Many Westerners seem to perceive Singapore as being a repressed society ruled with an iron fist by an authoritarian government. While it's true that the government has a more active rolein what I would call social control than some other governments, apparently this is not major concern to the local populace. A news story out today reports that Singaporeans rate social stability as being more important than freedom of the press, and what's more, they feel that government-run media does a better job of reporting news than private companies.
Of the 14 countries surveyed, Singpaore, India and Russia were the three that ranked social stabilty as being more important than free press. Taking the turbulent histories of these nations into account, I don't find the result very surprising.
Interestingly, in the US and UK - the countries most often clamouring for right for freedom of the press for other nations - citizens surveyed were the most critical of the quality of their national news reporting. Personally I find this no surprise at all. During my (admittedly short) stay in the US a couple of years ago I couldn't believe how sensationalist some of the news reporting was. It was edited down into 30 second slots complete with flashy titling, loud music and special effects. In the UK, where I have lived for a while, the tabloids are not only hugely popular but people actually belive what's written in them.
However I digress. It was an interesting item and if you want to read the whole story, click on this link: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/cna/20071211/tap-316717-231650b.html
No comments:
Post a Comment