Personal Attacks | ingridmak.net

Update on H1N1 : An Epidemic of Stupidity

May 31st, 2009 | 2 Comments | Posted in IMO

Everyone is blogging about the whole H1N1 saga of how a fellow SMU student who was “so dumb knowing that US has high infection,yet still decided to travel there.” (antiwisefc, The Straits Times online forum) and being a “troublemaker…should sue her for bringing in the virus!” (deritz, Stomp) It is indeed amusing to see the maturity level of our local news readers who target only on the victims and not the issue itself. I don’t want to be classified as “netizen” because of these people who make such comments. Trust me, I have seen worse on many blogs and other forums – is there a need to start a flame-war ? She did not ask for it.

“The affected student has requested that we not reveal her identity. We request all members of SMU to respect her request and her privacy.” – SMU President’s message on H1N1

I’m sure she is innocent and did not ask for the instant fame for bringing the virus in, who would have wanted to ? It is almost a fact that the virus will bound to land in Singapore any time soon – just a matter of time. Why these personal attacks ? Will it make you feel any better if she dies or be haunted for life because of this ? I don’t think she deserves these treatments. Neither did any of her friends or whichever H1N1 victims out there. Give them a break. Stop hunting them down for more “personal” information. It’s really none of your business of anyone else’s to know who the friend is or who the boyfriend is or what do other SMU students think about this. We want NEWS not GOSSIPS.

As much as I dislike school, I think SMU handled the situation pretty well. Onecentsworth (The Straits Time online forum) commented that “A common sense decision to cancel the trip by the school management would have prevented all the unnecessary consequences now, isn’t it?” A little too late for being the “Smart Alec” isn’t it? In the first place, if we were all to act paranoid and behave that way – why didn’t you blame the people for going overseas for their holiday trips, why not stop people from consuming rice since there is a high possibility for them choking to death…no? Let’s just say if the school did cancel the trip, do you think H1N1 will not happen in Singapore ?

It was appalling to see our local newspapers (namely The New Paper) ‘s articles on the matter. Maybe Ms Joanna Hor and Ms Geraldine Yeo, the newsroom interns did not quite understood the code of professional conduct for journalists. Not forgetting Ng Wan Ching, Veena Bharwani too. Take a look and be ashamed of yourselves. Are you sure you want a future career in journalism ? If so, I do think the future of newspapers is bleak.

Singapore National Union of Journalists’
Code of Professional Conduct

Every member shall maintain good quality of workmanship and high standard of conduct.
No member shall do anything that will bring discredit on himself/herself, his/her union, his/her newspaper or other news media or his/her profession.
Every member shall defend the principles of freedom in the honest collection and dissemination of news and the right of fair comment and criticism.
Every member shall realise his/her personal responsibility for everything he/she prepares for his/her newspaper or other news media.
Every member shall report and interpret the news with scrupulous honesty.
Every member shall use only honest methods to obtain news, pictures and documents.
No member shall accept any form of bribe whether for publication or suppression nor permit personal interest to influence his/her sense of justice.
Every member shall respect all necessary confidence regarding sources of information and private documents.
Every member shall keep in mind the dangers in the laws of libel, contempt of court and copyright.
Every member shall observe at all times the fraternity of their profession and shall never take unfair advantage of a fellow member.

How do you feel to have your names stamped all over the blog for something that you “never intended” to happen ? Terrible isn’t it ? Did you stop and put yourselves in the victims shoes before publishing the article or make those comments? Dear interns, not only did you published their names but you just had to mention the poor Sars patient after 6 years of some peace in her life. Great job on the research done !

I don’t think there’s anything for us to do right now but just pray that the victims will recover soon and the spread of virus will be under controlled. All i can say is that, I don’t think local newspapers are worth reading anymore if this is what journalism is to them. Oh, and I got all my news updates via Twitter since the official newspapers were down when everyone decided to find out what’s happening. FYI, netizens to me are the ones who broadcast information and news updates in a responsible and mature manner instead of “flame first H1N1 victim”.

End of story.

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good read(s) :

Daryl and his views on Why Singaporean Press Are Like Vultures

DK ‘s Shame on you TNP! Shame on you!

Dorothy’s Communication Thoughts Case #1: Crisis Comms & Mainstream Media