Local Blogsphere Thinking of Legal Action Against ChannelNewsLater

Singapore, Singapore--Members of the Local Blogsphere are considering legal action following the publication of potentially defamatory remarks from Channel News Later, a local news-gathering organization. The specific defamatory remarks concern a recent news report on alleged legal action of local organization A*Star against a Masters student in the United States who is not really doing his Masters, but his Ph.D. The alleged paragraph containing defamatory remarks is as follows: "On Wednesday, Channel News Later broke a story about how the Singapore student, who is pursuing his Masters degree in the United States, shut down his blog after he was threatened with legal action by A*Star." The Local Blogsphere, in its response to Channel News Later, said it found the public news story contained defamatory statements. It was apparent to anyone that Channel News Later did not break the story this Wednesday last. The story was broken more than a week ago by the Local Blogsphere, examples here. By falsely claiming the breaking of the story for itself, Channel News Later has "falsely and negatively reflected on the reputation of the Local Blogsphere in the eyes of a third party". The Local Blogsphere also said it had the responsibility to protect its reputation and also that of Singapore. Sloppy errors like these, and the inability of representatives of the news organization to do simple Google searches, do not reflect Singapore well to the international community and discerning local readers. Singapore's objective to be an 'international media hub' would be severely compromised if this continued. And so, it is thinking of warning the Channel News Later of legal consequences unless the objectionable statements are removed. The Local Blogsphere also said it welcomed a diversity of views in all media, but the statements made in the news report "went way beyond fair comment."

More from the Local Blogsphere News Gathering Organization, SingaporeAngle.