Simply Citified!

If you are living in Singapore, you should already know about the riot that took place at Little India last night. I was very surprised by the turn of events and really curious to know all about the riot. It is, after all, not something you come across often in Singapore, and truth be told, I was more curious to know how this news was being reported to the citizens. 

Now, if you're not from Singapore and thus, are unfamiliar with the situation, rules and regulations here, allow me to fill you in on it. Singapore has very strict laws against rioting and any such activities that causes public unrest. From the best of my knowledge, the last riot that took place in Singapore was way back in 1970's. Our government and citizens have managed to keep the place safe  and peaceful to live in so far, and I believe they are still trying. Apart from the somewhat high cost of living and stressful lifestyle, Singapore is well known for her safe and conducive environment to live in. In fact, that is one of the major reasons why a lot of investors are interested to invest here. 

So you can see why this riot is such a big deal here now. Everyone wanted to know what was happening and how the riot started. What was our first resort? Social Media! Yeap. My sister was the one who first announced this news at home. She got to know it through Facebook, and at first none of us believed her. We thought it was just a joke. A riot in Singapore was just unbelievable. She insisted on it and showed us photos shared on Facebook. At the time, which was just shortly after the riot started, there was only one or two photos available online. 

Photo taken from Straits Times Website

Photos of burning vehicles on road made us believe that there was such an incident, but we still wanted to know if this was a riot and not just an accident or something. So all of us at home started hunting online for more details, but sadly, at the moment, whatever information we found were the same details we found on Facebook. We searched in YouTube and various forums. Photos were pretty much the same and we managed to find some short videos, but that's about it. 

It was only after we were convinced that we were not going to get any more valid information online that someone even thought of switching on the TV and watching the news channel. We gave up on online resources and resorted to Channel NewsAsia. They were broadcasting some updated information but nothing that we can't get online via Social Media. Even my mom, who is the least tech savvy person in my family, commented that the Social Media is much faster than News channels. 

Eventually, after waiting for a few hours and getting to know only speculations of what was happening, we decided to just go to bed and wait for today's newspaper reports on the incident. 

I'm sure many people would have done that, even though they were following the news online. This is something to take note of. Even when we can get any information online with a tap of our finger, people still look up to newspapers to provide trustworthy and detailed news. 

Of recent, many people are actually speculating that the death of newspapers is just around the corner. They link this to the growing popularity and influence of social media and other online networks such as forums, websites, and sometimes even blogs. People often have the mentality that these sources provide unbiased personal opinions and thus it can be considered more truthful that newspapers. 

But what they don't realise is that newspapers provide well researched facts. Even if their report on an incident is short, they usually provide information that have been double-checked, because that's their job. Social Media and other online platforms may provide instant updates but very often the most part of these updates are speculations. 

There are other factors as well that contribute to newspaper still making their rounds, but most importantly, there is a connection between newspapers and readers that have been forged over decades of trust and ethical standards, and this cannot be ignored. That is why we still depend on newspapers for facts on local and global news, and it is during times of crisis that we realise this the most.