__________________________________________________
THIS IS STOMP.
The acronym is short for Straits Times Online Mobile Print.
It is a citizen journalist website run by The Straits Times.
—–
LATEST ON THIS STORM IN A CITY-STATE
YAHOO! NEWS SINGAPORE
COMMENT: Smarter citizen journalism without STOMP?
By Shah Salimat
Shah Salimat is the editor-in-chief of Popspoken, an entertainment and lifestyle newsblog with a pulse on the issues that matter. He Tweets at @shahsalimat. The views herein are his own.
…
But if Singapore truly has had enough by putting more than 20,000 signatures to a petition to close down STOMP, why did the site draw 1.68 million unique visitors in March alone?
Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) hit back at petition organiser Robin Li for his medium’s loophole of allowing users with fake emails to act as signatories. Astroturfing aside, SPH digital media editor Felix Soh called netizens — his audience, mind you — “sad” for championing Internet freedom as well as the closure of a website “they don’t like”.
How can there be responsible Internet freedom when STOMP’s latest campaign is to expose the idiocy of Singaporeans’ photo and status updates online? When there is little intention to educate citizen journalists over ethics or fact-check stories (remember Samantha Ann Francis?), does that not tarnish the duty of responsibility a free Internet must carry?
Cropping NSmen out of the picture
The back-and-forth over the petition’s tipping point brings a seemingly trivial but key point up front. A photo of a National Serviceman not giving up his seat for the elderly is the latest in a string of posts targeting Singaporean sons for their sweat, stench and heavy bags even as they defend their country and are reminded by their superiors not to sit in the train for fear of Stompers.
While Felix Soh defended STOMP by saying that a photo in the gallery after the article’s text did show that the reserved seat was empty and the old lady did not take it up, the unfortunate crop on the post’s lead-in image is irresponsible, untruthful reporting unto itself.
It also brings another point into question: if this had been an erroneous report by a website reader, then why did STOMP’s editors publish the story? Publishing is not an objective move: it is a subjective choice by an information controller who decides when to press the red button.
For the whole article, click on:
—
Five reasons not to shut down Stomp
By Andy Wong
I’m not the world’s biggest fan of Stomp, in fact I don’t think I’ve ever read it. But calls to close it down are troubling, and miss the bigger picture. Although it is probably too late since the petition has already gone ultra-viral, here are five reasons why you shouldn’t agree with banning Stomp.
1. Free Stomp’s Internet
#FreeMyInternet was a great moment in Singapore’s recent history, and I am proud to have participated by blacking out my blog. The debate which raged over the MDA’s draconian attempts to regulate the internet was inspiring, but we shouldn’t lose sight of the bigger picture. If I should be free to publish on my blog any article that is not libelous, slanderous, inciting of religious hatred, seditious or all the rest of it, so should Stomp.
…
2. Stomp is a symptom of wider media issues
Stomp would not be so popular if the government did not monopolise the media industry. Surely more independent, professionally run online outlets would challenge the extremely poor quality of Stomp’s “journalism” and push them into the margins. Competition would force Stomp to improve, but the government is not likely to allow any real competition in mainstream media. Shutting down Stomp is just a short-cut that ignores bigger issues.
The spreading of lies and blatant inaccuracies should be addressed by an independent media regulator, which could force the publication of corrections and apologies.
…
3. Stomp is a (partial) reflection of Singapore
Stomp comes under fire for publishing articles that are divisive, inflammatory and offensive. But why do people click? Click-bait and gutter tabloid journalism is nothing new. If foreign workers are so despised in Singapore that Stomp can get visitors by posting endless articles on the subject, then closing Stomp just hides the problem. The success of certain topics on Stomp tells us something about what are the hot-button issues in Singapore today. Many people understand this but appear to be overlooking the deeper problem.
…
4. You can stop reading Stomp without banning it
I never read Stomp. I don’t link to Stomp. I don’t think I have ever clicked a link to Stomp. Even if someone posted a Stomp article explaining how bad / stupid / wrong it was, I wouldn’t click it. Posting controversial articles that make people angry enough to click is part of Stomp’s success. Don’t play into their hands. Treat Stomp like it doesn’t exist.
…
5. Don’t be Calvin Cheng
Seriously, closing down a website because you don’t like the content puts you on the same intellectual level as Calvin Cheng and Yaacob Ibrahim. The former often attacks bloggers and alternative media either for writing something he doesn’t like, or refusing to publish his endless and pointless rebuttals. The latter is notorious for suggesting that Singaporeans should “read the right things”.
As Voltaire didn’t say – “I disapprove of what you publish, but I will defend to the death your right to publish it”.
Don’t sign the petition.
The writer blogs at andyxianwong.wordpress.com. The image above is a screen capture from the Stomp website
http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2014/04/five-reasons-not-to-shut-down-stomp/
—
PETITION TO SHUT DOWN STOMP GAINS MORE THAN 5,000 SIGNATURES IN LESS THAN 12 HOURS
A petition started by a netizen Robin Li has gained more than 5,000 signatures in less than 12 hours.
—
“There are many instances online where people snap photographs of others in public spaces for the purposes of subjecting them to online ridicule and scorn,” Member of Parliament (MP), Hri Kumar Nair, said in March 2013 in Parliament.
Mr Kumar was raising the problem of online “hate speech” and “hateful ideas” and the need for privacy laws in Singapore. While Mr Kumar gave examples of a photograph of a mangled body in an accident and pictures of innocent women involved in the recent sex scandal cases being posted online, his remarks could very well have also be pointing the finger at the Straits Times’ portal, STOMP.
The acronym is short for Straits Times Online Mobile Print.
Both the Straits Times and STOMP fall under the Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) umbrella.
SPH itself is headed by a former Cabinet minister, Dr Lee Boon Yang.
A petition to shut down STOMP was launched recently and is beginning to garner wide support.
On Sunday evening, there were about 2,200 signatures on the petition. But by Monday morning, it had more than doubled to almost 6,000.
The petition is started apparently by one Robin Li.
“Netizens have been contributing fabricated stories in the expense of other citizens, picking on national service men, promotes cyber-bullying and cause unrest among fellow citizens by invading their privacy,” the petition said about the content contributed to and published by STOMP.
“Stomp refuses to acknowledge the false stories, and chooses to go ahead and publish for the sake of ‘citizen journalism’,” it added.
“STOMP has failed to rectify and set simple sensible guidelines before any irresponsible netizen contributes a fabricated story without getting the right facts.”
http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2014/04/shut-down-straits-times-portal-petition-draws-support/
—
TECHINASIA
Singapore voyeurism site STOMP faces public backlash as citizens call for its shutdown
Click on link for the report:
—
- Petitioning SPH: STOMP.com.sg
Close down STOMP.com.sg
-
-
Petition by
Singapore, Singapore
Netizens have been contributing fabricated stories in the expense of other citizens, picking on national service men, promotes cyber-bullying and cause unrest among fellow citizens by invading their privacy.
Stomp refuses to acknowledge the false stories, and chooses to go ahead and publish for the sake of “citizen journalism”
How does this educate generations after generations when there are much important news that netizens can find time to understand rather than spending hours on STOMP just reading and contributing fabricated stories?
STOMP has failed to rectify and set simple sensible guidelines before any irresponsible netizen contributes a fabricated story without getting the right facts.
Below are some examples:
Editor-in-Chief apologises to SMRT for Stomp Picture
and more recently…
Inaccurate news of NSman in train
We should live our lives as it is without being needed to be STOMPed over matters that voyeurism do not not understand and constantly misinterpreted.
———————————————————————
weehingthong 