What Our Poor SPH Journalist Can & Cannot Do

[NightWind]

Spot On......

 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sg_Review/message/7645

 

Mellanie Hewlitt

2 Nov 2011

Sg_Review

What Our Poor SPH Journalist Can & Cannot Do

 

This morning the Straits Times, the official propaganda press for the PAP,

released a headliner stating that "55% of Singaporeans say the President should

be paid less than the PM". This follows another insightful headliner from

"Today", another PAP controlled SPH tabloid, stating that "Singaporeans are

confused about President's roles".

 

As is usual with the Straits Times and its stable of SPH print companies, there

is more revealed in what the statement does not say (and strives to omit or

hide) than the little morsel of obscure statistical fact it tries to serve up

and pass on as the truth.

 

But before we dwell further into the statement we must also acknowledge that it

is not easy being a "journalist" working in Singapore's propaganda press. You

can deduce this from the convoluted manner in which the headline is made. Our

dedicated and ever obedient SPH journalist cannot go outright to state that over

90% of all Singaporeans feel that the PAP Ministers salaries are obscene and

ridiculously high. To acknowledge such a truth in its face and publish this

fact would be akin to committing career suicide in the PAP controlled SPH world.

 

And by the same token, our poor SPH journalist also cannot go on to state that

over 90% of all Singaporeans think that the President is grossly over-paid, like

his ministerial counter-parts. Our poor SPH journalist cannot admit the factual

truth that this is in fact a purely ceremonial office that is used to endorse

the sleight of hand of the PAP Ministers.

 

Neither can the SPH Journalist go on to talk about the related issue of the long

overdue findings on the supposedly independent review committee that was

supposedly set-up to er "review" ministerial salaries. This is a public

embarrassment and a faux pas that the ruling party is still struggling to

extricate itself from, and it is one of those skeletons they want to quickly

bury and forget and "move on".

 

Our poor SPH journalist also has to somehow avoid mention and direct comparisons

with the salaries of equivalent leaders in the civilized democracies who some

how are mysteriously able to honestly carry out their duties and functions as

public servants, without graft and corruption. Our SPH journalist cannot for

instance say that just because President Obama is drawing less than 20% of the

annual package of our PAP Ministers, that Mr Obama and his administration are a

corrupt lot receiving under the table money.

 

Similarly our poor SPH journalist also cannot reveal the fact that the only

"political leaders" drawing similar salary levels with those of our PAP

ministers and president all just happen to be political dictators and war-lords

that hail from lawless war-torn strive ridden third-world countries. What a

strange conincidence!!!

 

Somehow, no matter how impossible, our poor SPH journalist has to do the

impossible, and to make such obscene ridiculous salary levels seem reasonable

and justifiable. How then does one hide or at least ignore the huge 6 ton white

elephant that squats squarely in the middle of the sitting room? It is no easy

task and I must commend SPH in its continuing efforts to window dress and add

credibility to these numbers.

 

When you look at all of the above you can see that there really is a helluv a

lot that our poor tongue tied SPH journalist cannot say or print. Since he has

by default eliminated all intelligent meaningful content from a discussion, his

articles will be adorned with shallow rhetorical dribble lacking any real

intellectual content.

 

Once again this is not the fault of the poor SPH journalist as he is constrained

by circumstances and the environment, NOT TO CALL A SPADE A SPADE, and to

dutifully issue glowing endorsements of his nude emperor's new clothes. He is

forced to be a shallow creature without any journalistic integrity. SPH and his

employers have surgically removed his spine and backbone and replaced this with

a double forked tongue.

 

Which now leads us back to this rather amusing headliner that he can safely

state in a politically controlled environment: "55% of Singaporeans say the

President should be paid less than the PM". Oh yes and that other gem,

"Singaporeans are confused about President's roles"

[Ender]

Writer mistaken "Today" is a SPH tabloid. "Today" is mediacorp.

[Vulcann]

Pritam should have answered the LM's query in his face...

[Ladykillerz]

nothing is new here.

i reckon everyone or rather most already know.

puppets @ work. =P

[Toapayohkid]

Writer mistaken "Today" is a SPH tabloid. "Today" is mediacorp.

 

to some, it is same thing. today is much better imho. free, small form, better online version.

[Celicar]

ST is classified as fiction, you all dunno meh.

[SGCMmaomao]

During the GE @ month of apil/may.. if u realised.. the P@P article was smaller than Wp(was the headline) on the first day when all those rally start... then after that.. the following days P@p articles become the headline and Wp article can only be within those pages...