Podcasts banned in General Elections

Bloody hell! Podcasting is not allowed during the elections here in Singapore says the government. It also adds that video casting is also prohibited and that bloggers who want to discuss politics must register themselves with the Media Development Authority. From Channel NewsAsia:

Dr Balaji said: "There are also some well-known local blogs run by private individuals who have ventured into podcasting. The content of some of these podcasts can be quite entertaining. However, the streaming of explicit political content by individuals during the election period is prohibited under the Election Advertising Regulations. A similar prohibition would apply to the videocasting or video streaming of explicitly political content."

Here's another Channel NewsAsia report that talks about the reaction:

One academic believes the ban has the 'potential to scare people'.

"It's a reminder that there are laws, that if you transgress, if you violate the laws, you can be punished," said Associate Professor Benjamin Detenber, Nanyang Technological University's School of Communication and Information.

"A lot of people were hoping that with the new technology, there would be an opportunity to push the boundaries of political discourse a little further, open things up. What we've seen here is that as long as the communication is political, it doesn't matter what technology is being used, it's still subject to the same laws," he added.

I know some of you may ask what is the government afraid of? I pity the opposition parties. They do not have the resources to promote their views and campaigns freely using the local media and now they cannot use podcasting or the internet without fear of the government coming hard on them. And what about people like you and me who have every right to discuss freely about who we want as our leaders? We are talking about the future of our country here and we cannot even do that. So who is really afraid of who here?

Well, I don't care. Fuck the rules mate. No podcasting? Says who. Here's mine (announcing out loud to the government). Go listen to it. Oh once you finish listening to it, you may need to play it backwards to reveal the hidden actual messages.

Warning: Hidden messages contain political views that the government does not want us to hear. Do not play it in reverse unless you are one of those who truly believe that subliminal messages can be hidden in an audio recording.