WHILE Singapore Airlines (SIA) has a policy that its staff should not blog about matters related to work, it said that the firing of staff who break this rule is not a "black and white" issue.

SIA said in a statement to citizen media website Stomp that blogging is a matter that has to be handled with discretion.

This is SIA's latest response to an ongoing debate on the site.

The discussion was sparked off when a contributor sent in a post about SIA staff posting photos of themselves in uniform and blogging about work matters last month.

One contributor had asked whether the staff members involved would be fired.

In an e-mail to Stomp yesterday, a SIA spokesman said: "The airline does not have a policy which prohibits staff blogging. Our staff are people who may wish to engage in online discussions like any others in the community.

"But the policy is also clear that they must not comment in their blogs on their work matters, particularly about the business or their customers.

"This is to protect proprietary information, which properly belongs to the company and its shareholders, as well as the privacy of other staff and our customers who have not consented to their interactions being published."

SIA added that they recognise blogging as a new media and it is "treading carefully here".

The spokesman said: "The rules may also need to evolve as this new media and its platform develops."

On SIA's HR policies, the spokesman said: "Posters on the Stomp forum ask: 'Sack or not sack?' It's not that black or white, and that's not the way we will manage this issue."

For more my paper stories click here.