SINGAPORE: The buzzword in the news media world appears to be “integration”, which involves one newsroom providing content across different platforms.
And that’s what Media experts from all over the world including the US, Germany and Hong Kong have been discussing at a two-day conference in Singapore.
Said Dr Chitra Rajaram, director of MediaCorp NewsHub: “…In any integration I think (the challenge is) change. So change in many forms. Change is very hard for people. People have been doing the same thing for the longest time. So to come together and think differently – different workflows, different ways of writing stories, different ways of putting it out together. I think all these are change elements that we have to take into account.” (Source: Channel News Asia)
“Integration” is the new buzzword? But integrate what sort of things? If what they are planning is to integrate Twitter and blogs right into a daily news digest, it’s probably not going to work. All these blogs and Twitter, to me, are just distractions to news reporting. What’s need, however, is better article organization. News has so much more value if every name is tagged to a person, every event happening is tagged to a GPS location, every minute is properly timestamped. Blogs and Twitter are secondaries to return user opinion in a news article. Metadata such as persons involved, GPS locations and time are used to facilitate the retrieval of such mentions. Citizen opinions can be bias, news reporters ought to know better. I feel news reporting can go back to being just news reporting. News websites just have to get smarter.
And regarding newspapers? Milk the cash while it last. It’s going to evolve. Our consumption habits are changing. I see news delivered directly in the decline and news delivered through social mediums via recommendations the uprising trend. With a single recommendation, I would like to find out more and that is when I read news. I don’t poke around a news website to find news to read; I am directed via instinct and recommendations to find out more.
Singapore’s productivity level is 60—70% of what is possible according to Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Singapore’s productivity level is 60—70% of what is possible: PM Lee
SINGAPORE: Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Sunday the country has a considerable way to go in its productivity drive, especially when compared with other countries which have achieved significant productivity growth.
He said Singapore’s productivity level is 60 to 70 per cent of what is possible.
Mr Lee’s remarks follow the release of the Economic Strategies Committee Report, which placed productivity as the key growth strategy for Singapore’s economy.
Well I think my productivity is 83% (my favorite random number). Now, is 60% to 70% just some arbitrary range or is it based on some metric?
Rony Tan, the founder of Lighthouse Evangelism, badmouthed Buddhism and was called up by the Internal Security Department, Singapore (ISD) regarding remarks that he has made which has lacked sensitivity.
Rony Tan made the following comments:
When we talk about religion, false religion [in context of Buddhism], we are not talking about a set of teaching, we are talking about a spiritual war, we are talking about satan and his demons.
A demonic power has supernaturally put some ideas into her mind [refers to the interviewee]. And the same demonic power you cannot see put the same kind of thoughts into the Tibetan monk. So when they check out the facts, it dazzles us. But if you have to look behind the scene, it is a cheap David Copperfield trick. Nothing more; nothing more. So conclusion, there is no truth in reincarnation.
[Referring to Buddhism] When you do good, then you will go higher. Then the definition of ‘higher’ is always a man; higher than a lady. Of course a lady is higher than a cow. That’s their scale of things.
The theory of reincarnation is rubbish.
When Buddha is dying, he says “I am still searching for the way.” But when Jesus comes, he says “I am the way.” [audience laughs]
[In the context of reincarnation] I tell you, ladies should be very offended — they tell me, one of the Buddhist — if you want to argue and you are such an unbeliever he said, next life, next life, Pastor Rony, you will be born as a woman. Ladies are of a lower stature to God. You ladies should say a good “Amen” to the God. We are equal.
If the men is the high of the home, it is not because of his higher status, it is because of a greater responsibility for the household.
According to Buddhism, if you are a lady and you behave yourself, you become a man. But some of you ladies you don’t want to be man. Right? You just don’t want to be a man. I see lots of ladies shaking their heads. You don’t want to be a man. I don’t want to be a woman too.
Actually the interviewees are quite funny if you watch it with an open mind. One of the interviewees revealed that he had some bowel problems causing blood during defecation. In a moment of fear, he prayed to Jesus and was totally healed.
Pastor Rony Tan blasts Buddhism Part 1
Pastor Rony Tan blasts Buddhism Part 2
Pastor Rony Tan blasts Buddhism Part 3
Pastor Rony Tan blasts Buddhism Part 4
Here’s the news report:
Pastor apologises personally to Buddhist & Taoist federations
SINGAPORE: The pastor who was called up by the Internal Security Department (ISD) for making insensitive remarks against the Buddhist and Taoist faiths has apologised personally to the leaders of the two religions.
The leaders of the two faiths accepted Pastor Rony Tan’s apology, and wish to let the matter rest.
Pastor Tan of Lighthouse Evangelism made the comments at his church sessions. These sessions were video—recorded and made available on Lighthouse Evangelism’s website.
In response to MediaCorp’s query, the Singapore Bible College said it trains would—be pastors to be mindful of what they say, especially in a multi—religious society.
Dr Albert Ting, principal of Singapore Bible College, said: “You can talk about your uniqueness, you can talk about your values, you can talk about your doctrines, you can talk about what constitutes the basis of your faith.
“That is all within the allowable discussion. That is your faith, you can’t change it. But whenever you’re engaged with others, then you want to show your respect.”
In a statement, the National Council of Churches said an advisory was issued to Christians in 2008 “not to denounce other religions” even as they evangelise. (Source: Yahoo News)
I should point out that religion is a sensitive issue, especially in Singapore, where the risks of tensions are high. We will not want to jeopardize peace in the process. Singapore has been strict on religious harmony.
In the church I frequented, there is a strong belief that Christianity is the only true religion and all other religions are Satan attempting to bring away people from the Christian God.
Religion is a highly personal position, evangelize with care. Most of the things brought up by Rony Tan are badly delivered. Christians indeed do not believe in the concept of reincarnation. Regarding men and women having similar stature, the Christian Bible has preached otherwise. It has, however, been explained that many of these Bible teachings were applicable to the society in the past and is not meant for literal practice today. The general consensus is that man and woman are of equal level although more progress is required in reforming the church leadership selection process which has barred women from key positions.
[Disclaimer: I come from a Christian background, however, I currently show no interest in any theological positions.]
Random note: Don’t buy newspapers, queue up at 7 a.m. and get it for free. And don’t bring home newspaper; disposing them is a hassle. Better yet, get news online and hug some trees at the park.
The amount of hassle involved in obtaining newspaper such is not that worth it if you think about it. How many times do you make an informed decision based on a news event? Hardly for me. I don’t mind getting my news one week late or view a consolidation of news since newspapers are a day late anyway.
My only issue with getting late news is that I end up missing out on the beginning since the news article report only the progression of the event; this makes the news article difficult to understand. I probably need something like a recap that typically isn’t available in newspaper. What I want is probably a news magazine and not a newspaper. We do not have localized news magazines like the fortnightly-published Newsweek.
Furthermore, newspaper reports can be bias; Singapore is ranked 147 out of 167 in the Annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index for 2004. In Singapore, since we only have one English non-tabloid newspaper, there is little competition on who can provide better news coverage. Also, there’s no way to see how objective a newspaper is if there is no other local newspaper to compare with.
These days, I just wait for local news to come to me.
For two days, from tomorrow (Oct 31 to Nov 01 2009), SingTel will be hosting the INQ Mini 3G Roadshow in Plaza Singapura (Singapore) where you stand a chance of meeting MediaCorp artistes Dai Yang Tian (Oct 31 @ 8 pm) and Elvin Ng (Nov 01 @ 8 pm).
SingTel has a good offer for INQ Mini 3G this round if you print out the following coupon:
You get the following with the coupon printed out (print it here):
Free pack of 3 INQ Mini 3G battery covers (worth SGD34.95)
Waiver or registration fee and SIM card charges (worth SGD42.80)
If you do get an INQ Mini 3G on the roadshow, you’re eligible for a lucky draw with prizes redemption of a 12-month SingTel mobile subscription. One winner will be picked on each day.
So head down to Plaza Singapura (Singapore) between 11 am to 10 pm on days Oct 31, Nov 01 for the INQ Mini 3G roadshow!
Windows 7 has a great showing in Singapore I heard. Congrats:
Interestingly, what’s missing in the video is Windows ME. It’s fine, it will not be missed anyway. Windows 7 is a great operating system offering from Microsoft. I’ve been using it since its prerelease. It’s worth the upgrade and the money.
