Mass Media In Asia COMM2379

Group Presentation – SINGAPORELecturer: Christian Berg

Group Members:Tran Nguyen Ly (s3309992)

Ha Thi Ngoc Ning (s3311637)Lam Ngoc Hai Son (s3312617)

Le Minh Nhut (s3245998)

Table Of Content

• Historical Background

• Media Industry Insight

• The Role of Media

• Implications

• Conclusion

Historical Background

• Population: 4.4 million people.

• Ethnicity: 75% Chinese, 14% Malay, 9% Indian, 2% others.

• Language: English (main), Malay, Chinese and Tamil.

• Very small area (648 km2)

• Literacy rate: 95.9% in 2010.(Dayley & Neher 2010)

Historical Background

• Colonized by British in 19th century.• Declare independence in 1963 and joined the Federation

of Malaysia.• Political differences => separated from Malaysia 2 years

later.Þ Faced the challenge of surviving without MalaysiaÞ Principle resource: human resourceÞ Nation-building is extremely crucial

• Political culture: authoritarian democracy (Kluver & Banerjee 2005) with the People’s Action Party (PAP) is the leading political party.

Media Industry: Traditional Media

Print media:

Local Press:• Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) and MediaCorp

dominate all local print and broadcast media, which has close government ties.

• As of 2008, there are 16 newspapers in active circulation published in all 4 languages.

*** Press Model *** Developmental outside, authoritarian inside

(Bokhorst-Heng 2008)

Magazines & Books: • A variety of magazines are available.• Most deal with general topics and issues related to the

ruling party and its government policies.

Foreign Publications:• Regulations on importing foreign

newspapers.• there is still a ban on the sale and

distribution of Malaysian newspapers (e.g. The New Strait Times).

Broadcast Media: Radio

• Started in 1936

• Expanded to 18 locally operated radio stations

• Owned by MediaCorp, UnionWorks, and Safra Radio

• Foreign broadcasters: BBC World Service

• Modes of Delivery: Analogue, Digital and Satellite and Internet

Reproduced from: Keshishoglou & Aquilia 2005

Broadcast Media: Television

• Started in 1963

• Owned by MediaCorp and MediaWorks.

• All 7 free-to-air local TV is by MediaCorp – gov ownedChannel NewsAsia – also owned by MediaCorp

• No private ownership of satellite disks

The Media Development Authority (MDA) regulates broadcast media.

Media Industry: New Media• As of June 2010, there are 6,791,000 broadband Internet

subscribers with 82% household broadband penetration (IDA Singapore 2011).

• Most newspaper publications have their own online editions.

• NGO and alternative news are being expressed (e.g. New Sintercom, Think Centre, Singapore Window, etc.)

The MDA also regulates the Internet through the Media Development Authority of

Singapore Act.

Media-Government Relationship• Media is considered to be an aid to government in the

process of nation-building (Kenyon & Majoribanks 2007).

• Media is expected to conform to an agenda determined by government. (Lee 2005)

Rather than freedom of the press from government, the

approach in Singapore is ‘freedom of government from

the press’.(Lee Hsien Loong 1987).

=> Freedom With Responsibility• This approach has resulted in creating a culture of self-

censorship among media practitioners and codes of practice.

• The industry is encouraged to be socially responsible and to take adequate steps to ensure that content meets with community standards.

7th in the world’s least corrupted country but ranked 136th and

150th in press freedom. (RSF 2010, Freedom House 2011)

The Role of Media

• Economic: To become a global media hub and a total business center.

• Social: To spread public consciousness as an educational and entertainment tool for people.

• Political: To play as an assistant in governmental activities and elections.

(Ang & Nadarajan 1996)

Implications

• New media = More democratic practice?The Internet holds the potential to give opposition parties equal footing to the ruling parties as well as the press (Gomez & Muhamad 2010).‘For the first time since independence, a majority of Singaporeans got to vote’ (Juan 2011) – Leader of Singapore’s Democratic Party.

Implications

• Mass media in danger of declineThe Straits Times daily sales, which stood 391,612 in 1998, had fallen to 365,800 in 2010 despite the addition of half a million new residents (Nee 2011).Lianhe Zaobao's dropped by 4.6 percent between 2006 and 2009 (Nee 2011).

• Singapore Media in Globalization:The Media 21 (2003) & The Media Fusion Plan (2009)by the MDA.

Conclusion

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Bokhorst-Heng, W 2002, ‘Newspapers In Singapore: A Mass Ceremony In The Imagining Of The Nation’, Media Culture Society, Sage Publications, Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 559-569.

Dayley, R & Neher, C 2010, ‘Singapore’, Southeast Asia in The New International Era, Westview Press, US, pp. 159-178.

Gomez, J & Muhamad R 2010, ‘New Media and Electoral Democracy: Online Opposition in Malaysia and Singapore’, Academia, US.

Juan, C 2011, ‘Singapore is taking the first steps to true democracy’, The Guardian UK, 10 May, viewed 22 December 2011, <http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/10/singapore-election-democracy-new-media>.

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Kulver, P & Banerjee, K 2005, ‘Political Culture, Regulation and Democratisation: The Internet in Nine Asian Nations’, Information, Communication & Society, Vol. 8, No. 1, Taylor & Francis Group Ltd, pp. 30-46.

Nee 2011, ‘Singapore print media stands at a crossroads’, The China Post, 6 June, viewed 22 December 2011, <http://www.chinapost.com.tw/commentary/the-china-post/special-to-the-china-post/2011/06/06/305142/p2/Singapore-print.htm>.

Rodan, G 2000, ‘Asian Crisis, Transparency and The International Media in Singapore’, The Pacific Review, Routledge, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 217-242.