It could be a coincidence but Armistice Day or Poppy Day as
it’s often called in the UK came one day after the 20th Anniversary
of the Today Newspaper, which was the paper which I started writing commentary
for. The significance of the anniversary of the Today Newspaper comes from the
fact that it is the only newspaper that is not owned by Singapore Press
Holdings (SPH), Singapore’s version of the most concentrated form on the Murdoch
Empire. The history of papers not owned by SPH is rather grim. SPH regards its stranglehold
on the market as a right and has been known to practice …..well, interesting
tactics when it comes to maintaining its hold on the market. As a rule of thumb,
non-SPH newspapers died in less than half a decade and so, Today stands out in
as much as it is a NON-SPH publication that didn’t get crushed (Having said
that, SPH did own a 40 percent stake in the Today Paper at one stage).
The significance of Poppy Day and the 20th Anniversary
of Today, is tied into one of the basic tenants of what Poppy day is about –
which is the fact that the basic civil liberties that are enjoyed by people living
in democratic societies was paid for in blood by a generation. It is a duty of
citizens in such societies to have an interest in civic life in order to ensure
that those liberties are preserved and one of the key fundamentals of
preserving such liberties is from a strong and vibrant media scene, which
provides citizens with a variety of views.
Today, was what you’d call the first form of “Alternative”
media in Singapore. While Today was still held to the same “Responsible” (a
phrase often used by government officials when reminding journalist of their
role – though admittedly it’s not exactly spelt out who the journalists are
responsible to) journalism that is prevalent in Singapore, there was an attempt
to reach out to people beyond the usual stable of established writers. When I interviewed
with PN Balji, the founding editor, he told me to start out by writing him a
commentary piece. I wrote, I was published and I was paid. While he didn’t have
the budget to hire me full time, an unemployed nobody was given a platform and
dare I say, a chance to make a few pennies on the side.
This move to give the insignificant a voice, gave Today something
different and suddenly, there was a semblance of competition. SPH management didn’t
approve. As far as they were concerned, it was a sin to even look at a Today
distributor in the MRT. However, we, the reading public liked having something
else to look at and for those of us trying to pitch stories to the media, it
was always good to have someone else to pitch to.
Singapore’s media scene has evolved even further. The heads
of the media houses tried to convince he world that competition in the media
business was not suitable for Singapore. So, while they did try to restore the
duopoly which existed prior to 2000, competition arrived in the media scene
anyway. Today, print media which was once regarded as a license to print money,
now faces competition from the online media. Big media, which needs lots of
advertising dollars to sustain itself is struggling to face competition from
blogs and news sites, which are as a rule of thumb are running on nothing more but
the owner’s passion. Unfortunately, people
are turning to the alternative for their sources of information. To make matters
worse, the advertisers have noticed and the results are reflected very clearly
in SPH’s balance sheet.
https://investor.sph.com.sg/company_announcement.html/cat/4919
In a way, this was a long time coming. The media, like many
of the big local, government-controlled businesses ran as part of the
government. In his book, “From Third World to First World,” Lee Kuan Yew, made
it clear that he would never allow the media to “set the agenda.” Whenever the
topic of control of the media came up, Mr. Lee had one standard reply “NOBODY
ELECTED YOU.” This line continued under his successors. I remember attending
the fifth anniversary of the Today Newspaper and got treated to a speech by
then Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong. The speech was a dressing down for “alternative
media.” I remember that Mr. Goh’s speech was very proud of the fact that
Singapore, which ranks alongside the Nordics on most surveys of wellbeing,somehow ranked alongside places like Sudan. Mr. Goh also made the idea of the
media being the fourth estate did NOT APPLY TO SINGAPORE.
Today was by no means a radical “everything government does
is wrong” medium. Yet, its existence irritated the others. Government did make
sure that editors knew who was boss and instead of allowing the media to evolve,
stifled it. I think of Clement Mesenas, a veteran journalist (over 40-years)
who led the last strike of journalist, who once opined at an event that the government
solved the strike in such a way that the journalist would never upset the
status quo.
I’ve often said that the status quo in Singapore is not bad.
Unlike say, the USA, we don’t have major riots because the cops have shot
someone. However, in order for the status quo to stay somewhat decent, it needs
citizens willing to hold the powerful to account and the only way they can do that
is if they are getting the facts from a source they trust.
Sure, Singapore’s editors are “responsible” in that they’re
not known for sensationalizing things in ways which say, The Sun in the UK
does. However, can it be taken an extreme where editors are so responsible that
they are perceived as taking dictation from officialdom rather than reporting
facts? The surge in online media as a news source might provide the answer that
the powers that be would rather not see.
Sure, there is a reason why libel laws exist and nobody is against combating “fake news.” However, it cannot be at the expense of “covering” the facts. I think of Neil Cavuto of Fox News (a network infamously partisan in favour of the American right wing) who told Donald Trump (who used to be a big fan) that his job was to “cover you – not fawn over you or rip you.” Editors need to be allowed to do this freely without interference from anyone and if all parties were to understand that this is the role of the news media, Singapore would have a far more lively media scene, which in turn a better informed society and in turn a more secure economy that would be based on something other than government planning.
1 comment
TODAY was the result of a govt move for media liberalisationation. Liberalisation ...what a word to use in SG. It failed miserably. Many of us became guinea pigs in this exercise.
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