In its third year, Singapore has slipped from 140th position to 146th position this year. This ranking has been prepared by Reporters Without Borders. RSF has even prepared an Asian overview of some countries of which it had mentioned Singapore. Below is an extraction from the report:
Area : 620 sq.km.
Singapore - Annual report 2006
More than a year after coming to power, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, son of the country’s strong man, Lee Kuan Yew, had not begun any liberalisation of the media. Despite statements in support of an “open” society, the ruling party still does not brook any criticism.
Questioned by the international press about Singapore’s position in the 2005 World Press Freedom Index (140th out of 167), senior minister Goh Chok Tong called it a “subjective measure computed through the prism of western liberals”. He also defended the Singapore model for controlling the media, saying that a press that was too free was “not necessarily good for the entire country”.
Relatively independent for regional and international news, when it comes to domestic politics Singapore’s press, still controlled by associates of Lee Kuan Yew, is in the grip of a rigorous self-censorship. The government threatens journalists, foreign media and opposition with defamation suits seeking dizzying amounts in damages.
The government uses around a score of draconian laws, particularly those on the granting of licences for publications, on films, religious and political website managers and on national security, to stifle any criticism.
Freelance film-maker Martyn See was accused of breaking the law on films by putting out a “partisan” documentary, “Singapore Rebel”, a portrait of an opposition figure Chee Soon Juan. In August police seized all copies of the film and the videotapes on which it was recorded. The film puts See at risk of a penalty of up to two years in prison or a fine of almost 500,000 euros.
In 2005, Hong Kong-based financial website FinanceAsia.com, apologised and agreed to pay compensation after the authorities threatened a lawsuit against it over an article it posted on a Singaporean investment company with links to the government.
It is interesting to note that though Singapore press freedom index is one of the lowest, it has enjoy great alternative media on the internet. Singapore government though has time to time monitor the progress of the alternative internet news source which are deem less favourable, they have not been full on in preventing those alternative news source from making its way to Singapore home. In some ways, I do feel that if those had been taken into account, perhaps Singapore’s position will not be so low in the index. If anything, their self one man show operation of alternative news media source like Majulah Singapura would probably rank the highest among Asian nation due to the higher connectivity of its population.
So, personally, like the government, though not necessary pro-government, I feel that the study may be flawed as it did not take into account of the availability of alternative news source.
On another hand, perhaps the index did not reflect the recent ban on FEER in the island newstand. Would that be reflected in their next year’s index?
Hi xblogger,
I will respectfully disagree with you here - the RSF measures press freedom, not online alternative media. Likewise, in USA, it does not measure online alternative media as well. Also, I don’t think online discussions make news - which much of the blogosphere and communities do.
I would instead argue that the study is not comprehensive enough - but having said that, the amount of freedom is not due to the government’s lax controls, but in my opinion, the difficulty in controlling such an open media channel. I don’t think it’s a bad study either - I believe there is a majority of people who do not check for news/discussions online - and these people tend to be the conservative majority.
hello thor666,
Thank you for commenting and much appreciated even if the views are otherwise of mine. There may be a small misunderstanding in that I felt if the alternative news source were taken into account and how verocious it can get on the alternative side, then perhaps Singapore’s ranking would have been a lot lower.
But I do agree with you that the study is not comprehensive enough. It is not easy to conduct the studies of this magnitude. So I guess it will do as a general guideline to a country’s relative press freedom.
Thor666: a little digging on the RSF website will point you to the methodology page, where it discloses the survey questionnaire used to compile the rankings. In contrast to your claim, six out of 50 questions do indeed pertain directly to ‘online alternative media’, as you have called it.
Perhaps the vibrancy of the online communities and availablility of alternative views happen to be the saving grace that enabled us to stay at 146.
Elia, thank you for being so observant. If RSF has taken into account the vibrant alternative medias in Singapore, then 146th position is kind of a joke?
RSF states that its rankings are based solely on events between 1 September 2005 and 1 September 2006. This means that the bad press that Singapore received from the recent IMF-World Bank meetings and the banning and suing of the Far Eastern Economic Review were probably not factored into this ranking.
It’s embarrassing that we are several rungs below dictatorial states like Zimbabwe (140th), Sudan (139th) and Venezuela (115th).
I’ve written a post on my blog on this issue too.
Thank you for your further input.