Massmedia and Censorship in Singapore
By Anna, Celia and Nini
In Singapore, the government proclaims the right to control the mass media “for the good of the nation”. This happens through laws as well as government ownership. The laws make it possible to stop the spread of information, which the government might consider a threat to the nation’s security or the welfare of the public. To criticize the highly placed people is especially considered problematic. The strict control system makes censorship a part of the everyday life, further more the regime keeps a close eye on the international newspapers and magazines as well. Well-known publications have on several occasions been ordered to pay insurance, or have had their publications temporarily withdrawn. This occurs if the content of these publications doesn’t soothe the Singaporean government. The company “Singapore Press Holdings” owns big parts of the newspaper industry and is closely tied to the ruling party, PAP. “Media Corp” is owned by the government itself and has monopoly on TV and radio. |
In the media, the political opposition seldom gets their voice heard. Out of the ten daily newspapers sold in the country, four are in English, four in Chinese, one in Malaysian and one in Tamil. The biggest and most famous is “The Straits Times”. Radio and TV are both transmitted in all the languages spoken in Singapore, but of the Chinese dialects only Mandarin is tolerated. For example, TV-shows in Cantonese, bought from big cities like Hong-Kong, are synchronized before shown on TV. Citizens aren’t allowed to own satellite receivers, but particular foreign channels are available through cable-TV, and the short distance to Malaysia as well as Indonesia makes watching these countries’ TV-programs a possibility for the Singaporean people. The government focuses on giving the citizens of Singapore great Internet access, but censorship still plays a part in making sure nothing politically unacceptable to the government reaches the public. |