From the news article in today
AS A young journalist searching for answers to questions that many
have pushed out of their minds, I should have been pleased to hear
Dr Vivian Balakrishnan tell the media that one of its roles is to
expose Government wrongdoings.
.
"If there is something wrong in Singapore, if there is a problem,
it must be reported. If a minister is corrupt or incompetent, he
must be exposed ... I expect the press to whistleblow," the Second
Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts said during a
question-and-answer session at the Foreign Correspondents
Association (FCA).
.
It has been more than a week since those words were uttered. Yet,
there is hardly a squeak in our media or among Singaporeans. No
letters from readers have been published, no follow-up reports have
appeared or been broadcast.
.
This seeming lack of enthusiasm makes me wonder whether I should
stop asking questions, stop looking deeper into those remarks and
just get on with my work.
.
Questions like: Was he announcing a significant shift in Government
policy on media? Was it a test rocket to see how
Singaporeans react? Was it an off-the-cuff remark, because
it was not in his speech, made in response to a question from the
floor? Or was it a genuine desire for change by a man who, during
his student days in London, wrote letters critical of the Singapore
Government and who is likely to take over as minister in the
Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (Mica)?
.
One of the biggest hurdles for the media wanting to expose
wrongdoings in any area, let alone in Government, is the
absence of an investigative journalism culture in our
newsrooms. Except for rare occasions, like when The
Straits Times' education correspondent Sandra Davie, in 1989,
brought to light the questionable practices of a religious group,
The House of Israel, our media is generally very quiet on this
front. Especially when its motto is very clearly enshrined in these
three words: Inform, educate and entertain.
.
Then, there is the question of resources that are needed if the
media is to add the word "expose" to its role. With editors being
forced to look at eyeballs and bottomlines, it will take a very
brave one to ask for money to be pumped in to recruit investigative
journalists, the results of whose work one might not see until
months, even years, later.
With its reputation on the line, the newspaper's editors persisted
with the coverage, unravelling more intrigue with each passing
report, even though at times it appeared to be collapsing. And
after 26 months of dogged reporting amid intense political and
public pressure, the newspaper was vindicated with Mr Nixon's
resignation.
.
Is our media, with business high up on agenda, game for
such a long-drawn battle to expose a politician?
.
Read what the new editor in chief of the Singapore Press Holdings'
(SPH) English and Malay Newspapers Division, Mr Patrick Daniel, had
to tell Asian Newspaper Focus in an interview. He said one of the
areas he wants to devote time to is the business side of things. It
was very forthright of him to say that the work of an editor is not
only about editorial content any more.
.
Understandable, because the old media is facing challenges like
readers having choices aplenty and advertisers mulling over cheaper
and alternative platforms.
.
Also, there is the argument that the People's Action Party
Government is one of the least corrupt in the world. The rigorous
way in which it goes about selecting and inducting people into
government and investigating the occasional errant minister
(remember Housing Minister Teh Cheang Wan who committed suicide in
1986 after the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau started
probing him?) can be a powerful argument against the need for a
shadow like the media.
.
The libel and defamation laws are another thing. They are so
strictly interpreted here that editors would prefer, in most cases,
not to go to court. The recent high-profile National Kidney
Foundation versus SPH case was something the newspaper had never
wanted to proceed with in the first place it was T T Durai who
refused a settlement.
.
Even if one discounts these hurdles, there is the Government's
overarching media policy, articulated by Mr Lee Kuan Yew in the
1970s and repeated by the next two Prime Ministers. To break it
down to its simplest denominator, it makes it clear that
the role of the media is not to be a watchdog of the
government. Indeed, Dr Balakrishnan made this clear in his
speech at the FCA too: "The Government will continue to set the
political agenda and rules of engagement."
.
With all these realities staring us so starkly in our faces, what
to make of the minister's remark?
.
The charitable view is that something is brewing. But the sceptic
in me says: Don't bet on a change in media
policy.
