20910329 public opinion and the media in singapore

UWA POLS2231 Siti Aisyah Bagarib (20910329)

POLITICS OF THE MASS MEDIA

POLS2231

QUARTER 2, 2012

Essay: Does the media in Singapore reflect existing public opinion?
Wordcount: 2414 words

STUDENT NAME: SITI 'AISYAH BAGARIB
STUDENT ID: 20910329

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Question: Does the media in Singapore reflect existing public opinion?

Abstract
This essay aims to explore how the local media works in a 'hybrid' authoritarian state such as
Singapore and whether the media (broadcast, print and internet) accurately reflects existing public
opinions, namely in the areas of local policy making. I would argue that the media partly reflect
public opinion and partly doesn't.
In order to evaluate how and to what extent the media in autocratic Singapore reflects existing
public opinion, we will be exploring the political, ideological and moral censorships. In addition to
that, we will be looking at case studies such as local policies regarding defamation; censorship and
family-driven values; escape of extremist leader Mas Selamat Bin Kastari; third-person
perceptions; study of third-person perception of television influence; the 2003 SARS outbreak and
finally; internet and social media.
Finally I will conclude that traditional media in Singapore generally does not reflect existing public
opinion, especially in terms of political opinions.

Introduction
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, public opinion is “an aggregate of the individual views,
attitudes, and beliefs about a particular topic, expressed by a significant portion of a community.” In
order for something to be considered a public opinion, firstly there has to be an issue, a significant
number of individuals expressing opinions on the issue and there has to be some kind of consensus
among at least some of those opinions (Encyclopedia Britannica). Public opinion is interactive,
multidimensional, and continuously changing (Crespi, 1997). Sociologists point out that opinions
cannot be regarded as public opinions if individuals do not communicate their opinion regarding an
issue to other members of the public. Some of the ways public opinion can be expressed is through
surveys, polls, public hearings, radio, television, print media and the internet.

In Four Theories of the Press by Siebert, Paterson and Schramm, four theories were established to
clarify the link between the 'press position' and political environment. The four theories are the
authoritarian, the libertarian, the Soviet and the social responsibility theories. The authoritarian
press theory is described by Siebert, Paterson and Schramm as being based on the philosophy of
absolute power of monarch and the government. It's main purpose is to support policies of the

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government in power to service the state. Only those who has a licence has the right to use the
media. Media is controlled by a mix of guilds, licensing and censorship. In an authoritarian
environment, the press is an instrument for effecting government policy and it's position is to never
criticize political apparatus or officials in power (Siebert, Paterson and Schramm, 1963, p 7).

Now that we have a background of an authoritarian press system, lets explore how the Singapore
media works in a 'hybrid' authoritarian state and evaluate whether the media-- broadcast, print and
internet, accurately reflect existing public opinions.

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The first response that comes to my mind regarding whether or not the media in Singapore reflect
existing public opinion would be that it does not mainly because of the present political, ideological
and moral censorships. State power greatly affects the ability of the press to take a determined
stance against the government in any issues. Under an authoritarian regime such as Singapore, the
media is controlled so that it shows support for the government and it's major policies (Siebert,
Paterson and Schramm, 1963).

Political Restrictions
The ruling party in Singapore for the past 49 years has been dominated by the People's Action Party
(PAP) (Singapore Elections, 2004). They are aware of the importance of the press in nation-building
and it's capabilities of contributing to the economic progress as well as the social and political
stability of the nation. The press has to be licensed by the government and must accept the
subordinate role given to it and cannot execute it's own editorial independence (Tey, 2008, p 882).
Therefore, the press is restricted to simple journalism and straightforward reporting (George, 1998).
According to the 2011 Freedom of the Press survey data, which assesses laws, regulations,
economic and political pressures that influence and control media media content, Singapore is rated
'Not Free' (Freedom House, 2011).

Even though media outlets are allowed to report on mistakes, corruption and be critical of certain
policies as long as they do not ridicule or attenuate respect for the elected office holder. Most of the
media outlets practice self-censorship to avoid harsh punishments for perceived attacks on
government officials (Gomez, 2000). The government in Singapore impose limitations on the
freedom of the media by legislations such as the Internal Security Act, the Sedation Act and the
Official Secrets Act. Defamation legislations are not only imposed on the local press and local
opposition political parties but also have been used against foreign correspondence, such as the
New York Times Company, for publishing an article called “All in the Family” and was required to
pay US$114,000 in damages and issuing apologies to the Minister Mentor Lee Kwan Yew and his
son who is the Prime Minister of Singapore (Perez, 2010).

To put in context of Hallin's spheres, Family values would fall within the sphere of consensus
whereby the journalist's role is to promote and advocate. Issues within the sphere of legitimate
controversy are political elections and legislative debates where journalists ideally report on two

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sides of the story. Issues that fall in the sphere of deviance are any issues that defame and mock
elected leading politicians. The journalist's role here would be to condemn those who violate or
challenge the political consensus or completely exclude these views from public agenda.

Ideological and Moral Restrictions
Lee Kwan Yew, the founding political leader of Singapore created policies based on a Confucian
value-system (Chua, 1996). He does not believe that all problems can be solved by good
governance and that society needs to stick to 'ethical and moral values'. Lee has been publicly and
highly critical of Western concepts of society and government, as far as saying that America has had
failed policies which led to it's erosion of moral underpinnings and social breakdown (Zakaria,
1994).

Singapore immigration policy encourages foreign talent and Permanent Residence into the
workforce to boost Singapore's economy. Asian-values put importance that individuals exist in the
context of his family. Therefore the leading government has used family to push the economic
growth of Singapore.

Using a family oriented value-system, the recent introduction of the Long Term Visit Pass Plus on
April 2012 grants extended visas for partners with foreign spouses to make it easier for them to
build stronger family foundations. A foreign spouse who marries a Singapore citizen does not
automatically qualify for PR or citizenship. This LTVP+ scheme helps families build stronger and
stable foundations by increasing certainty of stay from the previous 1 year scheme up to 5 years
amongst other benefits (Hean, 2012).

Extended visas for spouses or Permanent Residents certainly facilitates and is advantageous for
both the family members and the economy but at the same time, it has not addressed other related
public opinions. For example, singlehood rates between 20 to 24 year olds have been steadily
increasing since 2001. The number of divorces has risen and at the same time, marriage rates has
decreased (Department of Statistics Singapore, 2011).Yet, not enough policy changes has been
made to address or facilitate singles to apply for housing. Singles below the age of 35 years old are
not allowed to purchase a HDB apartment or apply for a low-interest housing loan and find
themselves competing for resale flats in which Permanent Residents have better chance at getting.

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This could be because the government is still strongly adhering to family-driven policies at the
expense of undesirable outcomes for unmarried Singaporeans.

Another policy that illustrates PAP's ideology of emphasis on the family is evident in the national
pension scheme. The Central Provident Fund (CPF) is weak in terms of social policy as it fails to
pay attention to those who are not in the work force and the poorly paid as rates of contributions are
low (Carney, 2010). In a contribution on social policy in Singapore, Volker H. Schmidt explains that
Singapore offers minimal support such as occasional grocery vouchers and a letter of support
requesting utility providers to stall payment requests temporarily if someone can't pay his or her
bills. “The main source of support for the truly needy is supposed to be each person’s family that is
morally and legally entrusted with this responsibility.” (Schmidt, 2000, p. 5)

Disparity of Media Agenda and Public Agenda
The media agenda in an authoritative state is set by the ruling government and does not always
match the public agenda of it's citizens. The media sets public agenda by communicating a host of
cues to show the importance of topics and the attributes of those issues. News coverage can draw
attention to certain characteristics while drawing away attention from others (Kiousis, 2004).

Agenda setting in which the media focuses on the characteristic and property salience of an object
or issue is known as second-level effects or attribute agenda setting. McCombs says “Influencing
the focus of public attention is a powerful role, but, arguably, influencing the agenda of attributes
for an issue or political figure is the epitome of political power.” (McCombs, 2003).

Local media coverage of the escape incident of Mas Selamat Bin Kastari, diverted the attention of
public to other issues. The suspected Islamic extremist, who escaped from Singapore's Internal
Security Department's Detention Centre was one of South-East Asia's most wanted terrorist and his
escape triggered an urgent worldwide security alert and the largest manhunt Singapore has ever
seen. However local media coverage on this incident skirted key issues such as the immediate
question of how Kastari escaped, why Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Wong
Kan Seng has not taken accountability for the security lapse and why such little details on the event
was covered by the national news media (Lee, 2008). The media instead of focusing on government
incompetency, put the spotlight on the Malay-Muslim community as if it is “somehow complicit in

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Mas Selamat's escape” (Loh, 2010)

On the other side of the argument, the media in Singapore does actually reflect existing public
opinion. This is supported by a study on perceptions of television influence, how the SARS
outbreak was controlled and finally the existence of a relatively free internet.

Consensus Regarding Media Censorship
Media censorship in Singapore is largely scrutinized for being too strict. However what about the
existing media censorship regarding entertainment? Do the public support the extent of the
censorships or do they also disapprove of existing entertainment censorship?

A study on public perceptions of television influence and opinions about censorship and third-party
effects in Singapore was carried out among 506 adult Singaporeans to examine public opinion on
mass media censorship imposed by the Singaporean government (Gunther and Hwa, 1996).
Respondents were asked questions about their use of mass media and their opinions regarding the
effects of television content and the existing censorship of such content.

The study shows that Singaporeans generally consider themselves less vulnerable to the perceived
negative effects of nudity, violence, homosexuality, foul language and premarital sex but believe
that those content will have a significantly larger negative influence on other Singaporeans. This
phenomenon is often referred to as 'third-person effect' (Davison, 1983, pp. 1-15). The data
indicates that there is also a strong support for censorship. Fewer than 10 percent of the respondants
thought censorship in those areas should be relaxed (Gunther and Hwa, 1996). The common
predication that authoritarian governments impose mass media censorship on an unwilling public is
disproved in the case of Singapore. Support for restrictions in the content of media is rooted in their
concern about the negative effects on others (Gunther, 1995, pp. 27-38).

Control of in Times of Crisis
The mass media is used to address public agenda. If a government fails to control or provide timely
information to the mass media, the media would have to come up with their own framing regarding
an issue. In addition to that, multiple counter-frames might emerge causing chaos as media outlets
are forced to come up with their own analysis in the absence of an 'official statement'.

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As case study, we shall take a look at the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in
Singapore in 2003. The highly contagious infection was introduced into Singapore by a 22 year old
female resident who contracted the virus during her holiday in Hong Kong. Health authorities was
unaware of the infection until 5 days after the index case was hospitalized (Hsu, LY, Lee, Green,
Ang, Paton, Lee, et al., 2003). By then, the chain of transmission had spread to 3 hospitals, a
nursing home and a wholesale market (Goh, Kee-Tai, Cutter, Heng, Ma, Koh, Kwok, Toh and
Chew, 2006).

The Singapore government was able to successfully and rapidly contain the outbreak. Through
coordination, the mass media was used effectively to promptly disseminate information and address
public concerns by keeping them constantly updated on the development of the epidemic (Chua,
MH, 2004). In addition to surveillance and precautionary measures, over a million SARS toolkits
were distributed to homes, quarantine policies implemented and thermal imaging system
introduced. In addition to traditional mass media, the internet was also utilized. A web-based system
was created so that all hospitals and clinics had easier access to information (Goh, Kee-Tai, Cutter,
Heng, Ma, Koh, Kwok, Toh and Chew, 2006).

The Wolfsfeld political contest model can be used to explain this. Ability to control the political
environment depends three things, the ability to initiate and control events, regulate information and
mobilise support. As previously mentioned, the first step to controlling a political environment is to
initiate acknowledgement of an issue. This allows one to prepare in advance. Regulating the flow of
information means that one will be able to control the story line. Finally the ability to mobilise
support would create a high degree of consensus among media elites and news media will be
dependant and cooperative.

The Internet
The internet is another category in Singapore's mediascape (Willnat and Aw, 2009, p 100).
The PAP sees the internet as another medium that they have to regulate and has been passing laws
to regulate the internet since. Censorship of traditional mass media will not work on the internet
(Yeo and Mahizhnan, 1998, pp. 138-149). Though the government has demonstrated banning of ISP
and issued warnings and charges against expressing anti-political sentiments or issues that threaten

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national and racial harmony, they haven't been incredibly strict in censorship of internet content..
The government has not resorted to banning Twitter like how it was banned in Egypt (Horn, 2011).
Most restriction of sites are done at the router level and usually prevents access to pornographic
sites.

Freedom of expression is still substantial online and is more apparent than Singapore's broadcast
and print media. Alternative websites dedicated to critical political discussions continue to operate
(Willnat and Aw, 2009, p 106). Example: Mr Brown, theonlinecitizen and trmeritus are some of the
more popular websites. Social media websites such as Twitter makes it easier to express and look
through existing public opinions. The internet provides a public space for Singaporeans to discuss
state issues and form influential public opinion that is not represented by the government-controlled
traditional mass media (Zhan Li, 2003)

Conclusion
The media in Singapore generally does not reflect existing public opinion especially in terms of
political matters. This is typical of an authoritarian state.

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