So with all the high speed cables promising high-speed connectivity due international envy, gate keeping was optimistically kept low key in public headspace.
This happening then, was a matter of when.
It may affect only those with a set amount of visitors, but it also means a broader range of hotbeds for public opinion have to toe some kind of line. Even those out in the fringes. Especially and traditionally more so for those in the power centre.
Singapore’s clockwork orange narrative thus extends to the digital frontier as it sets new standards in agenda setting reach. The image of a relatively harmonious and compliant workforce continues into the knowledge economy, now rubber stamped and enforceable by policy.
It seems increasingly to look like this – an overarching climate that says the tree is growing rapidly to adapt to global changes already, don’t try to shake it, too much. Public opinion online is more and more privilege to be taken with trepidation.
This, perhaps is the big reveal for their Intelligent Nation 2015 masterplan. Or a sudden jam brake. One of its big goals? 90% of the population on broadband. However, this happens at a time of its first strike alongside two public demonstrations, both a first in living memory. Last time it happened during its adolescent years as a nation the government struck down hard. As a young adult now, if you excuse the analogy, it will find it extremely hard to shake off the memories of those formative years.
Leave no stone unturned, and this might be a message that resonates with the Chinese.
Further reading – [PDF] REALISING THE iN2015 VISION – iDA, 2009
And
iN2015 Masterplan – An Intelligent Nation, A Global City
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New licensing scheme for news websites that reach 50,000 people a month
By Tessa Wong
Source – Straits Times, published May 28, 2013
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.
Announcing the ruling on Tuesday, the 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.
When the MDA deems that a site has met the criteria for individual licensing, it will issue a formal notification and work with the site to move it to the new framework.
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.
Filed under: Charm Offensive, Communications, Culture, Democracy, Domestic Growth, Education, Ideology, Influence, International Relations, Internet, Mapping Feelings, Media, Nationalism, Peaceful Development, People, Politics, Population, Public Diplomacy, Singapore, Social, Soft Power, Strategy, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities
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