The editors of socio-political site The Online Citizen (TOC1) and the directors of social enterprise The Opinion Collaborative Ltd (TOC2) have decided that TOC1 will no longer come under the financial oversight and fund-raising efforts of TOC2 from Sept. 30 2015.

TOC2 has also informed the Media Development Authority (MDA) of this separation.

What does this mean?

This means that the TOC1 site is no longer managed by a social enterprise TOC2 that was set up last April.

No, what does this really mean? 

This means that MDA will have to find new ways to regulate the influential socio-political site TOC1 (i.e. extra work for MDA to settle).

MDA has earlier required TOC2 to register under the Broadcasting Act due to the company’s interest in raising funds for TOC1.

With the separation, the government has to decide whether they should just stick to regulating TOC1 as a political association, or perhaps, come up with something else.

This is an anomaly since most sites (Yahoo News, The Middle Ground and yours truly, Mothership.sg) are regulated by the MDA. (Editor's note - If you are confused, read our 4 stages of becoming a bona fide online media in S’pore).

Anyway, Howard Lee, the former TOC1 Commentaries Editor, said that TOC1 "had a mostly responsible and responsive working relationship with MDA, and do not foresee that this decoupling of TOC and The Opinion Collaborative would raise any issues”.

In response to queries, Lee said that they "have also met up with them (MDA) to provide a better understanding of the decoupling".

He added that TOC1 and TOC2 "do not foresee that we will still be registered under the Broadcasting Act, as we are currently not in ownership of any news website".

Why did TOC1 and TOC2 "decouple", like actress Gwyneth Paltrow and singer song-writer Chris Martin's "conscious uncoupling"?

Official line: “We understand from the editors of TOC that they would like to seek their own methods of sustainable funding, rather than use the business model outlined by The Opinion Collaborative for the website,” said TOC2 director Tan Tee Seng.

Unofficial take: Maybe TOC1 wants a "clean break" with Lee? Or maybe Lee wants a "clean break" and a change in working environment after five years in TOC1?

Lee had relinquished his editorial role with TOC1 since Oct. 1, 2015, a position he has held since August 2013, having volunteered as a writer in 2010. Lee is now a lecturer at higher education institute Kaplan Singapore.

Lee also told us that he is not involved in TOC1 "at this point in time", as he is working on a few other projects, as well as serving the programme needs of TOC2.

Lee is still BFFs with TOC1 editors though. Lee said that Chief Editor Terry Xu is still a director of TOC2 in his personal capacity.

At least for one more month, since Lee revealed that he "will be writing for another website starting next year".

Top photo from TOC Facebook page

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