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http://yoursdp.org/index.php/news/s...orter-says-harder-to-get-information-from-sdp
Zaobao reporter says harder to get information from SDP
Thursday, 13 January 2011
Singapore Democrats
It has been brought to our attention that Lianhe Zaobao (LHZB) reporter Ms Yew Lun Tian (pictured) had said that the SDP does not receive pre-event publicity for its activities because it is harder to get information from the party.
A reader had queried the Chinese-language newspaper why the Reform Party had received publicity about its activity whereas the same was not done for the Singapore Democrats. Ms Yew replied on her Facebook that this was because "SDP hardly sends press invites nor answers queries by mobile. It takes more effort to write SDP stories."
This is patently untrue.
Falsehood #1: Ms Yew had contacted Dr Chee Soon Juan to ask for an interview before the SDP's 30th anniversary dinner in February 2010. She said that it would be good publicity for the event. Dr Chee gave her the interview.
Following the interview her story started to change and the report did not appear until after the dinner. Even then, the report centred on Mr Chiam See Tong's departure from the party 17 years ago.
Falsehood #2: The Singapore Democrats announced our pre-election rallies way ahead of the events. Rally 1 was held in 25 September 2010 but the announcement was made on 13 September. Information about the rally were released in subsequent announcements. (See here, here, here and here)
Similarly, Rally 2 was held on 13 November but the announcement was made three weeks beforehand. Four more announcements were made about the rally providing information about the programme and speakers. (See here, here, here, here, and its promotion video here)
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In fact, a media release was sent out for Rally 2 on 11 November. But all the newspapers refused to give the rally any pre-event publicity. One of the newspapers had even contacted Ms Jaslyn Go to ask for her personal profile as she was slated to speak at the rally. Again, the information was collected but there was no report.
Falsehood #3: The SDP replies to queries from Ms Yew and other journalists. If she had wanted any information about the events that the party organises, it would not be difficult to send an email to us and she would have gotten the clarifications that she needed.
It is just not credible for anyone to say that information about the SDP's events are harder to get. Readers of this website, of which we are sure Ms Yew is one, cannot credibly say that information about the Singapore Democrats' activity is not freely and widely available.
As a matter of interest we will be announcing in the coming days another major event that we will hold which we hope Ms Yew will not ignore.
This is not the first time that Ms Yew finds herself embroiled in controversy over her reporting and remarks. The SDP took her to task for misrepresenting Dr Chee in the interview she conducted with him last year. (See here and Dr Chee's reply here)
More recently, she was accused by TOC of publicising a private conversation she had with TOC officials, a conversation that was agreed would be off-the-record.
She now tries to pin the blame on the SDP for the unbalanced reporting.
Zaobao reporter says harder to get information from SDP
Thursday, 13 January 2011
Singapore Democrats
It has been brought to our attention that Lianhe Zaobao (LHZB) reporter Ms Yew Lun Tian (pictured) had said that the SDP does not receive pre-event publicity for its activities because it is harder to get information from the party.
A reader had queried the Chinese-language newspaper why the Reform Party had received publicity about its activity whereas the same was not done for the Singapore Democrats. Ms Yew replied on her Facebook that this was because "SDP hardly sends press invites nor answers queries by mobile. It takes more effort to write SDP stories."
This is patently untrue.
Falsehood #1: Ms Yew had contacted Dr Chee Soon Juan to ask for an interview before the SDP's 30th anniversary dinner in February 2010. She said that it would be good publicity for the event. Dr Chee gave her the interview.
Following the interview her story started to change and the report did not appear until after the dinner. Even then, the report centred on Mr Chiam See Tong's departure from the party 17 years ago.
Falsehood #2: The Singapore Democrats announced our pre-election rallies way ahead of the events. Rally 1 was held in 25 September 2010 but the announcement was made on 13 September. Information about the rally were released in subsequent announcements. (See here, here, here and here)
Similarly, Rally 2 was held on 13 November but the announcement was made three weeks beforehand. Four more announcements were made about the rally providing information about the programme and speakers. (See here, here, here, here, and its promotion video here)
<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/huPnb2K1BEQ?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/huPnb2K1BEQ?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>
In fact, a media release was sent out for Rally 2 on 11 November. But all the newspapers refused to give the rally any pre-event publicity. One of the newspapers had even contacted Ms Jaslyn Go to ask for her personal profile as she was slated to speak at the rally. Again, the information was collected but there was no report.
Falsehood #3: The SDP replies to queries from Ms Yew and other journalists. If she had wanted any information about the events that the party organises, it would not be difficult to send an email to us and she would have gotten the clarifications that she needed.
It is just not credible for anyone to say that information about the SDP's events are harder to get. Readers of this website, of which we are sure Ms Yew is one, cannot credibly say that information about the Singapore Democrats' activity is not freely and widely available.
As a matter of interest we will be announcing in the coming days another major event that we will hold which we hope Ms Yew will not ignore.
This is not the first time that Ms Yew finds herself embroiled in controversy over her reporting and remarks. The SDP took her to task for misrepresenting Dr Chee in the interview she conducted with him last year. (See here and Dr Chee's reply here)
More recently, she was accused by TOC of publicising a private conversation she had with TOC officials, a conversation that was agreed would be off-the-record.
She now tries to pin the blame on the SDP for the unbalanced reporting.
