"Credible local media essential to
Singapore's interests."
Those two words in bold should not be taken at face value. They are code words, with hidden meanings, in this context.
The daft ones take the entire statement at face value, it sounds rational, reasonable, agreeable, nothing wrong with that at all.
Even the coverage of international news isn't great at all, most of it is copy-pasted from Reuters, NY Times, Washington Post, AP etc.