http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/29/opinion/29SAFI.html Bloomberg News Humbled By WILLIAM SAFIRE WASHINGTON — Let me see if I can write today's column without getting sued. It has to do with my old pal Lee Kuan Yew, who prefers to be called "senior minister" rather than dictator of Singapore, and whose family members have been doing exceedingly well lately. In kowtowing to the Lee family, the Bloomberg News Service — the feisty, aggressive newcomer to coverage of global finance on cable and computers — has just demeaned itself and undermined the cause of a free online press. Early this month, Patrick Smith, a Bloomberg columnist, dared to take note of the elevation of Ho Ching, the senior minister's daughter-in-law, to head Temesek, the powerful state-owned investment company. Her husband, Lee's son, is already deputy prime minister and finance minister, on a fast track to the top; Lee's other son is C.E.O. of Singapore Telecom. Lee himself, at 78, is chairman of the Government Investment Corporation. I have not read Smith's story because it has been expunged from the Bloomberg Web site, digitally erased from the mind of man. But evidently it annoyed some members of Lee's family, who are not known to lose huge libel suits that come before local judges. [...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ Recent CNET News.com articles: http://news.search.com/search?q\clan CNET Radio 9:40 am ET weekdays: http://cnet.com/broadband/0-7227152.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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