Hah!!! Why would I even want to be a journalist in singapore? To work for the one and only media outlet in singapore so that I can write stuff that other people wants me to write? To shamelessly praise the government and the men in whites to the skies while glossing over their mistakes so I can enjoy a fat paycheck? Give me a break.

But here’s a doozy by none other than Leslie Fong (Leslie Fong was the editor of the Straits Times for 15 years, until 2002 when Han Fook Kwang took over the reins. Fong is now editor-at-large, and is in charge of the SPH’s foreign bureaus, especially China.)-

“No! Emphatically not! Whether in writing news stories or features, properly trained journalists check and double-check their facts, set these in context, work in relevant background information, insist on objectivity and balance, organise their material so their account flows smoothly and logically, and use temperate language unless there is a powerful reason to resort to strong words. Even in offering views, they ensure that the opinions expressed are based on fact, failing which, as any libel lawyer would tell you, what they write cannot be defended as fair comment.

Bloggers, on the other hand, just sound off as they please. They are not bound by professional standards and ethics, and are responsible to no one but themselves. So you read them at your own risk, or peril. Newspaper editors who give bloggers space, or even prominence, in their pages, in the hope that this will attract younger readers, are doing damage to their calling.�

click here for the entire article on The Online Citizen.

Anyway this is not the first nor will it be the last time our so-called journalists feels the need to protect their turf as they increasingly feel the competition for attention coming from blogs. You can refer to one of my older post just to see the kind of stringent fact checking our local journalists is capable of. And this is not even the first instance when the local press has been found wanting. Of course if you check on the story now, they have convenient changed the bombastic first sentence to something more appropriate- but its embarassing nonetheless.

Search Mr Wang’s blog and you can find many instances of the kind of slipshod reporting and writing that our local journalists is capable of.

A few weeks ago, Ong Sor Fen, another one of ST much “esteemed” journalists also wrote an opinion piece on how she doesn’t read blogs. Big deal. I don’t read articles written by Ong Sor Fen either. Not after she gave the movie Blood and Chocolate a 3.5 stars out of 5 review. Yes the very same movie that has a 3.6/10 rating on Rotton Tomatoes. Anyone who can give that shit piece of a movie a 3.5 star has no credibility- either as a movie reviewer nor as a journalist.