Update: You can see a pdf of the original article taken off Google's cache. (Download pdf of "Internet steals minister's thunder") In case you need the revised article for comparison, here is the pdf too. (Download pdf of "Pre-empted by the Internet")
Originally, there was a Straits Times blog post by Christopher Tan about the leak of the OPC changes entitled "Internet steals minister's thunder". The original link (now dead) was a blog post with a very interesting look at what happened when news of the enhanced off-peak car (OPC) scheme leaked online, despite an embargo, before the transport minister could announce it officially.
When I revisited the link. it was dead but I managed to find a revised version of the blog post, now entitled "Pre-empted by the Internet"
The most significant change to the blog post, besides the lamer headline, was this missing paragraph where an LTA person told off the reporter who was asking if they could break embargo since the story had already leaked:
A new and fairly senior LTA executive was rather curt when The Straits Times asked if the newspaper could run the story on Saturday. "You cannot run the story, you cannot break the embargo, you cannot do anything!" she ordered a reporter over the phone. But eventually, the LTA, together with the Ministry of Transport, decided to lift the embargo on Saturday.
This was the revised version:
When asked if The Straits Times could run the story on Saturday, LTA initially said no - only to lift the embargo eventually, together with the Ministry of Transport.
Other changes include the blurb which originally said:
"Christopher Tan discusses the red faces and frayed nerves of a recent news leak."
The new version just says:
"Christopher Tan discusses the frayed nerves surrounding a recent news leak."
This passage from the original was also changed: "After all, the leak had stolen the thunder from a Minister's Sunday speech. A mortal sin in the civil service."
The revised version did not have "A mortal sin in the civil service."
Aiyah, why change the blog post so much? The original was so much more entertaining to read leh.
I liked this quote from the Straits Times blog post itself:
"But with the Internet, a leak takes on a life of its own. Within minutes, it is literally all over town."
Not only does it apply to the OPC leak story and pointlessness of an embargo that the journalist talked about. In this age of the Internet, it also applies when you try to change or revise something you've already published online.
As written by Christopher Tan, "within minutes, it is literally all over town".
You may as well be trying to catch mist.
