Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh (Aljunied GRC) yesterday sought answers from Communications and Information Minister S. Iswaran over the Government's potential funding as well as the editorial independence of Singapore Press Holdings' (SPH) new media entity.

The Workers' Party (WP) chief was responding to a ministerial statement by Mr Iswaran on SPH's proposal to hive off its media business to a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee (CLG).

Mr Singh asked what would be done to ensure the independence of the CLG from possible government interference, and to foster a culture of editorial independence across SPH's titles.

He also wanted to know if the Government would consider forming a select committee to allow members of the public to express what editorial standards they expect from the CLG, and their views on how best it can ensure editorial independence from any government of the day.

Later, Mr Singh's pressing for more details near the end of the debate saw Mr Iswaran tell him not to "miss the wood for the trees" or make "political capital" of the matter.

In his response, Mr Iswaran said he would venture that a culture of such independence already exists in Singapore's news media.

"We do a disservice to our journalists and editors to suggest anything to the contrary," he said.

On a select committee, Mr Iswaran said: "Singaporeans have already expressed their views. When it comes to trust surveys... Singaporeans have been quick to point out that they trust our news media, both print and broadcast.

"The fact is, as I said and I want to re-emphasise, the SPH news organisations in aggregate have not just maintained but have grown their reach and readership when you combine the digital and the physical," said the minister.

"That would not be the case if Singaporeans did not feel that they could trust the news organisation.

"The people have spoken, and it's our job now to make sure the object of their trust continues to succeed."

WP MP Leon Perera (Aljunied GRC) also asked how senior editorial appointments in the new CLG would be made. Mr Iswaran said the Government does not exercise a veto on editorial appointments as these decisions are subject to the management's shareholders.

Towards the end of the debate, Mr Singh rose again to seek clarifications, this time armed with a printout of the front page of The New Paper during the 1997 General Election, which featured a "checklist" for voting.

"Minister spoke earlier about objectivity and balance. The only thing objective about this cover page is the EPL (English Premier League) scores - no win for Liverpool and also for Manchester United," he said.

"The checklist essentially told the voters what you're voting for if you vote for the PAP (People's Action Party): You are voting for upgrading, Edusave and MPs of acceptable character."

Mr Singh then pointed out how SPH titles The Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao had, in recent weeks, offered varying perspectives on Singapore's fourth-generation leadership transition.

"There can be different views on the quality and standards of journalism in Singapore, and it is for that reason that I put my earlier question to the minister about a select committee, to try and get some understanding from the public what they expect of a taxpayer-funded CLG," he said.

Mr Iswaran replied: "I'm disappointed that the Leader of the Opposition has decided to make political capital out of something that I think is quite fundamentally important to us... He went back to 1997 to bring out an example. Then he says the Chinese media put forward one point of view and the English media put out another point of view.

"Isn't this the diversity that the Leader of the Opposition has been talking about?" the minister asked.

"So, I am not very clear why he thinks the current model is not succeeding. Is it perfect? No. I would challenge him to show me a model that works and that is perfect.

"But is it one that works in our context? I think it does, with some areas for improvement, certainly, but it's an evolutionary process."

He added: "What we want at the end of the day is not posturing, but substance. If we can achieve that not just in the news media but also in this chamber, I think we would have gone a long way to building a stronger country and nation."

Earlier, Mr Singh asked when the Government first informed SPH it was prepared to extend grants to support its media business, and what the size of the funding would be. He also asked if the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) considered SPH's contribution to the new company to be a reasonable one. SPH will inject $80 million in cash as well as $30 million in shares into the new entity.

Mr Iswaran replied that the Government had supported SPH last year with the Jobs Support Scheme and was prepared to offer extra help if required, but the restructuring proposal was put to it.

The minister said it would be premature to specify the exact numbers that would go into the Government's funding of the CLG.

Mr Singh later said he "would be surprised if the Government hadn't considered what would be the extent of the grant" to the CLG. He asked for a ballpark figure.

Mr Iswaran said any range of figures provided would only lead to more requests to narrow it down further, adding: "When the funding is finally decided upon, it will have to come back to this Chamber, because it will be part of the budget of MCI, and the member and his party would have ample opportunity to ask all the specific questions. "The Government's focus has been very clearly on the news media business, and its viability going forward," said Mr Iswaran.

"The medium-to long-term outlook remains challenging, and that is why we need to be clear that the Government will be prepared to come in to give support.

"But how much, how - I think these are the things that will need to be worked out in due course after the CLG has had a chance, subject to shareholder approval, to then develop a business plan and put the proposal to us."