By Fang Zhi Yuan
When news broke out that Singapore’s Sovereign Wealth Fund,
Temasek Holdings have lost S$58 billion dollars of its investment
portfolio last year, one would expect many serious
questions to be asked in the press. There were
none.
More disappointingly, the extent of GIC’s loss was
not published in the English papers either while it was revealed by
U.S. news agency Dow Jones that GIC may have lost an estimated
amount of S$50 billion dollars.
Few Singaporeans would have bade an eyelid 20 years ago at the
gross discrepancy between what was reported by the mainstream and
foreign media. Now, readers are spoilt for choice. They will simply source for
whatever information which was not published by the press on the
internet where local bloggers are more than willing to serve
them their own dose of propaganda.
The mainstream media risks losing credibility in the eyes of the
public if it continues to adhere strictly to its
anachronistic
policy of self-censoring news of national importance such as the
catastrophic losses suffered by our SWFs.
As
Singaporeans become increasingly exposed to diversity of views
offered by the alternative media, the blatant one-sideness and
prejudices of the state media will not be lost upon
them. Though there may not be a visible drop in
readership in the near future, the influence it exerted over a more
astute, discerning and informed population will be diluted.
Two recent reports highlight the growing threat the new media
pose to a traditional media which has yet to catch up with the
times: a Straits Times report on Singapore being the
most wired nation in the world and in a recent study conducted by
marketing agency OgilvyOne Asia Pacific, more than one in two
Singaporeans said they trust blogs as much as newspapers or TV news
bulletins.
In spite of the state media’s frequent exhortations to the
public to take what was written on blogs with a pinch of salt, more
Singaporeans are finding the reverse to be true. Where there is a vacuum of
information from the officialdom, myths, half-truths and rumors
will move in naturally to fill its place, thereby becoming the new
(distorted) truth.
The best way for the mainstream media and the government to
counter these endless speculations is to be forthcoming in the
release of information to the public. The more reticent it is, the
more it will be perceived as having something to hide.
The mainstream
media’s refusal to speak out on critical issues of national
importance will inevitably breed cynicism, resentment and
contempt for its news coverage amongst Singaporeans, promoting
the growth of an adversarial blogosphere which has become
disproportionately anti-establishment to counter the official
propaganda in recent times.
Had the mainstream media allowed more space and flexibility
for dissenting views contrary to the government to be expressed in
the public domain, the great political divide between the new and
the old media would be narrower instead of growing apart as of
present.
It makes little sense to conceal information from the public in
this day and age where it can be easily obtained elsewhere by a
simple click of the mouse. Nor will internet ramblings be confined
strictly within cyberspace as long the press carries no reports on
it.
In a wired world without any frontiers, the influence of the new
media can reach even those who do not surf the internet via word of
mouth, brochures and VCDs. The state media will only
make itself look stupid if it chooses to ignore the voices of the
people on the ground at the expense of serving the vested interests
of the government.
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