Chapter 14
Singapore’s Print Media Policy
A National Success?
Tan Tarn How
The PAP government has three objectives in the way it manages the print media, or press. It seeks to have newspapers that are:
a) Compliant. It wants a local press that supports the objectives of the executive, one that serves the “national interest”, and a foreign press that does not think it can get away with whatever it writes.
b) Competent. It wants a local press that is managed and edited professionally, with trained and capable editors and reporters who know their job and do it well.
c) Commercially viable. It wants Singapore newspaper companies that are viable, better still, thriving businesses.
“Freedom of the press, freedom of the news media, must be subordinated … to the primacy of purpose of an elected government.
Newspaper editors do not owe you a living. They do not owe you a living. They do not owe your children jobs. But my colleagues and I do.
Mass media can help to present Singapore’s problems simply and clearly and then explain how if they support certain programmes and policies these problems can be solved.
The PAP government expects the mass media to be society’s moral guardian, to reinforce the right cultural values and social attitudes.
It must create a mood in which people become keen to acquire the knowledge, skills and disciplines of advanced countries.
Internal Security Act (ISA)
The constitution itself gives the government wide powers to muzzle public expression in the areas of foreign relations and public order or morality.
1991 the Newspaper and Printing Presses Act (NPPA)
Goh Chok Tong
He did not want a Government mouthpiece. You best serve Singaporeans by accurate reporting, clear analysis, and intelligent interpreting of events and developments through Singapore eyes for Singapore minds.
Singapore’s model should be one of “responsible press freedom”.
PM Lee:
The Singapore government tells no lies, and asks the press to tell none. Elsewhere newspapers get into trouble for printing the truth. But Singapore is unique: here newspapers get into trouble for telling lies.
PAP -> the function of media as powerful tools for the government to get its message across
The tough balance is that newspapers have to maintain between supportive and being professional.
In truth, the PAP government is not afraid of being criticized so long as it is able to have its full right of reply and there is no defamation.
Whether the press control makes for better government, in contrast to just easier governance?
It’s not just a problem of press freedom, but a symptom of the larger bureaucratic and intellectual realities of society at large. Although the government likes to assert that Singapore is one of the most open societies in the world, it is only open as far as allowing information from outside to flow freely into the country, while it continues to retain a monopoly over data and information pertaining to a variety of local areas, such as immigration issues and foreign reserves, which are perceived to be sensitive. Without the backing of detailed data, academics as well as other thinkers and commentators, including journalists, would find it hard to say anything beyond generalities.
There should be more freedom for the press and the society at large had debated the issues fearless and thoroughly: streaming in schools, the second language policy, affordable health care, and the fourth university.
Issues of national importance that affect every citizen and necessitate open and rigorous and sustained debate:
-the furious pace of immigration
-the way in which the government manages economic growth and inequality
-the scrutiny of institutions such as the GIC and Temasek Holdings
It might be argued that the lack of debate in the national press about race and religion is a hindrance to nation-building and mutual understanding.
A more democratic society made possible by an informed and interested citizenry – one that is underpinned by a relatively free press and the large society it reflects – is a commendable end in itself.
In the decade since the use of the internet became widespread here, the Straits Times continues to hold its own very well in readership and revenue.
Chapter 15
Control-shift
The Internet and Political Change in Singapore
Cherian George
The government’s National Computerization Plan (1981-85) pushed for the computerization of major functions in all government departments.
In 1992, the government launched its IT2000 masterplan, envisioning an “intelligent island” in which IT would permeate every aspect of the society.
The government’s “light touch” approach was partly due to the internet’s symbolic and technical status as the foundation for a wired, intelligent society. Unlike earlier mass media, the internet was to be part of the country’s economic infrastructure. The government had to promote it, and be seen to be promoting it – which meant accommodating a technology lobby vociferously protective of the internet as an uncensored platform for innovation and the exchange of the ideas.
Mass media was the key to the minds of mass society.
Limitation of the TV
The television audience is highly fragmented, most of the time. The government can no longer count on reaching the majority of television viewers for its public communication campaigns and key agenda setting messages, such as the Prime Minister’s National Day Rally Speech. In 1989, before cable TV and the World Wide Web, half of Singapore’s adult population tuned in to watch the NDP on channels 5 and 8. In 2007, less than one third did so.
PAP -> the media not only confirm with the law, but also play an active, supportive role in nation-building.
PAP ideology posits that, as a small and vulnerable nation state, Singapore’s survival requires a collective, consensual response to national challenges, with its elected government – and no other institution – having the mandate to the lead. Accordingly, the PAP rejects the Fourth Estate role of the press in liberal democratic thinking. The government alone has the obligation and the right to shape the national agenda. While it sees some value in debate, this should precede the point of decision, after which the media is expected to help rally the nation behind what needs to be done.
SPH -> A media system dominated by establishement news organizations.
->Eliminate independent, alternative media
PAP->unused to operating in the kind of contentious media environment that politicians in most other countries consider normal
To the PAP, this is not a weakness but a strength of the Singapore system, for it allows policies to be formulated on a long-term and rational basis, without its governance being held hostage to the vagaries of a public opinion misled by irresponsible media.
PROBLEM: The old operating system is incompatible with the emerging media environment.
It is getting increasingly difficult for the PAP to achieve mass attention-on-demand through the mass media.
Singapore’s mass media are still powerful agents for the construction of social reality, but their dominance is waning. The core is occupies is shrinking, while the fringe is exploding.
The mass media has an undiminished responsibility to serve as a unifying national forum and as a source of reliable, trustworthy information.
Media professionals must be allowed to get much closer to their audiences – even, or especially, when this means distancing themselves from government. Only then can the press hope to retain and strengthen its influence, and play its social role effectively.
Officials wishing to defend their cherished policies and to avert potentially embarrassing public scrutiny of their mistakes have been able to count on a subordinate and cooperative press. Whether such a press system is an indispensable part of Singapore’s much vaunted governance model is an open question, but it is certainly true that many young officials have had no practical experience of dealing with anything other than a non-confrontational press.
While the government has been giving the press more room, the pace of change has not kept up with the segments of the public that have been drifting into cyberspace.
Mainstream Media
- Formal public sphere
Where the broadest national issues are discussed, consensus sought, and negotiation and social conciliation practiced
Alternative mediaInformal public sphere
- Small groups of people discuss topics of interest more freely
The contemporary understanding of nation – building ->a bottom-up process of active citizenship as reflected in the Singapore 21 and Remaking Singapore national vision statements
Web 2.0 ->digital culture -> open resource
The most powerful innovation is unleashed when all relevant information is simply unlocked and given away, empowering users not just to add to a predefined box but also to reshape it.
Limited access to official information constrains the volume and quality of citizen participation.
Now, any notion of a public with civic duties and rights is neglected. Citizens have limited ability to probe the workings of the system. à wikileaks…
While often associated with amateurism, alternative online media is witnessing growing participation of experts and specialists who are no less authoritative than full-time professional journalists. In many cases, these individuals are going online precisely because they are frustrated by the inadequate coverage of their area of expertise by mainstream mass media that lacks the knowledge or patience to deal with complex issues in a sustained and in-depth fashion. Similarly, universities, think tanks, civic groups, and foundations are increasingly contributing to the broad citizen journalism movement, investing resources to support online ventures in the public interest.
A worldwide erosion of the public service tradition in journalism and its replacement by an overwhelmingly profit-driven mindset -> news vs. entertainment, news vs. commerce
Unequal regulation treatments:
- Mass media
- Website
- Email -> newsletter
Greater freedom and democracy -> global and domestic trends