Repression of the media in Singapore is nothing new, but recent clumsy interventions by the government have thrust the issue back into the spotlight. New licensing rules for news websites prompted a rare protest last month (June) that galvanized around 2,000 people, led by a coalition of bloggers and activists.
In the tightly controlled city-state, blogs and websites that are critical of the government have become increasingly popular as an alternative to the timid, state-influenced national press. Those sites have sparked a growing awareness among Singaporeans that the traditional media's uncritical pro-government bias has done them a public disservice.
"Many Singaporeans feel that we deserve more than we get in our national press," media studies academic Cherian George told the Singapore Writers' Festival last November - a view that is echoed by many. He is the author of Freedom From The Press, which examines how the People's Action Party (PAP), which has ruled the country since 1959, has imposed strict controls over the media.
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"Singapore's official media really are abysmal - tedious, irrelevant, smug, prurient, prudish," says Andrew MacGregor Marshall, a former senior Reuters editor who is based in Singapore and now blogs about regional media issues. "They are slickly produced, of course, and plenty of money is spent on them to give them the appearance of being high quality and of being genuine newspapers and genuine TV news broadcasts. But money can't buy authenticity and it can't buy independence. The Singaporean state media can never be credible because they are not free. They are mouthpieces of the state, their loyalty is not to their readers but to the state, so they will always be hollow and uninspiring." Full story...
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In the tightly controlled city-state, blogs and websites that are critical of the government have become increasingly popular as an alternative to the timid, state-influenced national press. Those sites have sparked a growing awareness among Singaporeans that the traditional media's uncritical pro-government bias has done them a public disservice.
"Many Singaporeans feel that we deserve more than we get in our national press," media studies academic Cherian George told the Singapore Writers' Festival last November - a view that is echoed by many. He is the author of Freedom From The Press, which examines how the People's Action Party (PAP), which has ruled the country since 1959, has imposed strict controls over the media.
(...)
"Singapore's official media really are abysmal - tedious, irrelevant, smug, prurient, prudish," says Andrew MacGregor Marshall, a former senior Reuters editor who is based in Singapore and now blogs about regional media issues. "They are slickly produced, of course, and plenty of money is spent on them to give them the appearance of being high quality and of being genuine newspapers and genuine TV news broadcasts. But money can't buy authenticity and it can't buy independence. The Singaporean state media can never be credible because they are not free. They are mouthpieces of the state, their loyalty is not to their readers but to the state, so they will always be hollow and uninspiring." Full story...
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- Singapore struggles to control cyberspace...
- Singapore: licensing regime chills news climate...
- Singapore: Internet freedom under threat...
- Singapore defends Internet licencing rules...
- Singapore to regulate Yahoo, other online news sites...
- Singapore professor denied tenure, sparks academic freedom debate...
- Malaysia and Singapore get low marks for press freedom...
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