Proposed law to ban communications during serious incidents should be used judiciously: Experts
The Straits Times - http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/proposed-law-to-ban-communications-during-serious-incident-should-be-used-judiciously
While a proposed law to ban communications in the vicinity of an ongoing serious incident is necessary, it should be used judiciously, say experts. A key provision of the Public Order and Safety (Special Powers) Bill is to prevent people – including journalists and bystanders – from filming or taking photographs that can undermine security operations – for instance, during terror attacks. Associate research fellow Nur Azlin Yasin from Singapore’s International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, said, “These events have shown that live broadcasting of an incident can provide information to adversaries and will jeopardise secrecy of rescue operations.” But international media watch groups criticised the move. The head of Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) Asia-Pacific desk Daniel Bastard said Singapore should look into creating a code of conduct for media coverage of such incidents, instead of introducing a law. But NTU communications professor Ang Peng Hwa said the RSF’s suggestion is relevant for Western countries where there are strong laws against government regulation of the press. Media law expert Mark Cenite said there is still a need to closely examine the full scope of police powers under the proposed law, which has described a sit-down demonstration where publicly accessible paths in the central business district are occupied as a “serious incident”.
