By Eugene Yeo
In a recent interview with CNA, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
said there is a need for news media to present objective reports
and not to wear “western spectacles”.
Lee said the challenge that news media is facing is to be able
to boil down information and present news neutrally out of
Singapore.
“We felt there was scope for perspective from Asian eyes. Not to
put over an ideology or a doctrine, but just present the facts,
less the western spectacles,” Lee said.
Now, let us compared the different ways in which CNA and
Bloomberg, a “Western spectacle” present the same news on 26
February 2009:
The two constrasting headlines seem to send two different
messages to the unsuspecting readers. CNA tries to lessen the
negativity inherent in the news by sugarcoating it to give readers
the impression that Singapore’s economy is still growing, albeit at
a lower rate while Bloomberg pulls no punches in describing the
dire straits our economy is in.
However if you read the contents of the two articles (CNA and Bloomberg), the gist of the message is
essentially the same: Singapore’s economy has shrunk. In fact, if
you read the reports carefully, the figure of 1.1% is lower
compared to the initial forecast of 1.2%.
A number of readers will simply glance at the headlines and the
false perception will immediately be registered in their minds.
There will some who go away thinking that things are not too bad
after all since the Singapore’s economy is still “growing”.
That’s how “objective” and “neutral” our CNA’s reports are. A
more accurate and apt headline reflecting the reality would be:
“Singapore’s economy shrank 4.2% in last quarter of 2008 with
overall annual growth at 1.1%”.
This is Singapore’s “Asian” spectacles for you - hiding,
distorting or sugarcoating the truth to serve the narrow
self-serving interests of the government.
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