Once upon a time, it was the province of newspapers to piss over governments. What with their muckraking journalism and their searing editorials. The whole tradition nearly died until Rupert Murdoch came along and decided to make a game out of picking political sides with his tabloid headlines. It makes sense, then, that Mr. Murdoch's latest purchase, the Wall Street Journal, is the one, ahem, making headlines. In Singapore no less!

Singapore's High Court ruled the Wall Street Journal Asia in contempt of court for publishing two editorials and a letter to the editor that the government says damaged the reputation of the country's judicial system.

The court also fined the newspaper 25,000 Singapore dollars ($16,400).

Justice Tay Yong Kwang ruled Tuesday against the newspaper and two of its editors, three weeks after Attorney General Walter Woon argued the editorials published in June and July questioned the judiciary's independence from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and the ruling People's Action Party. Not meting out punishment in this case would undermine the country's rule of law, the court said.

The letter to the editor was written by Chee Soon Juan, head of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party.

The editorials and the letter "contained insinuations of bias, lack of impartiality and lack of independence and implied that the judiciary is subservient to Mr. Lee and/or the PAP and is a tool for silencing political dissent," Tay wrote in the ruling.

"There can be no doubt that allegations of the nature mentioned above would immediately cast doubts on the judiciary in Singapore and undermine public confidence." [AP]

Score another one for Singapore! Its brilliant tactic to use defamation lawsuits to silence the opposing viewpoints seems to be working. Not only did the Journal get found out for its reputation damaging tactics, but Bloomberg News, The Economist, and the International Herald Tribune have all been found culpable in recent years — in Singapore's totally fair and balanced court system.