The Media Development Authority has issued a statement today, requesting The Opinion Collaborative Ltd (TOC Ltd), the social enterprise that owns and manages TOC, to register under the Broadcasting (Class Licence) Notification.
TOC Ltd has received the request, and is studying the registration requirements. The social enterprise will be discussing the details with MDA. A response will be made in due course.
The following is MDA’s statement in full, which is also available at MDA’s website.
The Media Development Authority (MDA) has, on 30 Sept 2014, notified The Opinion Collaborative Ltd (TOC Ltd), the corporate entity behind The Online Citizen (TOC), to register under the Broadcasting (Class Licence) Notification, which was enacted under Section 9 of the Broadcasting Act.
MDA has assessed that the TOC website engages in the propagation, promotion or discussion of political issues relating to Singapore. As a corporate entity, TOC Ltd is susceptible to foreign influence through the receipt of foreign funding. MDA will therefore require that TOC Ltd undertake not to receive foreign funding for its provision, management and/or operation as part of the registration. MDA’s registration requirement seeks to uphold the principle that politics must remain a matter for Singapore and Singaporeans alone.
As with other registered sites such as The Independent and Mothership.sg, the registration does not entail changes to the content standards and will not affect what TOC may publish on its website.
