Local media provide S'porean perspective on events: Minister

Singapore media are keenly attuned to the country's unique circumstances as a small city-state with an open economy as well as a multiracial society, said Minister for Communications and Information S. Iswaran yesterday.

He set out the role and value of local media in a ministerial statement, after Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) announced its plan to restructure its media business into a not-for-profit entity last week.

"They help interpret global events through a distinctively Singaporean lens, analysing their impact on our lives. This is ever more crucial in an era of heightened geopolitical contestation," he said.

They also express the country's identity, values and priorities directly, "so that the world gets a perspective from Singapore itself, and not through the filter of others".

He added that local media publish a balanced range of views on domestic events and developments, to inform the national debate and help foster a national consensus without allowing disagreements to deepen divisions in society.

In addition, they help sustain common ground in Singapore's multiracial and multi-religious society while preserving the voice of its various communities through vernacular media, he added.

"The local news media fulfil this role while upholding high standards of accuracy, objectivity and balance," he said, noting these traits are ever more scarce in the "raucous global information landscape, especially online".

As Singapore faces increasingly complex challenges and trade-offs, local media provide a highly credible flow of information and analysis to help shape collective decisions, Mr Iswaran added.

The Covid-19 pandemic has vividly exemplified this, he said, as Singaporeans looked to local newspapers and channels as trusted sources of critical information.

The minister cited how a survey last year by British polling firm YouGov found seven in 10 Singaporeans trusted reporting by local media on Covid-19, compared with three in 10 people in the United Kingdom who trusted reporting by British newspapers on the virus.

He also noted that the 2021 Edelman trust barometer reported Singaporeans' trust in local media at 62 per cent, above the global average of 51 per cent, the 45 per cent in the United States, and 37 per cent in the UK and France.

"It is critical to maintain this trust," Mr Iswaran said. "Our local media industry has strived to do so, while adapting to changing industry trends and commercial imperatives."

The Government has been an active steward in the evolution of Singapore's media industry because of its importance to the national interest, he added, recounting the formation of SPH through a merger in 1984 to preserve the vernacular media. From 2000 to 2005, SPH and Mediacorp entered each other's main businesses - print and broadcast respectively - in a bid to spark greater competition and raise standards. That model was ultimately not viable.

Mr Iswaran also cited a letter to The Straits Times Forum by A-level graduate Keng Xin Yi, 19, who wrote about the importance of keeping SPH Media "alive and motivated to produce quality newspapers every day".

"The success of this restructuring, and the future of our local news media, turns ultimately on our journalists' commitment to this mission, and the support of our citizens like Xin Yi," the minister said, assuring journalists and Singaporeans of the Government's "abiding support for this critical national endeavour".