Singabloodypore

Why do regimes fear the independent media so?

Remember Singapore's embarrassing IMF summit in 2006 and how the regime in Singapore handled it? Japan, which is 37th in the RSF's press freedom ranking, is now showing that it also fears alternative news. In an event like a G8 summit, independent reporters form one line of defence deterring police brutality in handling protesters. These reporters follow closely the protests and give a different coverage of the protests and the summit issues from the mainstream media, which often portray the protesters as rioters and the NGOs and their alternative summits as naive simple hippie organisations out of touch with the real world. So the intimidation of independent journalists only mean one thing. Regimes only want their views disseminated via the mainstream "credible" media.