Singapore fines Wall Street Journal editor

The totalitarian government of Singapore has long been a darling of American conservatives, who often seek to emulate it.

But you'd think at least the Wall Street Journal would be safe from censorship there, given that paper's right-of-center stance. Well, think again. Government censorship is so pervasive in Singapore that copies of the paper distributed there often feature blank spaces where articles once stood.

Now Singapore has fined a Wall Street Journal editor the equivalent of roughly $6,600 for "contempt" regarding 3 articles - after fining the paper's publisher, Dow Jones & Co., for these same pieces.

In Singapore, the definition of "contempt" apparently means offending the government. The court said, "Public interest requires that the individuals who were responsible for the publication of the offending materials be also held accountable for their actions."

It seems that the editor was fined because the articles dared to criticize Singapore's court system.

Right-wing dictatorships in Singapore have won damages from foreign media outlets before just for publishing articles that political leaders didn't like.

Since the Wall Street Journal is an American publication, why the hell should it even pay the fine? That's no different than if Singapore tried fining me over articles in The Last Word.

And believe me, it would if it could. In the late '90s, one of my old Internet accounts was on a shit list that was distributed on Usenet by Singapore officials - which led to my postings on public newsgroups being blocked.

The free flow of ideas is not permitted in Singapore.

(Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE52I2YM20090319)