Vacuum State: Bucky Group 37

14th February 2009

I rushed down to the Bucky session though I wasn't feeling too well with the cough and the flu. Nevertheless, I made it on time.

At the usual opening of "What I have to say...", one of us brought up this book called "One Hen", which is a children's book about social enterprise and hard work. This is very much like what I am helping my friend with, but in his case, it is by rearing cows.

This morning, we had the privilege to have Henrik, a correspondent based in Singapore, from the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, to share with us his experience as a journalist, via a talk called, "The Meeting between East and West, from Presidents to Pedestrians".

[The following is spoken in first person for the purpose of readability. It is not a record of his speech ad-verbatim. This is all written from memory with my flu and thundering cough. Not very good journalistic practice!]

Hello, my name is Henrik. In English, you call it "Henry". I grow up in Denmark. My venture into other countries started when a friend of mine run a business that exploited the cheap prices of cars for export in Denmark and were therefore attractive for other Europeans to buy. I helped my friend in the business in the business to deliver (drive) the cars to his customers.

My usual experience of Germany is one with many autobahns without speed limits. So that was my experience delivering those cars much of the time. Then one day, I took a wrong turn and went into Bayern (Bavaria) and realised that it is very beautiful. That experience made me realize that I should never be afraid of leaving the "right and safe path".

From that experience, I decided to visit Eastern European to learn more about those countries. However, after some time, I realised that other than having been communists before, they aren't that different. Basically, they are still much like us.

It was only when I went to India that I discovered that there it was really different. (Still grinning and shaking head in awe and ridicule. ) There, many things that are normal in Europe are not normal there, like the chaotic order of people, traffic,...etc.

Denmark is a peaceful place with not many changes over long periods of time. There is not much you can report that is new in the place. You can almost get a newspaper from ten years ago and read it as if it is today's news. So I thought, it will be more interesting if I become a foreign correspondent.

Then, I decided to learn more about Algeria and the French language. I thought that will give myself some edge and specialisation as a journalist. When I was living there, it was the first time in my life that I was living alone without any friends or family around. I couldn't just call up a friend to go for a meal or a movie - simple things that I could do commonly in Danmark. That was a new experience to me.

Then I got a job with the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, which I have been with now for a long time. The Danish Broadcasting Corporation is like your BBC, but only we are not quite that big.

Then, I got divorced. At this time, then I am free from being tied down to a place. I became myself again.

[Me: Yes, normally one reverts to oneself, when divorced. *laughters*]

[Someone else: He made a wrong turn!!! *laughters*]

So, I decided to do some traveling.

I then visited Singapore and was happy that it is a nice modern city and that English is spoken here. So I was thinking that since the Danish Broadcasting Corporation has no correspondent here in Singapore, it'll be a good chance for me to report on the regional news through the eyes and viewpoint of a Dane, not just listening to the American's.

It is also here that I met a beautiful lady, whom I started dating. I like her very much and later asked her to marry me, which she agreed and becomes my wife.

My wife is from Dalian and she loves the order and cleanliness of Singapore and refused to be based anywhere else in South East Asia other than Singapore. The chaos in Jakarta and Bangkok just wouldn't be acceptable for her. I didn't mind. I just needed a city with a good big airport and good Internet connections. The fact that English is spoken here and that it is safe here also helped.

When I first came here, I came with the usual Western package of democratic ideal. This is not so much anymore, as I realised that political and cultural situations are very different in the region. This happens a lot with Western diplomats that come with their ideals to impose on Asia.

Me: You can bring the free sex. *in jest*

Yes free-sex we can. *laughters*

[My note: I was being sarcastic about some items in the Western package that seems to have seeped into the Eastern spheres of life.]

Questions:

What is "freedom of expression"?

The freedom to express what you want. There are still defamation laws governing what you can say, so there is this balance. Respect is still needed. I don't subscribe that if you give such freedom to everyone, then everyone is going to be rabid. Most people are sensible and can separate fact from fiction. In Singapore, nobody is going to believe you if you tell them your own stories.

Flip: In Singapore the freedom is included in the laws.

Me: Yes, but it is much subjected to the Minister's abitrary discretion.

Me: In Singapore, it is not the problem of freedom of expression, but the freedom after expression! *laughters*

Is there a guideline for freedom of expression?

Me: In Singapore - Yes! That answers your question.

Elaine: No, I want to hear from him, the real world.

Flip: If there are, then it won't be considered free.

Were you given a set of guidelines?

No. When I first came, it was very hard. I thought I could call up people and get some information, but people here are very unwilling to talk. When the Election came in 2006, I thought it will be an excellent chance to hear what people would say, but nobody wanted to talk. Even the Opposition party didn't want to talk. So, I started a 'vox-populi' (voice of the people) thing to stop people in the street to ask them, but nobody talked.

Joo Hock: In Singapore, you can go to the coffeeshop and listen. They discuss about politics there.

Me: But you need to know dialects and Mandarin.

Then slowly I build my network. It took me some time. For every story, I need to have two independent sources to confirm the facts. If you write with only one source, you are asking for trouble.

Now, I have built enough trust through my network to get officials to grant interviews. After some time, they realise that I am not causing trouble and just want to report.

Do you think a reporter should inform or influence?

Depends. If it is a regime like Pol Pot, then he needs to influence. Otherwise, he just reports. In most situations, he just needs to report.

Me: How about Reporteurs Sans Frontier? They actually create news and reported it themselves. For instance by displaying the "Free Tibet" banner when the Chinese Minister was speaking during a press meeting. They should be just reporting on what is happening, not participate and report.

[By the way, there are good parts of Reporteurs Sans Frontier in that they help journalists to get out of being imprisoned by some dictatorial regimes.]

How about the responsibility of a reporter to use discretion in certain sensitive situations?

For instance, in a case where a Chinese man beats up a Malay man in a pub in Singapore.

I would recognise the sensitivity and report as a fight between two (say) drunk men over (say) ten dollars or something trivial and at the end discreetly mention that one is Malay and one is Chinese.

Do you use the Internet?

Yes, I do, but with caution. One do not based one's reporting on information from the Internet. I don't believe in information coming purely from the Internet.

However, the Internet has a major influence on regimes, like Malaysia.

Me: In Singapore too. Truth hidden by mainstream papers are revealed by blogs. There are some good political bloggers in Singapore, eg. The Yawning Bread.

Yes, and if you notice, the good ones practises the same principles in good journalism, like checking and confirming their information from multiple sources.

.
Someone: During the recent Mumbai Bombings, many mainstream reporters from major agencies were using information typed in from Twitter. Do you use that?

I don't use information purely from the Internet. If I am put in a situation that I must, then I'll need four independent sources to verify its accuracy.

Me: There is a de-facto ranking in the Internet. 'Bad' blogs have their rights to exist, but almost nobody reads them.

Comment from the floor: Yes, we are discussing about politics. So what, there is nothing wrong discussing about politics. There shouldn't be a fear to discuss about politics.

[At this point, I could see some surprise in Henrik's face over this vocalism. It is perhaps a situation that he has yet to experience among unexpressive Singaporeans.]

Joo Hock: By the way, this is how we are here. We are quite open.

Joo Hwa: Don't worry, we are not underground ok? We are just in the basement. *laughters*

Some people ask me if a journalist move from broadsheet to tabloid papers, does it mean that he has become a lower quality journalist. Usually, that is not the case, as the facts reported are usually correct and having gone through the usual checks. However, his report is now sensationalised. This is the low end of journalism, sadly.

Me (not Henrik): About politics in the East vs in the West

I find there are problems in both East and West regarding democracy. Except that they are different types of problem. In Singapore, I have written to the Prime Minister twice to make some suggestions, which were adopted and implemented very quickly. Now I won't be able to get this done in Europe. In Europe, I can't even get to write to the Prime Minister, let alone effect changes. So where is it more democratic?

The difference between East and West, is that in the latter, there is more checks and balances, to ensure that power is not abused. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely - this saying is tested true in the many countries I live in. After some time, the person who has the absolute power given to him, thinks that it is his right to have that power.

From my experience and in my opinion, I find the quality of politicians in Singapore is higher than that those in Europe. Europe is in a grid lock of too much checks and balances and yet corruption persists. *sigh*