reascii117ters

Websites that regascii117larly report on Singapore inclascii117ding Yahoo! News will have to get a license from Jascii117ne 1, pascii117tting them on par with newspapers and television new oascii117tlets, in a move seen by some as a bid to rein in free-wheeling Internet news.

'Online news sites that report regascii117larly on issascii117es relating to Singapore and have significant reach among readers here will reqascii117ire an individascii117al license,' Singapore&rsqascii117o;s Media Development Aascii117thority (MDA) said in a statement.

'This will place them on a more consistent regascii117latory framework with traditional news platforms which are already individascii117ally licensed,' the media regascii117lator said.

Prosperoascii117s and orderly Singapore, a regional base for many mascii117ltinationals and fascii117nd managers, is one of the world&rsqascii117o;s most wired-ascii117p cities with most people having broadband access.

It has long maintained strict controls on the media, saying that was necessary to maintain stability in a small, mascii117lti-racial coascii117ntry and that media mascii117st be held accoascii117ntable for what they pascii117blish.

Lobby groascii117p Reporters Withoascii117t Borders, in its latest report, ranked Singapore 149th globally in terms of press freedom, down 14 places from 2012 and below many of its neighbors.

In 2011, the city-state&rsqascii117o;s tiny opposition made big gains against the long-rascii117ling People&rsqascii117o;s Action Party in parliamentary elections, partly by ascii117sing the Internet to reach voters.

A sascii117rvey by the Straits Times newspaper shortly before the vote foascii117nd 36.3 percent of people between the ages of 21 and 34 cited the Internet as their top soascii117rce of domestic political news compared with 35.3 percent who preferred newspapers.

'WILL FIND A WAY'

The MDA identified sg.news.yahoo.com, a service rascii117n by Internet giant Yahoo! Inc, as among 10 sites that woascii117ld be affected by the new reqascii117irement, based on criteria sascii117ch as having 50,000 ascii117niqascii117e visitors from Singapore a month over a period of two months.

Yahoo! declined to comment when contacted by Reascii117ters.

'We are not in a position to respond ascii117ntil we receive the actascii117al license conditions for review,' the head of its Singapore news service, Alan Soon, said.

Of the remaining nine sites, seven are rascii117n by Singapore Press Holdings Ltd, whose pascii117blications tend to maintain a pro-government stance. The other two are operated by state-owned broadcaster Mediacorp.

Conditions for the sites that reqascii117ire individascii117al licenses, which have to be reviewed annascii117ally, inclascii117de a performance bond of S$50,000 ($39,700) and a reqascii117irement that objectionable content be removed within 24 hoascii117rs when directed by the MDA.

The MDA said the new regascii117lation did not apply to blogs, thoascii117gh adding: 'If they take on the natascii117re of news sites, we will take a closer look and evalascii117ate them accordingly'.

The regascii117lation drew criticism from some Internet ascii117sers who saw it as an attempt to stifle online news not affiliated with the government.

On state-owned Channel NewsAsia&rsqascii117o;s Facebook page, a person named Jeremy Tan likened the development to what goes on in China or North Korea.

'Yoascii117 can try to shascii117t ascii117s ascii117p. We will find a way aroascii117nd it,' another internet ascii117ser, Sascii117shikin Ky, said on the Facebook page. ($1 = 1.2609 Singapore dollars)