STOMP And Citizen Journalism In Singapore

Written by Wee Xue Wen Shawn (07S28).

'The question is no longer about the article. It is about the credibility of STOMP in the future. It is about the future citizen journalism here in Singapore.'

I would like to comment on the quality of the articles on the citizen journalism outlet, STOMP. Though I am not a regular STOMPER, I do read articles recommended by friends. Recently, I learnt from my Alma Mater's intranet about the article about two of our students from TPJC acting intimately at the back of a bus in their school uniform. This article and certain subsequent articles I read have brought to my attention the poor credibility and immaturity shown by some citizen journalists.

Without going into a discussion about whether the students' actions should be condoned, I would like to highlight that STOMP is on its way to become an entertainment outlet than one for citizen journalism. While there are proper articles regarding issues we would like to highlight of our society with the aim of trying to improve it, there are quite a number of articles submitted for the sake of attention itself and they show no significant relation to any issue. We see many 'caught in the act' articles, more often than not of couples in public, in or out of uniform. There are quite a handful of flame articles, meant to shame a certain person or a group of people for acting in an undesirable way. Some recent articles include: 'This rude bus driver cut my lane, confronted me and took my picture' and ‘Girl comes from good school, but what foul language she uses’.

Firstly, the credibility of certain articles, such as the one regarding TPJCians, can be highly questionable. It is amazing how a person can snap a picture of a situation and turn it into something else with the right captions and descriptions. To use this article as an example, the picture merely showed two students in close physical contact. However, the picture was exaggerated by the title "TPJC couple petting in bus back seat: 'Girl moaned and screamed at times'" and statements such as "The girl was even lying down at times" and "the guy looked like he was really enjoying it". It is appalling how STOMPERS spin stories just to sensationalize the story to higher the chances of an article being published. The title which was used: "TPJC couple petting in bus back seat: 'Girl moaned and screamed at times'" is bound to capture more attention than "Girl and boy sitting very close together at the back of the bus". For all we know, the boy could have been simply consoling the girl with a hug and what not, which is completely different and definitely a lot less serious than the description used for the picture. Many agreed that better evidence of this would come in a video, and not an uninformative picture.

Secondly, I would like to comment that many Singaporeans view public shaming as the best solution to a problem. This attitude has translated itself into “flame-fests” on STOMP, whereby a person is judged in an unjust manner and the article is basically a rant from the STOMPER because he or she did not find himself or herself in a favourable situation. While I recognize that there is a thin line between a personal bluster and highlighting certain issues within our society, I believe that the line is clear. While it is of utmost importance to highlight to our society to learn proper manners and social grace, we should refrain from making submissions that are too personal and using portals like STOMP to vent our very biased frustrations.

While I do believe portals like STOMP do help in the introduction of freedom of speech, I do hope it does not become a portal made for the middle-class paparazzi, where people go to simply for juicy news involving non-celebrity Singaporeans. In order to achieve this, STOMP should introduce or improve the quality control on articles submitted.