http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/03/27/the-historical-baggage-between-sdp-and-the-singapore-media/
The Historical baggage between SDP and the Singapore media
March 27, 2010 by Moderator
Filed under Opinion
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OPINION
The Singapore media is never known for fair and balanced coverage on local politics.
All the papers in Singapore are owned by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) whose Chairman is none other than Dr Tony Tan, a former PAP minister.
Not surprisingly, its articles are largely pro-PAP with little coverage on the opposition such that it appears to be virtually non-existent though opposition leaders have been working the ground hard in between the elections.
Of all the opposition parties in Singapore, the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) has suffered the most under the relentless attack of the mainstream media and its Secretary-General Dr Chee Soon Juan has even been labelled as suffering from a personality disorder by a Senior Correspondent of the Straits Times.
One former SPH journalist we spoke to revealed that the atmosphere in SPH is “politically charged”.
The senior editors are almost always PAP people and they are extremely careful not to publish any articles which may put their political masters in a bad light.
As for the opposition, utmost caution has been given not to “promote” them excessively to the detriment of the PAP.
For example, Workers’ Party Glenda Han used to have a column on a local paper, but was taken out after feedback from the “above”.
Under such trying circumstances, some opposition leaders avoid the mainstream media like a plague as exemplified by Workers’ Party MP Low Thia Kiang.
Others like as SDP makes use of the New Media to bypass the mainstream media to get their message across.
When Lianhe Zaobao published an article of the SDP’s 30th anniversary dinner and an extensive interview with SDP, it is probably the first time in many years that SDP is given a relatively positive coverage in the local press.
Unfortunately, it turns out to be another false dawn as SDP took issue with a segment of the interview which appeared to portray Dr Chee as being “evasive” and having something to “hide” regarding his source of income.
Dr Chee wrote a letter to the Straits Times Forum accusing the Zaobao journalist who interviewed him. Ms Yew Run Tian for painting him in a bad light:
“The way that the report is written is clearly an attempt to portray me as being evasive about my income. I had told the Zaobao reporter, Ms Yew Lun Tian, clearly that I depended on my books and from time to time, help from my relatives for survival. Because she found it hard to believe that this was sufficient, I told her that we lived simply and frugally……Yet Ms Yew reported it in such a way that I was trying to avoid her answer and had something to hide. What is left unsaid, although clearly implied, is that I may be a stooge of a foreign agent conducting activities against Singapore.” (read letter here)
Ms Yew subsequently clarified on her Facebook that she wrote the interview as such because Dr Chee really sounded evasive and hesistant when she spoke to him.
Naturally, not many accepted Ms Yew’s explanation and she received a lot of brickbats from netizens for “sabotaging” Dr Chee yet again.
While the reaction from Dr Chee is predictable, the tone of his letter sounded a bit too harsh on Ms Yew who had taken the initiative to moot the idea of interviewing him to her superior.
Regardless of Ms Yew’s real motives, it may be more tactical and diplomatic simply to state one’s own stance without sounding emotional or defensive which may raise more doubts in the minds of some readers.
It is difficult but not impossible for the opposition to overcome its inherent inhibition, suspicion and distrust of the mainstream media.
Though the New Media is gaining ground among young Singaporeans, it still has a limited reach compared to the mass media in Singapore.
It may be prudent and wise to start cultivating ties with some SPH journalists rather than alienating everybody by painting them as PAP stooges in a single stroke which will not serve the opposition cause in anyway.
Judging from the articles written by some young journalists like Ms Yew, Ms Rachal Chang, Mr Jeremy Au Yong and Mr Kor Kian Beng, they are by and large quite objective, factual and balanced.
Young journalists today are more open, liberal and exposed than their predecessors. Not all of them have been bought over by the PAP. There will and still exist some who are trying to work within the system to bring about change.
It is not easy to practise journalism in Singapore. Young journalists are not paid well and have to put up with long working hours, weekend assignments and sometimes even spending the nights in office rushing to complete an article by its stipulated dateline.
Furthermore, they have to put up with snide remarks from fellow Singaporeans on being the “mouthpieces” of the PAP as well as demanding and unreasonable superiors who sometimes edit their work beyond recognition just to be politically correct.
We should always keep our channels of communications with one another. There are no permanent friends or foes in politics. An enemy in the past may turn out to be a treasured ally in the future.
Perhaps it is time for the opposition to put down its historical baggage and enmity with the Singapore media and start their relationship afresh again.
We are fighting for the rights of all Singaporeans including journalists, civil servants and PAP supporters.
If we do not have a big enough heart to embrace our detractors, critics and enemies, how can we ever hope to achieve bigger things in life later on?
The Historical baggage between SDP and the Singapore media
March 27, 2010 by Moderator
Filed under Opinion
Leave a comment
OPINION
The Singapore media is never known for fair and balanced coverage on local politics.
All the papers in Singapore are owned by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) whose Chairman is none other than Dr Tony Tan, a former PAP minister.
Not surprisingly, its articles are largely pro-PAP with little coverage on the opposition such that it appears to be virtually non-existent though opposition leaders have been working the ground hard in between the elections.
Of all the opposition parties in Singapore, the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) has suffered the most under the relentless attack of the mainstream media and its Secretary-General Dr Chee Soon Juan has even been labelled as suffering from a personality disorder by a Senior Correspondent of the Straits Times.
One former SPH journalist we spoke to revealed that the atmosphere in SPH is “politically charged”.
The senior editors are almost always PAP people and they are extremely careful not to publish any articles which may put their political masters in a bad light.
As for the opposition, utmost caution has been given not to “promote” them excessively to the detriment of the PAP.
For example, Workers’ Party Glenda Han used to have a column on a local paper, but was taken out after feedback from the “above”.
Under such trying circumstances, some opposition leaders avoid the mainstream media like a plague as exemplified by Workers’ Party MP Low Thia Kiang.
Others like as SDP makes use of the New Media to bypass the mainstream media to get their message across.
When Lianhe Zaobao published an article of the SDP’s 30th anniversary dinner and an extensive interview with SDP, it is probably the first time in many years that SDP is given a relatively positive coverage in the local press.
Unfortunately, it turns out to be another false dawn as SDP took issue with a segment of the interview which appeared to portray Dr Chee as being “evasive” and having something to “hide” regarding his source of income.
Dr Chee wrote a letter to the Straits Times Forum accusing the Zaobao journalist who interviewed him. Ms Yew Run Tian for painting him in a bad light:
“The way that the report is written is clearly an attempt to portray me as being evasive about my income. I had told the Zaobao reporter, Ms Yew Lun Tian, clearly that I depended on my books and from time to time, help from my relatives for survival. Because she found it hard to believe that this was sufficient, I told her that we lived simply and frugally……Yet Ms Yew reported it in such a way that I was trying to avoid her answer and had something to hide. What is left unsaid, although clearly implied, is that I may be a stooge of a foreign agent conducting activities against Singapore.” (read letter here)
Ms Yew subsequently clarified on her Facebook that she wrote the interview as such because Dr Chee really sounded evasive and hesistant when she spoke to him.
Naturally, not many accepted Ms Yew’s explanation and she received a lot of brickbats from netizens for “sabotaging” Dr Chee yet again.
While the reaction from Dr Chee is predictable, the tone of his letter sounded a bit too harsh on Ms Yew who had taken the initiative to moot the idea of interviewing him to her superior.
Regardless of Ms Yew’s real motives, it may be more tactical and diplomatic simply to state one’s own stance without sounding emotional or defensive which may raise more doubts in the minds of some readers.
It is difficult but not impossible for the opposition to overcome its inherent inhibition, suspicion and distrust of the mainstream media.
Though the New Media is gaining ground among young Singaporeans, it still has a limited reach compared to the mass media in Singapore.
It may be prudent and wise to start cultivating ties with some SPH journalists rather than alienating everybody by painting them as PAP stooges in a single stroke which will not serve the opposition cause in anyway.
Judging from the articles written by some young journalists like Ms Yew, Ms Rachal Chang, Mr Jeremy Au Yong and Mr Kor Kian Beng, they are by and large quite objective, factual and balanced.
Young journalists today are more open, liberal and exposed than their predecessors. Not all of them have been bought over by the PAP. There will and still exist some who are trying to work within the system to bring about change.
It is not easy to practise journalism in Singapore. Young journalists are not paid well and have to put up with long working hours, weekend assignments and sometimes even spending the nights in office rushing to complete an article by its stipulated dateline.
Furthermore, they have to put up with snide remarks from fellow Singaporeans on being the “mouthpieces” of the PAP as well as demanding and unreasonable superiors who sometimes edit their work beyond recognition just to be politically correct.
We should always keep our channels of communications with one another. There are no permanent friends or foes in politics. An enemy in the past may turn out to be a treasured ally in the future.
Perhaps it is time for the opposition to put down its historical baggage and enmity with the Singapore media and start their relationship afresh again.
We are fighting for the rights of all Singaporeans including journalists, civil servants and PAP supporters.
If we do not have a big enough heart to embrace our detractors, critics and enemies, how can we ever hope to achieve bigger things in life later on?
