The Media and the Crucifixion of Chia
The story of NCMP Steve Chia rages on in local cyberspace ... the print media continues to splash story after story, commentary after commentary on the issue ... all with the underlying tone of moral approbation ...
Lo and behold, Steve Chia sends out a reply to one of the discussion threads in Discuss-Singapore and it is promptly published in full by the Straits Times as an official statement by Steve (see link below) ... this reply hints at the darker forces underlying the whole issue ... the veiled words, the political games being played beyond the public eye, signs of conspiracy and betrayal abound ... it explains and obfuscates in the same gesture, more questions are thrown out into the open .. the reply acts like a salve of hope among Steve's supporters that the story is not as simple as it seems ... but it seems also like an indication of a desperate man in the neutrals' eyes ... the e-mail reply offers nothing much more than what has already been hinted at by several slightly more astute observers in various forums like Sammyboy, SGForums or SPUG or HardwareZone on the whole issue ... the little inconsistencies here and there ... these observations have NOT been picked up by the media ... but Steve Chia's reply was very quickly picked up and published without any editing ... the question is very simply : WHY?
The media is displaying an unaccustomed hunger for political news ... its actions reflect a zealousness and simple-mindedness that may well backfire on itself ... for a media that is being relentless to the point of goading a mistake from a desperate man, to be credible ... it has to show this similar zeal across the entire political spectrum ... can this be done? Doubt so ... so what is the media doing in all this then??? Your guess is as good as mine ... sophistication is thrown out of the window ..
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/singapore/story/0,4386,227220,00.html?
Zhong Eh
27.12.03