Quite contrary

On May 25, 2005 · 36 Comments · In Living

When your opin­ion is con­trary to a news­pa­per reporter’s angle on a story she’s doing, there’s a high chance your opin­ion won’t be seen in print:

Hi Mr Lee,

I’m doing an arti­cle on the influ­ence of local blog­gers and I just have a few questions.

Local blog­gers like your­self, mrbrown and Wendy Cheng are treated like mini celebri­ties, in that your read­ers are loyal to you and are influ­enced by your opinions.

- do you think this is a purely local sit­u­a­tion, because of Singapore’s size?
– could you tell me one or two instances in which you realised that you were able to influ­ence peo­ple?
– do you ever get spe­cial treat­ment at events, eg VIP passes?

I hope you can get back to me really quickly! Thanks so much for your help, I really appre­ci­ate it :)

–jen­nani

Regards,
Jen­nani Durai
The Straits Times (Dig­i­tal Life)

Hi Jen­nani,

Thanks for emailing.

Let me qual­ify your state­ment and ques­tion: No, I am not treated like a celebrity, mini or oth­er­wise. But there are other blog­gers who can be seen to be. Xiaxue, for instance.

- do you think this is a purely local sit­u­a­tion, because of Singapore’s size?
No, there are blog­gers in the US who are celebri­ties. Singapore’s size helps make it seem as if it is easy to bump into a famil­iar face.

- could you tell me one or two instances in which you realised that you were able to influ­ence peo­ple?
Yes, a few other blog­gers started miss­pe­owl­ing words like I did. Other than that, my (very few) opin­ions count for naught.

- do you ever get spe­cial treat­ment at events, eg VIP passes?
I once told a bouncer that I had 2000 vis­i­tors a day at my web­site, and he told me, ‘so do we, get back in line’. So, no.

Let me know if you have other ques­tions. Xiaxue and mrbrown are on the cc list. So, con­sider them asked as well.

Cheers,


Kwai Lan some more lah! Press cut you out totally den you know!

iTunes’ party shuf­fle is play­ing a copy of: Jeri­cho — k.d. lang — Hymns Of The 49th Par­al­lel, of which I have the orig­i­nal CD and there­fore didn’t steal music.
 
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  • stoned.nerd

    haha. per­haps they have no place for your wit and humour in their prissy papers.

  • stoned.nerd

    haha. per­haps they have no place for your wit and humour in their prissy papers.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/7151582 wil­lowink

    This is funny and should be in print!.. “I once told a bouncer that I had 2000 vis­i­tors a day at my web­site, and he told me, ‘so do we, get back in line’. So, no.”

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/7151582 wil­lowink

    This is funny and should be in print!.. “I once told a bouncer that I had 2000 vis­i­tors a day at my web­site, and he told me, ‘so do we, get back in line’. So, no.”

  • man­tis

    yo buddy,

    are you going for EX. downunder?

    me still com­pos­ing my defer­ment letter !!!

    maybe you can help !!!

  • man­tis

    yo buddy,

    are you going for EX. downunder?

    me still com­pos­ing my defer­ment letter !!!

    maybe you can help !!!

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/1700143 Mr Miyagi

    No plans to defer for Ex Wal­laby. Don’t defer lah. Go lah.… hahaha.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/1700143 Mr Miyagi

    No plans to defer for Ex Wal­laby. Don’t defer lah. Go lah.… hahaha.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/731138 Glo­ria

    Totally with you on this… not sur­prised that they didn’t print it. For­give me for being out of touch but this stu­dent blog­ging com­pe­ti­tion thing is not real right? right?

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/731138 Glo­ria

    Totally with you on this… not sur­prised that they didn’t print it. For­give me for being out of touch but this stu­dent blog­ging com­pe­ti­tion thing is not real right? right?

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/5111909 mb

    Glo­ria, the Inter­school blog­ging thing, IS REAL.

    Be afraid. Be very afraid.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/5111909 mb

    Glo­ria, the Inter­school blog­ging thing, IS REAL.

    Be afraid. Be very afraid.

  • Hells­Bel

    You went to a Tau­fik concert?!

  • Hells­Bel

    You went to a Tau­fik concert?!

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/2286059 ahmad

    “- could you tell me one or two instances in which you realised that you were able to influ­ence people?”

    wah…sensitive ques­tion siarl. a bit ISD donch u think?

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/2286059 ahmad

    “- could you tell me one or two instances in which you realised that you were able to influ­ence people?”

    wah…sensitive ques­tion siarl. a bit ISD donch u think?

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/1256302 Unknown

    This post has been removed by the author.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/1256302 Unknown

    This post has been removed by the author.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/1256302 Unknown

    I’m tak­ing a Mass Media class and for one of my papers, well, two, but for one of them, I men­tioned the blog­ging scene in Singapore.

    Like you said, it’s “eas­ier” for peo­ple to bump into famil­iar faces and the “influ­ence” is just much more notice­able — such as xiaxue’s tongue stick­ing out pose and its effect, which was really what I wrote about for “blog­ging and its effects”

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/1256302 Unknown

    I’m tak­ing a Mass Media class and for one of my papers, well, two, but for one of them, I men­tioned the blog­ging scene in Singapore.

    Like you said, it’s “eas­ier” for peo­ple to bump into famil­iar faces and the “influ­ence” is just much more notice­able — such as xiaxue’s tongue stick­ing out pose and its effect, which was really what I wrote about for “blog­ging and its effects”

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/2334446 Meren­wen

    War­rau, you also kena from them? I feel slightly bet­ter about myself now know­ing that I wasn’t the only blog­ger inter­viewed who had her com­ments com­pletely edited out.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/2334446 Meren­wen

    War­rau, you also kena from them? I feel slightly bet­ter about myself now know­ing that I wasn’t the only blog­ger inter­viewed who had her com­ments com­pletely edited out.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/3951767 pow­er­puff

    u know ah miyagi, i first started read­ing your blog because i thought your pho­tos looks damn cool. then i realised your writ­ing also cool coz damn hilar­i­ous in a localised way, every­one from sin­ga­pore under­stands.… then you appear in news­pa­pers.. you give them a mon­key face expres­sion photo… :|

    aiyoh!

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/3951767 pow­er­puff

    u know ah miyagi, i first started read­ing your blog because i thought your pho­tos looks damn cool. then i realised your writ­ing also cool coz damn hilar­i­ous in a localised way, every­one from sin­ga­pore under­stands.… then you appear in news­pa­pers.. you give them a mon­key face expres­sion photo… :|

    aiyoh!

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/4214081 Ah 9

    rock­hamp­ton is a nice place. $5 big burg­ers, out­dated arcade machines in the for­est, shower buck­ets, worm cess pool…wat more can u ask? Hehe­he­hehe the great out­doors.. =D

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/4214081 Ah 9

    rock­hamp­ton is a nice place. $5 big burg­ers, out­dated arcade machines in the for­est, shower buck­ets, worm cess pool…wat more can u ask? Hehe­he­hehe the great out­doors.. =D

  • http://wurh.com ci’en

    So is this the end of the papers report­ing about blog­ging? They seem to be try­ing all angles!

  • http://wurh.com ci’en

    So is this the end of the papers report­ing about blog­ging? They seem to be try­ing all angles!

  • lance

    ah 9 — don’t for­get the frogs in the toi­let bowls!

  • lance

    ah 9 — don’t for­get the frogs in the toi­let bowls!

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/6325628 sway

    with an under­grad degree in media (mainly jour­nal­ism) from one of the most openly left-wing unis in aus­tralia, I’m frankly find­ing the whole media scene in Sin­ga­pore a lit­tle hard to swallow.

    I guess they all have word lim­its to stick to and pesky sub eds and edi­tors to report to though. *shrugs*

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/6325628 sway

    with an under­grad degree in media (mainly jour­nal­ism) from one of the most openly left-wing unis in aus­tralia, I’m frankly find­ing the whole media scene in Sin­ga­pore a lit­tle hard to swallow.

    I guess they all have word lim­its to stick to and pesky sub eds and edi­tors to report to though. *shrugs*

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/6416889 Ram­bling Alcoholic

    Aiyah Mr M, its not that you really wanted your com­ments in the papers right? You not a media whore mah… Right?

    Any­way, after the last mis­quote, I think you should just give friv­o­lous takes on any ques­tions from the media that come your way. Its bet­ter to be not quoted than mis­quoted right?

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/6416889 Ram­bling Alcoholic

    Aiyah Mr M, its not that you really wanted your com­ments in the papers right? You not a media whore mah… Right?

    Any­way, after the last mis­quote, I think you should just give friv­o­lous takes on any ques­tions from the media that come your way. Its bet­ter to be not quoted than mis­quoted right?

  • Anony­mous

    haha but if that’s the angle of the story then you can’t expect her to put in your com­ments right? they’re directly in con­flict with the whole story. can’t come down hard on the jour­nal­ist for that. any­way, saw the Who Says I’m… ? (for­got wha it was) thing in Sun­day Times. very cool :) you were inter­viewed right after Utt??!

  • Anony­mous

    haha but if that’s the angle of the story then you can’t expect her to put in your com­ments right? they’re directly in con­flict with the whole story. can’t come down hard on the jour­nal­ist for that. any­way, saw the Who Says I’m… ? (for­got wha it was) thing in Sun­day Times. very cool :) you were inter­viewed right after Utt??!

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