Globalisation of Mass Media
I heard about an interesting news today on 98.7 FM (this morning). I would liked to share it with you guys as I thought this pieces of 'news' were rather relevant to our recent comms class.
Singapore was rank 133 from the survey of PRESS FREEDOM. It may seems that we were very low at the bottom of the ranking but it had a slight improvement from rank 144 in last year, 2008.
At the bottom of the ranking were Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea, where their media are almost nonexistent
This piece of information is from http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/World/Story/STIStory_444754.html
However, I have researched on another website which has a different ranking with the one reported from the straits times.
Singapore was ranked even lower, 152, out of 195 countries. Singapore has a status of "Not Free" according to the survey of Freedom of the Press.
You may check it out from this website : http://www.freedomhouse.org/uploads/fop/2009/FreedomofthePress2009_tables.pdf
Put the rankings a side. They key point I will like to mention is the restriction of the press media in Singapore. Is is good to have such a high restriction in our press media? I will like to list out some pros and cons from my own perception of the high restriction in our country.
Pros
- Celebrities feel safe in Singapore as they feel that the media in Singapore respect privacy.
- Our Government controls our press media and set rules for them to make sure all news are healthy to all Singaporeans. For example; no explicit photos/news, the news are almost 100% accurate.
The pros are more of personal perception than about globalisation.
Cons
- We are very restricted with the world news as news are chosen for us to read. It means we will not know any other news outside the box unless we look into other countries media context.
- Indirectly, it makes the press media very mundane and boring.
- It is more difficult for the Singapore press media to diverse out of Singapore. (Unable to expand) Thus, we are unable to globalise our media rapidly.
Things that you may like to comment.
- Singapore's 'Freedom of the Press 2009' ranking.
- The pros and cons about the high restriction imposed to our press media
The Writer
Subscribe To ME
Posts
Comments
Knowledge is power and I think Singapore did quite a good job in controling the media. However, sometimes, it may not be a good idea to be controlled as the news sometimes given may not have enough transparency. Afterall, news recieving through a medium is not as accurate as recieving it ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this point which says it is difficult for Singapore press media to diverse out. We need to be more open and not have such a high restriction in order to globalise and be on par with other countries.
ReplyDeletei totally agree singapore's press is kind of conservative. however, alot of celebrities like the freedom here. pros and cons =)
ReplyDeleteHello there.
ReplyDeleteI personally feel that our Straits Times is quite comprehensive in world issues and such. Maybe what they are lacking would be the cultural opinions that we would see in newspapers of other countries.
As compared to other countries, Singapore have a relatively conservative and corruption-free political climate and this is mainly what gave rise to how our media is like. We do not see the members of parliament raise voices or start brawls unlike some countries. Their media in turn, will have to report such news to the people so that the people can make a informed decision while choosing the next generation leaders for their country
It is very true that Singapore is a country with lots of restriction, a country where freedom had been control by the government. But i believed there are reasons behind each of these rules that had been layout and the main purpose of everything is to make Singapore a more refine country. For example, it is like an everyday scene to see people fighting in taiwan parliament meeting but in Singapore i guess i had never heard of it before.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that with the heavy amount of restriction we have, it is tough for the people excel within restriction circle. But nevertheless, the are always some exception cases.
There are definietly pros and cons of the high restrictions in Singapore. I can't agree more to the comments above.
ReplyDeleteBecause of the conservativity and high restrictions in Singapore. We're only able to receive news that are considered 'readable' or 'receivable'.
But to me, it's not a bad thing to start with. What can you do with the news you received? Other than news on natural disasters, where we can do our part by donating and helping them, even if they're thousand or billion miles out of Singapore.
It is up to us to gauge actually. No one is right nor no one is wrong. Its prettier weird and amazing how media actually influence our thinking and all.
I personally feel that it is good that singapore has high press exposure security. This is because, i feel celebrities here can perfrom withoout uncomfortability of audience perception. However, Singapore is not truly restricting frredom of speech or opinion. There are pages or slots in newspapers and magazines where the public can voice out the their opinion. Nevertheless, Singapore is careful in the kind of messages that it wants the public to portray thus resulting in media filtering out approaprite feedback and then publishing it.
ReplyDeletePerhaps, there are more interesting pros and cons to this issue that we fail to be aware of.
GOOD POST MICH!! :)
I feel that we should know everything that was reported. What we see today are through a medium. Even an article or a short clip is presented through a third person. However, much of the truth are being hidden and we are patronized to believe what is written by a third person.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you that Singapore's media are rather conservative. However, i feel that they are trying to be be more open up now compared to the past years. At a ligher note, we may rank at the bottom for this but we are rank at the top for others. =)
ReplyDeleteI persoanlly feel that as a Singapore Communication Student, it is rahter restricted to be writing for the Singapore's mass media.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, on the surface, they tend to say that we are being democratic, we give you the freedom of saying whatever you want, but if it is something that is against the government, it is wrong.
Therefore, I feel that the freedom of speech that we have isn't much of freedom at all.