week of Nov 17 at the earliest, would have been made available in all four official languages, The Straits Times understands.

Members pay the website to contact each other. The brand reached Asia this year, first with a Japan site in June, followed by a Hong Kong site in August. Many Singaporeans, including Minister for Social and Family Development Chan Chun Sing, have rejected the proposed local edition.

Almost 27,000 people showed their opposition by supporting a "Block Ashley Madison - Singapore" Facebook page. 

The National Family Council yesterday said it welcomed the MDA move to block access to the website, which is "detrimental to the foundations of a family". Chairman Ching Wei Hong said: "We are heartened by the responses of many Singaporeans who stood together with us... upholding the importance of commitment and fidelity in marriage." Mr Seah Kian Peng, chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Social and Family Development, said he was "happy" to hear of the ban. He had filed a question for the Parliament session next Monday asking whether the site would be allowed here. "It is true that if people want to cheat, they can seek other avenues. But we should not make it any easier, knowing full well the intentions of the website," he said.

But others like marriage counsellor Tammy Fontana, 43, did not think banning the site would reduce instances of adultery. The lead therapist of All In The Family Counselling said: "People have been cheating long before there have been websites."

Extramarital dating site Ashley Madison 'not welcome' in Singapore

By Hannah Strange, agencies

25 Oct 2013

The planned local launch of notorious extramarital dating website Ashley Madison has sparked a public outcry in conservative Singapore. Extramarital dating website  Ashley Madison has raised social hackles around the world with its promotion of adultery. But in Singapore, its forthcoming launch has been met with staunch opposition, as residents and politicians insist its maxim that "Life is short. Have an affair" is unwelcome in the conservative city-state.

Singapore's minister for social and family development spoke out against the Canada-based website's planned expansion into the state next  year, saying it was damaging to the institution of marriage. "I do not welcome such a website into Singapore. I'm against any company or website that harms marriage," Chan Chun Sing said in a Facebook post. "Promoting infidelity undermines trust and commitment between a husband and wife, which are core to marriage," he said in the post, which he said was in response to media reports of the planned local launch. "Our marriage vows make it clear that marriage is a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman. This includes staying faithful to one another."

Ashley Madison, which facilitates "married dating, discreet encounters and extramarital affairs", has over 20 million users worldwide and has recently been pushing into Asia with launches in India, Hong Kong and Japan. The reported advance into Singapore, a society known for its strict social mores, has also prompted a Facebook petition with a rapidly swelling list  of supporters - over 13,000 between its establishment on Wednesday and Friday morning.

The petition, "Block Ashley Madison from corrupting Singapore", states its objective is to "gather sound-minded people to express our objection to the establishment of the shameless company, Ashley Madison, that thrives on shattered marriages, in Singapore".

Marriage is heavily promoted by the state in Singapore in order to increase the country's flagging birth rate, with government-supported dating services which encourage couples to marry earlier and have more children. Singaporeans are said to have some of the least active sex lives in the world, with surveys  by British condom maker Durex regularly scoring them low on both sexual frequency and satisfaction. 

Long regarded as a prudish society, where deviation from social norms is met with disapproval and even punishment, Singapore's growing affluence and a large influx of tourists and expatriates have helped liberalise attitudes in recent years. But the government and church groups, however, continue  to promote conservative values, and non-heterosexual sex remains a crime despite growing public acceptance of gay and lesbian lifestyles.

GP Seminar - New Media

Notes taken 11 August 2009

Michael Yap (Deputy Chief Executive MDA) on Changing Media Landscape Opportunities and Challenges

2006 - $19 b revenue, $5 b value add, 54,700 jobs – to develop Singapore into a vibrant global media city so as to foster a creative economy and connected society.

MDA Principles of Regulation

· Providing wider range of content through classification

· Co regulation through codes and guidelines for greater industry empowerment

· Consultation with advisory committees and the public to reflect community standards

Legislation

· Broadcasting Act

· Films Act

· Newspaper and Printing Presses Act

· Public Entertainment and Meeting Act

· Undesirable Publications Act

· Media /development Authority Act

Approach to Content Regulation

How stringent the regulation is would depend on the Reach of the Media. Hence the extent of the regulation would be in this order.

Book (affects only the individual who is reading the book; hence censorhip is light), film, audio recording, arts entertainment, videos and dvds, video on demand, pay tv, magazines and finally newspapers and Free to Air (FTA) broadcasting (censorship would be more stringent as they reach the masses)

In a survey conducted by MDA in 2008, 70 % Singaporeans were satisfied with the regulation.

Characteristics of the Digital Media Expanding Communication and Sharing

· Everywhere immersive

· Empowerment

· Collective opinion & intelligence

· Immediacy

Cherian George (Lecturer; Journalism, NTU)

Traditional Journalism vs New Media

· Traditional Journalism

o Subsidized by advertisers

o Bundled with more marketable content (eg classified)

· New Media

o Content is disaggregated

Citizen Journalism

o Democratizes access to the means of doing journalism

o Expert blogs eg Leong Sze Hian (finance) & Tan Kin Lian (Insurance)

o Civil society media eg acres (nature conservation)

o Fan media eg Trip Advisor

Limitations of Citizen Journalism

o Lack of journalism skills and ethics

o Patchy coverage – there’s not likely to be fans of certain boring but important topics and issues eg parliamentary debates

o Not a forum for collective self determination

Therefore there is a need to save professional journalism but who pays for it?

Old and New Politics

· Old Politics

o Attention on demand – in the past politicians could monopolize the media and hence capture our attention

o Prior censorship through the regulation of government license for any new business to start

o Control of agenda

o Control of image

· New Politics

o Fragmented audience (many more choices with the numerous channels available on cable tv and the Internet)

o No barriers to entry ( anyone can be a mass communicator overnight with the Internet)

o From Twitter to Parliament (no longer dependant on the press to bring up issues)

o Respect must be earned

Hence the New Media is an extremely seductive tool for self expression and self actualization; but it should also be used for collective self determination