Students protest Nanyang Chronicle censorship

Students held a landmark protest against the Nanyang Technological University’s censorship of the Nanyang Chronicle Sunday afternoon at the Speakers’ Corner at Hong Lim Park.

Close to 100 students turned up to listen to the four students who organised the protest.

(Read a transcript of Thaddeus Wee’s speech at the protest.)

The Nanyang Chronicle had written an article about opposition party leader Dr Chee Soon Juan’s August visit to the university.

The story was spiked a day before the Chronicle went to press.

Student Scott Teng speaks to a small crowd during a protest at Speaker`s Corner in Singapore. In of the crowd lay a banner with the words, "Responsible press for the students". Photo: Reuters

The Agence France Presse (AFP) (via Yahoo News Singapore) quoted Scott Teng, a third-year student from the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information and a former Chronicle staffer, saying that the article was about his (Dr Chee’s) visit and said nothing about his political views.

Scott was quoted in the Nanyang Chronicle about a year ago when he was one of the student organisers of a petition against the Burmese junta.

Another student, Clarence Chua, whom AFP says is a recent graduate, said, “This event is called to stand up for media freedom”. He added, “Saying students might risk being miseducated by reading this article misses the whole point of the matter”.

NTU “Dictating” student views

“This is not the first time the school has interfered with the publication of articles. Why must the school dictate certain articles for certain issues? It is stifling,” Thaddaeus Wee, a second-year student from the university was quoted saying by The Epoch Times.

As for Cheong Kah Shin, the Nanyang Chronicle journalist who wrote the article, Weekend Today quoted her saying that “she was aware this could be a sensitive topic, and had taken pains to write her piece in “a neutral, non-partisan way”.”

“In this case, there is the potential of an unsolicited visit being given publicity in furtherance of a political objective”, said NTU, and it had to mitigate this risk by exercising the university’s ownership rights.
- Weekend Today

WKWSCI students put up a banner with the words

The Enquirer reported Friday that media students in the Wee Kim Wee School of Information and Communcation had put up a banner saying “Media Blackout” over a wall of photographs meant to exhibit students’ works.

NTU: Student newspapers do not have full editorial rights

It also quoted Associate Professor Lee Chun Wah from the school as saying, “The Chronicle is a student newspaper but it does not have the right to demand what to publish. Ultimately the owner of the newspaper is the president of NTU.”

The Enquirer describes itself as “an online newspaper based in NTU (which) aims to carve out a niche in comprehensive in-depth reporting of issues within the university.” It is student-run and financially independent, set up directly as a result of the censorship incident.

A few Singapore Internet forums have opened threads about the protest, with many internet users supportive of the students’ actions. The Straits Times, Channel News Asia, as well as international media like Reuters have also run stories about the event.

The protest organisers have started a Facebook group called Stand Up For Media Freedom On Campus.

The aftermath

The print edition of The Straits Times has hidden a very short story in the middle of the Home section with a bottom right corner placement today, with nary a quote from any of the students. Online, however, ST is a different story.

mypaper repeats the wire story in just one paragraph, and rival freesheet Today has run a page 8 quarter page.

The New Paper stands out from the competition with page 6 full page coverage, and a large photograph.

938LIVE reported on the protest on its website and on air.

Update: The Online Citizen has also posted a story and a video: