Citizen journalism- have you gotten protection yet?
Ever wondered what the consequences would be if for instance, citizen journalism leads to unsolicited suing? It happens especially with the rise of ‘unveiling’ contentious behaviours amongst politicians in the recent Trump and Hillary private server email reveal or even in the spate of ‘fake news’ masquerading the truth with a thought.
Of course, not that one would blabber one’s mouth without prior thought (although opinion pieces are opinions after all, where everyone should have a right to expression); in the cases on confidential sources and the pressure to expose them under law there was a revision of one of the most important laws for journalism in Australia a few years ago.
The Shield law, and its update has seen a wider coverage that includes both bloggers and tweeters. Yes, what with the case of breaking news via Twitter these days; e.g. OBL unfolding events, and even cross-country updates where I had been following the General Elections back in Singapore then quite staunchly through Tweetdeck… it is heartening to see that at least some form of protection is catching up with what the internet highway has conjured. Unlimited access 24/7 to information and of course, the rise of citizen journalism. Any one who can string together a sound argument can post, tweet, write, link information that would aid individuals, all in the name of public interest.
This would tie in with the need to protect individuals who might be voicing out their opinions, and yet inevitably fanning the flames of a potential lawsuit.
Now perhaps, we need one in Singapore to protect our influencers from themselves – especially where going public does not always mean people want to read about one’s ‘dirty laundry’.
Mariel Wong 